Back to Reality

[Welshers]

They are still the Mariners. Now they are supposed to have one of the easiest schedules in the league left so let's see how they finish. Gonna have to show some heart now

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Schedule doesn’t ease up yet, still got another series against Houston and two against the Yankees.

I kind of throw this series out the window. We didn’t have Julio and after that long layoff anything can happen. Now if we lose the series to the Rangers then I’ll be worried.

This team still needs another SP and an impact bat. Outside of Julio, I’m growing tired of our OF, they are becoming unreliable.

 

[Welshers]

Schedule doesn’t ease up yet, still got another series against Houston and two against the Yankees.

I kind of throw this series out the window. We didn’t have Julio and after that long layoff anything can happen. Now if we lose the series to the Rangers then I’ll be worried.

This team still needs another SP and an impact bat. Outside of Julio, I’m growing tired of our OF, they are becoming unreliable.

In terms of total win percentage against remaining opponents the Mariners have one of the weakest AL schedules left. Just statistically. But there are certainly still tough series ahead. If we can somehow go close to splitting with yanks and Astros we will have a shot

 

[Hawker]

Well, that was deflating. Still, we hold a 2 game lead in the WC playoff battle over Cleveland and a 3 game lead over Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

It shows they have come a long way. But, still have a lot of work to do. This is NOT the same old Mariners. They didn't accidentally win 14 in a row.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

And that 14 game winning streak allowed them to get swept and still be in a solid position. I fully expect them to get back to their winning ways today.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

And the team was w/out Julio, that is a MASSIVE loss.

 

[Chapow]

And the team was w/out Julio, that is a MASSIVE loss.

Absolutely.

But if you can't win against good teams without 1 specific guy, your team might be a bit of a house of cards. Lose that 1 guy and it all comes tumbling down.

Also, what happens if Julio hits a late season rookie slump in September? Not uncommon for rookies in their first full MLB season.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Yep. This is a good baseball team, not even CLOSE to Same old Mariners. That's a weak argument after a bad series. The Cheatstro's are a GREAT team.
My point is that one damn series doesn't just mean this team isn't a playoff contender. They flat out are a contender to make the playoffs this year.

 

[Chapow]

Yep. This is a good baseball team, not even CLOSE to Same old Mariners. That's a weak argument after a bad series. The Cheatstro's are a GREAT team.
My point is that one damn series doesn't just mean this team isn't a playoff contender. They flat out are a contender to make the playoffs this year.

Speaking of weak arguments, if you have to resort to creating a strawman, you probably have a weak argument. I didn't say "same old Mariners", and in fact, I've been saying for years now that the "same old Mariners" cliché is outdated, inaccurate, corny, and lazy.

I also didn't say that they aren't a playoff contender. Of course they have a chance to make the playoffs. Especially now that there are 3 wildcards, and the fact that they have a very favorable schedule in September.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

The OP said Same old Mariners. Not talking about you.

 

[Chapow]

The OP said Same old Mariners. Not talking about you.

Fair enough.

Thought you were talking to me because I had just responded to one of your posts and then you posted again right after that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Last time I checked we still won 14 of our last 17.

And we don’t need to be better than Houston to make the playoffs. We just need to be a little bit better than mediocre because with expanded playoffs, that’s all it takes.

 

[Chapow]

Last time I checked we still won 14 of our last 17.

Yep. Unfortunately, last time I checked, we just got swept at home and are riding a 3 game losing streak. Although I do expect that losing streak to end today.

And we don’t need to be better than Houston to make the playoffs. We just need to be a little bit better than mediocre because with expanded playoffs, that’s all it takes.

Yep. It's easier than it's ever been to make the playoffs. Still not going to be easy though. 3 wildcard spots and at this point it looks like 7 teams will be fighting for those 3 spots. So we're going to need to be better than at least 4 of them to make it. Are we? I don't know. We'll see.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

The one thing that keeps sticking with me is when I see the Astro's or Yankees play..........SEVERAL dangerous guys in the lineup. The M's have France and Julio. Other than that, who really scares an opponent?

 

[Sports Hernia]

With that line up 4th loss in a row is coming, unless Flex throws shut out ball and we fluke one across.

 

[Sports Hernia]

The one thing that keeps sticking with me is when I see the Astro's or Yankees play..........SEVERAL dangerous guys in the lineup. The M's have France and Julio. Other than that, who really scares an opponent?

No one. Dipoto always bragging about depth. Thats why we have a lineup with 3 2nd basemen in the OF tonight.

 

[Chapow]

No one. Dipoto always bragging about depth. Thats why we have a lineup with 3 2nd basemen in the OF tonight.

To be fair, it sure looked like the OF was going to be pretty loaded coming out of spring training.

Jesse Winker, career .288 hitter (before this year), coming off a .305 24 HR 88 RBI season.
Mitch Haniger, career .262 hitter, coming off a 39 HR 100 RBI season.
Julio Rodriguez, sure looks like he's going to be the next MLB superstar.
Jarred Kelenic, who everyone thought was going to be much improved based on how he finished last season.
Kyle Lewis, the AL rookie of the year less than 2 years ago, was expected back and healthy early in the season.
Trammell, Moore, and Haggerty were supposed to be options number 6, 7, and 8.

That sure looked like an awfully good OF coming out of spring training. Unfortunately, basically everyone not named Julio has been either significantly worse than expected or injured.

Jesse Winker is having his worst year hitting wise and it's not even close. The guy has always been a very good hitter. No idea what the deal is this year.
Mitch Haniger has missed all but 9 games so far with an injury after playing in 157 last season.
Kyle Lewis just seems snake bit at this point. Just can't get or stay healthy.
Jarred Kelenic was horrifically bad in April and looked nothing like the Kelenic we saw last September.

Now, you can't expect everything to work out as well as expected. Players get injured, and players have down years. But for only 1 out of 5 of those guys to work out (so far)? That's just some damn bad luck.

(Not to mention Adam Frazier, a career .275 hitter, coming off a season in which he hit .305 in 155 games, has been hitting under .240 this year.)

 

[Sports Hernia]

I wasn’t talking so much about the beginning of the year as I was lately. No reason to not to actually call up an outfielder (see Kelenic) if you didn’t want to trade for one. There never should be a situation where you have 3 infielders playing the outfield at the same time.

Plus can we really call K-Lew an outfielder anymore? Love the kid but his knees are bone on bone. The guy cannot run anymore. He’s going to be a career DH.

 

[balakoth]

Lose three to Houston and here comes normal Welshers..
Why the hell do some of you even watch this team.. go back to pickleball or something