The 2016 Seattle Mariners (Official season edition)

[pehawk]

Being a fan of the Mariners helps us all understand what it's like to be a 49ers fan. They both have ownership interested in acting like they're committed to winning, over actually winning. Mariners are just a smidge better at it.

Popeye, Marvin, Anguish we all empathize.

 

[Largent80]

You may be better off looping "Sister Christian" than rooting for the M's.

 

[kearly]

I'm just still not convinced we're not going to look up at the lineup most days and see 3-4 guys with a batting average that starts with 1.

That's actually the one thing I'm NOT afraid of this year.

The reason the Mariners had so many mendoza-line hitters the past several years is because Seattle relied heavily on their farm system to fill spots and did a very poor job of developing those players. Mike Zunino, Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero, Chris Taylor, and so on. By and large, the holes in the Mariners lineups have been young players that didn't develop.

This year there is only one young player on the Mariners opening day lineup. Ketel Marte, who looked like he was a rising star after his call-up last season. The rest of the lineup is full of veterans with good OBP numbers. Guys that have been getting it done for years. Our worst hitter is probably Iannetta, and he's a guy that had been a good hitter in the past.

I just have questions about the pitching. It's not really any better than last year's pitching staff which was pretty mediocre. A lot of pitching is luck though, and Seattle was pretty unlucky last year.

 

[SeatownJay]

Here's the opening day lineup for Your Seattle Mariners!

1. Nori Aoki, LF
2. Ketel Marte, SS
3. Robinson Cano, 2B
4. Nelson Cruz, RF
5. Kyle Seager, 3B
6. Franklin Gutierrez, DH
7. Adam Lind, 1B
8. Chris Iannetta, C
9. Leonys Martin, CF

 

[Chapow]

Home Run Cano on his 1st at bat of the season!!! MY OH MY!!!

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Home Run Cano on his 1st at bat of the season!!! MY OH MY!!!

Ditto Kyle Seager!

 

[SeatownJay]

Felix is starting to struggle here in the 5th.

 

[Trenchbroom]

Felix is starting to struggle here in the 5th.

Two errors by his infield doesn't help!

 

[SeatownJay]

The offense is going to have to win this one.

 

[Chapow]

Felix is starting to struggle here in the 5th.

Two errors by his infield doesn't help!

Yeah, Felix had a rough inning there, but it's not 3-2 right now with out those 2 errors.

 

[IndyHawk]

GO M"S!!!

 

[Chapow]

Ugh, bummer to lose that one with Texas only getting 1 hit in the game. Walks and errors in the 5th cost us that one.

Montgomery had a very nice outing out of the bullpen. Struck out the side in the 7th.

161 to go...

 

[Crizilla]

MARINERS BASEBALL LADIES AND GENTS

LMFAO

 

[Tech Worlds]

Good! Hope they lose them all.

 

[Chapow]

:roll:

 

[Rob12]

That loss was so Mariners. Allow one hit and lose. No team has done that since the year 1900 - 116 seasons ago. But despite that, I'll still enjoy and love this team no matter what. I'm going to be doing my best to keep the negativity down, because I actually think this might be the best M's squad (on paper, at least) we've seen in the past 10 years. And remember, the M's have won nine straight Opening Day games, and where has that got them? Maybe they're trying something new this season. It's a long season, and I still have plenty of optimism left.

Felix looked rough today. Unhittable at times, yet totally beat himself with shaky command and giving up a ton of walks. Rough seeing that fastball velo at 89 MPH. That's a far cry from the 97-99 he was registering on the gun nine years ago, but all those pitches and innings have taken their toll. Won't matter much as he is has learned to pitch, but days like today will come more often than they have in the past. I think that arm is gassed, but I really hope I am wrong. I still think he's a top SP in the AL, but the dominance is in question.

 

[Hawker]

So Mariners indeed. But I am not worried about Felix at all. It is a bit off-putting that his velocity is so much less than it once was but we couldn't expect that 97+ fastball for the entirety of his career. I think since he has decreased velocity while expanding his arsenal he has become a much more dominant pitcher the past 2-3 seasons.

I did think the same thing re: opening day... Having won so many consecutive openers (dating back to the pre-Felix days), perhaps a change of pace is exactly what we need. Having said that, for the love of god Mariners, please have a winning month of April for a change. We are a team notorious for heating up in August - but by then we have already dug too deep a hole.

I generally like what transacted during off-season (it was tough seeing Wilhelmson in the Rangers' pen though), and here is to hoping for a hot start this year.

Go Mariners. Time to pull the trigger on one of those new-throwback jerseys. :3:

 

[hawker84]

Maybe it's good we lost the opener? We always win the opener, play well for a minute, then slip right into Mariners baseball. Maybe this year we lose at first and then catch our stride. just spit ballin here..... Oh well it's golf season, so whatever. Go M's.....

 

[Largent80]

No games lost yet so all is good.

And the regular season begins and looks exactly like many others.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

No games lost yet so all is good.

And the regular season begins and looks exactly like many others.

Wasn't this the first opening day loss for Felix in a long time? So maybe it's a good thing! Yeah that's the ticket!