The Mariners Have the BIGGEST Division Lead in Baseball... But HOW?!

the Mariners are nine games up in the AL West it's the biggest lead in any division in baseball but how are they doing it plus Ty Fran's back and Tyler loer is still on the roster how will those two coexist we'll discuss coming up here on the lock on maror podcast kby hit [Music] it you are locked on Mariners your daily Seattle Mariners podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Oho Sailors it is Tuesday June 18th 2024 this is Titan Gonzales and kby Pat noted for the locked on mirors podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day on today's show we're going to look at how the Mayers have gotten to where they're at so far and try to make sense of it we'll also talk about the latest move made by the team but before we get into that shout out to our title sponsor today Game Time download the game time app create an account and use the promo code locked on MLB that's l c k d o n MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply and if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show check out our patreon the link is in the description and you can sign up for a free 7-Day trial Ty France has returned from the injured list and the corresponding move is not sending down Tyler loer to triaa Tacoma it's actually designating sebie zala for assignment which we pretty much saw the writing on the wall with regards to Zavala he had only started one game since May 26 at only appeared in two games since May 26 Mitch Garver is now officially the mayor's backup catcher but again the big thing here really is that Tyler laier is still on the roster as of now maybe he ends up being the corresponding move once J palano rejoins the team in the next week or two but for now it seems that they're going to try and have laer France Garver hanar all those guys Coexist on the same r roster so Colby I I I know our comment section is chomping at the bit to hear you talk about Tyler lole even more after yesterday's episode so how do you think the Mariners are going to uh make this work well first things first I want to reiterate what I obviously said yesterday Tyler loer is a failure he should retire from baseball right worst first baseman I've ever exactly what you said yesterday very clearly according to the comment section I've given up on Tyler Lair after 25 decent plate appearances right yep bum uh but in reality I don't know how they're going to handle this it it's going to be tough uh there's going to be a lot of mixing and matching uh because again Ty loock Tyler ly and Ty France they should only play first base like they are not third baseman I know they drafted loair to be a third basem blah blah blah that was no no no no no they knew back when they drafted him he cannot play Third Base Ty France we know can't play Third Base we know he can't play second base he is a first base only and Garver and hanar really dhones so essentially what you have right now is you have four guys who are first base DH only and yet you only have two spots for them to play every day uh now there will be some days where Garver will be the backup Catcher And that opens up one of the spots fine whatever uh but yeah how do you get these guy all how do you get all these guys at bats I don't really know I think hanar moves to the bottom of the list but because Haner can stand in right field he'll still get his app BS for Dom kzone or Luke rayley uh obviously uh it's going to be tough they're they're going to have to pick and choose matchups a little bit here uh because I don't think they're just going to bench Garver uh for ler most nights maybe once in a while but I don't think that's going to be something uh that we're going to see regularly particularly when garver's actually starting to hit a little bit right now you don't want to stunt that that you know Positive Growth that we've seen so far so it'll be a tough squeeze um that being said I don't know that they had any better options just were refusing to use sebbi zala and we've talked about this why are you trying to play with 25 guys when everybody else in the league is playing with 26 right so if you don't if you don't want to give sebie any playing time and I think he got one start literally in a month like I I think since in the last 30 days he maybe got three starts total and they didn't even go from start to finish he was always pinch hit four so they didn't want to use sebie very clearly get him off the roster it's fine I think sebie still got done pretty Dirty by the Mariners because they refused to let him play essentially but whatever they didn't want him on the roster makes sense to get rid of him even if what you know what you're left with is kind of this mess of similar players who all kind of play the similar a similar position so uh you know I think that makes some sense it'll be interesting to see what they do with palanco uh he is you know a couple games into his rehab that one is supposed to take a little bit longer uh so we'll see probably another week on him uh I didn't think Ty France would be back today so uh that was certainly a surprise to see uh but yeah I think they're going to you know have to really manage this thing um I don't like carrying a pure backup first base only type uh on your roster to me that's just a wasted roster spot and I think the risk you're running right now is that if if you know loer is only gonna play twice a week for the next couple weeks like are you stunting some development there like because loair should be getting regular at bats somewhere but probably not the major league level because again you're not taking that bats away from Garver or France at this moment for him so it's a little bit of a jumbled mess we'll wait and see what the lineup looks like today I imagine Ty France will be in it otherwise they wouldn't have activated him so we'll see if laer uh you know plays uh you know gets a DH day uh but uh or maybe France gets a DH day right uh but then obviously that means Garver to the bench uh which again is going to happen a little bit more now because he's the only catcher on the roster other than Cal Raleigh but but I don't love the idea of of you know essentially benching a guy who has been your really your best hitter this month uh for extended periods of time so it's going to be a little bit of a juggling act you kind of have to trust uh Scott uh to manage that well and the rest of the marer staff uh so it'll be interesting to see I think you know seeing Tai France at second base as I've seen some people suggest would be a disaster uh and it is grounds for immediate dismissal uh from anybody Perry Hills pretty good at his job he's not a miracle worker so that's just not going to happen uh so yeah we'll see uh what is interesting here is yeah at the starting at the last game of this series the Mariners are scheduled to face four lefties in a row so you know we we see a lot of uh interesting lineups as they try to get hanar Garver uh you know Lair and France and there against lefties and my guess is you know L probably sits against the lefties but I don't know we'll have to wait and see it's a little bit of a jumbled mess right now I I don't love uh you know that essentially you know a third of your uh position player group can only play one position but uh you know it is what it is right now and again I don't think they had really any uh better options because we know class he isn't it we know that Marlo's continued to struggle at Triple A so if they wanted to call it Marlo and you know just get some speed and some defense on the bench fine uh but yeah they just didn't really have a ton of of other options better options uh it was either keep sebie on the roster waste a a roster spot on a third catcher you refuse to use or waste a roster spot on a pure backup first baseman uh who actually you know has some power and can do some things at the plate so right you know it's not there's two not very good uh decisions you get to make there and they just picked one of them and so uh you know it's hard to it's hard to complain too much about uh the direction they picked because they just they were not going to use seevi saala under any circumstances well my concern though is does laer now suffer the similar fate like they got to play him right if they're going to keep him on the roster they got to play him and if they're not going to play him they should send him down to Tacoma and then just let like Leo revas or whoever Wast that roster spot what this also potentially means is that Cal righ might actually get some true days off you know cuz he's been dhing on the days that that Garver has caught maybe in said Garver catches and then it's lley or France or hanar dhes and Cal just gets the full day off or at least most of the day off and maybe comes in late in the game whatever uh so that would be nice for for Cal at the very least but yeah there I I think the the best way that you can go about this cuz one of these guys at least one of these guys is going to sit on a night toight basis just rotate every single night someone else is in the DH spot I think that's the the best way that you can get these guys at bats right obviously if garver's taking on more of the catching responsibilities he's going to need more days off from ding yeah uh so you can make it work against the four the four- day stretch against the lefties that'll be pretty interesting uh because obviously robless is gonna play left hanar is gonna play right hopefully not four days in a row you're gonna bench Luke rayley for four straight days probably not he's probably going to get a start somewhere in there uh and then you could go you know Garber can catch one or two of those games uh and then ler can DH for a couple of them France so you know there there's a way they could jumble it a little bit but I do Wonder maybe that that stretch against lefties that's coming up if they looked at that and was like okay well let's carry laer through this and then we'll kind of reassess where panco is where everybody is and then we can kind of make that change uh one one thing to note uh at least it's not worthy here uh Mariners 40 man's down to 37 so three open spots yeah one of those spots could eventually go to Logan Evans depending on how far away he is but yeah there's you know at the very least two other spots that I have no idea who could potentially fill those right we should keep in mind that eventually the hope at least is that Gregory Santos will resume his 40 Man spot because he'll be activated off the 60-day iil so yeah you want to look at it that way technically they have two but whatever they have a couple open 40 minut spots as a mea trade is imminent no no not necessarily uh but they do have some legal room there so you know keep an eye on some DFAS of a you know interesting like utility guy againsts df8 or something like that or I don't know a another catcher maybe I I I don't like they they do have some well we'll see if if sebie clears because if not then your third catcher is is either Michael Perez or Michael Papi or Harry Ford no no no but yeah so we'll see how they um kind of work this thing out here over the next few days uh but like you mentioned garver's been hitting really well in June even hanar has like a 103 WRC Plus in the month of June right now uh so you don't want to sit those guys for too too long um hanar is the easiest one though because he can stand in right field again yeah yeah so it's really and with with the four and with the four straight lefties I assume he's probably playing every single one of those games I I would be pretty surprised if he didn't play at least three yeah yeah for sure yeah all right so we're gonna switch gears here the Mariners are nine games up in the American League West someway somehow we're going to talk about it we're going to talk about how they've gotten to this point try to make sense of it in just a moment but first a reminder this episode of the locked on maror podcast is brought to you by game time and supply house game time is now an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch and I get to see the view of every seat in the house so I know exactly what I'm buying game 's last minute deals give you up to 60% in savings buying last minute for sports music comedy and more and to avoid any surprises at checkout you can turn on they're all in pricing to see the full cost fees included take the guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game app create an account and use the promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the promo code locked on MLB that's LC k o n MLB for $20 off download the game time app last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trade supplyhouse.com supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order Plumbing HVAC and electrical product s online their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right shop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top brands and get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast need help with an order get expert support and industry-leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time pros and the skilled trades can get a Competitive Edge by joining supplyhouse.com free tradem program every tradem gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order join the thousands of trade Pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com TM and Order Plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com and you're listening to the locked on Mariners podcast you can catch the m and the Guardians tonight on the Mariners Hometown broadcast with ser sxm via the sxm app all you have to do to find that is Search the word Mariners big series there between Cleveland and Seattle but let's talk about this division leading Seattle Mariners ball Club they are nine games up in the ALS as of last night following the uh the Mets blowout win over the Rangers uh both the Rangers and the Astros are nine games back of the mirers right now in the standings and the question is how has this happened and that's the question that you and I Colby are still kind of trying to figure out ourselves as content creators following this team on a on a day-to-day basis because look this offense for most of the year has been putrid the pitching for as good as it's been the 46 quality starts and 43 wins all that they've had some streaky moments as well they've had a couple of hiccups a couple times through the the rotation and the bullpen has obviously been very injured on Andre Muno has basically been carrying that unit uh and they've gotten some solid contributions out of Trent Thorton and ausome V and Ryan stanik for sure but a lot of those guys are kind of pitching out of what you would prefer their role to be and yet somehow some way they have the biggest division lead in all of major league baseball right now uh and I think uh some of that at least has to be attributed to Scott service correct yeah I mean as much uh trash as fan base likes to uh throw on Scott uh the number of times his job has been called for uh Even in our comment section after you know like a small move that he decided to try didn't work out uh is something else and you know people point to I don't even know what Scott service does well um well you know aside from you know winning baseball games which he's pretty good at uh I think what is become increasingly clear about uh you know because of this club uh is that this team is and I don't think this is deniable at this stage by anybody this team is mentally tough they are extremely tough uh they get down by a couple runs no problem they scrap you know they they scrap it out and they find a way to win games they have a lead late they blow it they get it right back they win the game like they play 30 games in 31 days they go 19 and 11 right they they play 50 games in 53 days they're going to go like 30 in in 20 in in that stretch like this is a team that has had a pretty bad schedule in terms of you know days off and rest and all that stuff they've had countless injuries they've had just about everybody on this in this lineup is underperformed to some degree uh their Bullpen has been a mess uh again like they lost two of their three High leverage arms in spring training they didn't have their number five starter for a month now they're trying to deal with their number five starter you know is he available today maybe see Gabe Spire is out now right right and somehow the Mariners find themselves 12 games over 500 nine games up on the Rangers and the Rangers and the Astros have had similar issues with their injury luck right so it's not like the Mariners have just stayed remarkably healthy all year and the Astros and the Rangers have just been bit by the injury bug no it it's not that because the Mariners have missed significant portions of the season from some of their best players and some of their players aren't even performing up to their level and yet somehow they're here so how what makes them different like is it the bullpen in the past we could point to the bullpen and be like well the bullen's so good that that's why they win all those one run games is because the bullin is so good not this year bullen's okay but it's not very good this year you know the offense isn't very good this year and yet somehow they're what are they uh 16 and four in the division 17 and four in the division whatever it is uh they are one of the best teams in baseball in one run game how do they do that it's got to be well when you look at the stats you're looking for a stat that tells us this is why they do it doesn't really exists they're a little bit better in those High leverage spots offensively than they are normally cool they're 17 and five against the L by the way there you go so it's like why why are they doing this the only thing I can point to is that they have a culture that has been built for the last nine years by you know one guy and obviously you know Scott doesn't Direct dictate the culture a lot of that has to do with guys like JP and Cal and Logan uh and in the past Paul and Marco and so guys have to still buy in and then evolve that culture right but the one who sets the tone the one who creates the culture the one who can the one constant essentially is guys filtered in and out the one guy who can actually undermine it to a significant degree is Scott service and he hasn't he's cultivated a winning culture here and I think we see that in the mental toughness of this team you know grinding through games getting absolutely dominated through eight but finding a way to win the game anyways uh by you know not having your best high leverage guys but still finding a way to get the 27 outs you need and and being up on the scoreboard at the end is it pretty no no it's not have we seen this team you know play some absolute Duds yes absolutely they have but they always seem to respond back they get punched they get knocked to the ground they get back up team that hasn't been swept this year so far their longest losing streak is four games y their longest winning streak is four games they're just playing superly balanced Yep they're just playing Super consistent baseball uh record-wise despite having a roster that is underperforming so uh you know you have to give uh I think you this is where we have to give Scott a ton of credit and this is where Scott is better than most managers in baseball and this is why despite all the frustration we've had with them over the last couple years I don't think you and I have ever called for Scott service's job uh which is uh you know I think for especially I think you know a lot of people think that I'm very reactionary there's I've never called for Scott's job why because he's great at this this is what he's great at this is his 80 grade the onfield decisions are one thing right but show me a fan base that doesn't complain about their managers in game decisions y mhm seriously oh yeah so the the thing that separates Scott and this is why Jerry trusted him in the first place to take on this job when he had no experience doing this ever is because he's been in Player Development he's been a player he's been a catcher he speaks the language right and a lot of times right when we we've seen this with like the hitting coach discussion and pitching coach discussion Etc you know across the game right not just with the Mariners right a lot of the times the uh the onfield impact of a manager is widely overblown right yep but what really separates a good manager from the rest of the pack is their ability to create culture and maintain culture and bring a clubhouse together right Scott has undeniably been pretty good at that and you look at the way that the players interact with him a lot of the players they they it's very clear like they like Scott service they like playing for Scott service I I I wouldn't say that Scott's like an elite manager or even a great manager but I think Scott is a good manager I I think he is really good at at creating culture and engaging with his players but like you mentioned this team hasn't gotten swept this year right they haven't allowed things to Snowball right you look at a series like Toronto they had an awful road trip uh you know in Milwaukee and then Toronto they lost the first two games in Toronto they had the bases loaded there in the bottom of the ninth against Toronto Hy palano makes an O over the shoulder catch keeps them from getting swept they end up leaving Toronto with a win huge right stop the bleeding you look at Washington a few weeks back you know pretty rough road trip they lost the first two games against the team they probably shouldn't have lost the first two games against they get out to an early lead they end up blowing that lead but they end up finding a way to win that game and they still managed to Salvage win out of that series Kansas City just last weekend right horrendous series they blew that first game on on the Friday they got handled pretty well on Saturday they get out to an early lead you know they also lose Tai France to injury they get out to the early lead on Sunday end up blowing that in the ninth oh here we go again but then they score three oh well here come the Royals with a two-run home run and then they still survive and again stop the bleeding then they go into that home stand they take three or four from the White Sox they lose a really frustrating game on Thursday they come right back you know they fall down two nothing early on against the Rangers but then they hold them scoreless for the next eight Innings and they win that game and they end up sweeping the Rangers and here we are eight and a half games up in the ALS this team's ability to stop the bleeding has been to me the the biggest reason they're where they're at right now uh the offense has been better since they fired brt Brown which is kind of the the big mark because it's also basically the start of the month of June uh the strikeouts have gone down a little bit they're not dead lost in strikeouts uh A's and the rays are are both ahead of them in that department this month uh they're 10th and run scored uh I believe they're like ninth or 10th in WRC plus they're like 12th in F War as an offense so they've been better and they still need help don't get me wrong they're still going to need help at the trade deadline but as things currently stand they're surviving and that's all you really can do until the trade Market opens up is just survive keep winning as many ball games as you can try and maintain this ground that you built in between you and the Rangers and the Astros uh and try to create some more ground if you if you possibly can uh but on that note there is another big piece to this right the rest of the division has been terrible the Rangers have been very disappointing the Astros have been very disappointing we'll get into that in just a moment but first reminder this episode of the locked on Mars podcast is brought to you by prize pick with prize picks you could turn $10 into a th000 in a single game watching your favorite sports this summer by making a prize picks lineup in as little as 60 seconds you just need to pick more or less on two to six players stat projections and you're locked in prize picks is America's number one fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members get in on the daily action with your friends and become a part of the prize picks Community today download the app today and use the promo code locked on MLB for first deposit match up to $100 pick more pick less it's that easy and you're listening to the locked on Mariners podcast once again you can catch the m in the Guardians tonight on the Mariners Hometown broadcast with sirusxm via the sxm app all you have to do to find that is Search the word Mariners so kby the Rangers have been pretty bad this year the Astros have also been pretty bad this year and that's kind of a big piece to the Mariners current standing right now in the alsos it's uh it's at least a a pretty sizable piece to why they're as many games up on the division as they are right now in spite of all their flaws so when when you look at this Rangers ball club and we just recently saw them and when you look at the Astros why are they in the positions that they're in right now and is that sustainable not as good as the Seattle Mariners full stop thanks for listening guys catch you next time Mariners are better yeah it really is that simple now if you look at why is why are the Mariners better than the Rangers well the Rangers banked a lot on the two- we stretch they saw when they won the World Series they banked on Evan Carter being you know a six- win player they banked on Wyatt Lanford coming up and immediately being you know an impactful rookie uh like you know a few other guys have done uh in recent years they they banked on their starting rotation largely you know getting back healthy and that their offense was going to carry their you know questionable starting pitching until Scherzer and maybe deg Grom could come back uh they banked on Cory Seager having another you know 180 WRC plus season or whatever he had last year they counted on Marcus Simeon to have another 130 WRC plus season they counted on Jonah Heim to be an All-Star again they counted on Adas Garcia to be ALCS adolis Garcia none of that has happened and all of that by the way pretty predictable too uh so the Rangers to me like why are they why are they where they are injuries sure that's part of it uh but a bigger part of it is just a really poor process by the front office and just assuming that they were going to ride the High and essentially run it back with the same roster uh more or less they made a couple tweaks to their Bullpen that have actually worked out so you know Yates and Robertson are Bullman really good uh but again counting on Cory Seager to repeat his you know once in a once in a lifetime season counting on Adas Garcia to look like he's facing the Astros in the ALCS every single day uh and not really you know counting on EV Carter to be the best player on their roster for a couple weeks they didn't account for losing Mitch Garver they didn't account uh for losing Scherer for half the year like they just didn't do much this offseason to really kind of uh reinforce it was just kind of like we're going to run it back and it's going to work because it worked for two weeks in October and keep in mind the M or the Rangers were a team they got off to a sizzling start and then they faded hard held on for dear life to their to their playoff spot and then they went they got hot and they you know good for them they won the World Series there's no taking that away from them but for really the last you know three months except for the two weeks in the playoffs they were a very mediocre baseball team and they chose the twoe sample size over the three Monon sample size and thought that everything was going to be fine if they ran it back and it hasn't been it hasn't been and again our injuries a part of that sure but not as much as they pretended is because they knew they weren't G to have Scherzer they knew they weren't gonna have deg Grom they knew that some of these guys were going to miss time and they still rolled with Heeney they still rolled with gray they still rolled with evaldi and it's like yeah you know we'll be fine because Cory Seager is gonna put up a 170 WRC plus uh you know Marcus simeon's going to be a six7 wi player again Adas Garcia is gonna take another step because he was so good in the playoffs and it just none of that has happened Jonah heims crashed back down to earth hard uh you know J 's crashed back down to earth hard leotus Taris wasn't very good the second half of last year but that's rolled over he's crashed back hard right they're just not a very well-built team uh now could their offense get hot and and carry that team and you know make up some ground here over the next 80 games yeah absolutely they can they're still a talented team but you look at it is like that team really needs Cory Seager to be like incredible uh for that lineup because you look at the lineups they rolled out this weekend you get past the the the Simeon Seager uh bit and even I guess to a lesser extent Adas Garcia and you're like zle Durant fine not terrifying but fine you know Jaheim fine not terrifying but fine you know Janowski Taris you're just like you know it it's just they did a really poor job this winter uh and I think that's what we're actually seeing right now not so much the injuries but just like Hey we're going to assume that we're going to play exactly as well as we did in October all season and we're going to win another world series with the same team and it's like no you're not well I think also part of that is they spent so much money over the last couple years that maybe they're tapped out maybe um you know obviously adding sherzer whatever was left on his deal however much you know the Mets uh didn't eat uh certainly helped and then they're paying deg Grom what $40 million not to pitch for them uh right now so yeah uh now again not saying it wasn't worth it CU they World Series so yeah absolutely they're feeling great about those decisions uh but yeah they they are still ramifications uh when you go out there and you do that and well they're they're in the part of the one of their window where they're like all right we've spent our money now we need to develop and we believe in our development but so far that hasn't panned out right yeah Carter hasn't been the guy that they saw in the playoffs Langford has been has been a disappointment also Carter's hurt now Josh Young is hurt again yeah you know so injuries are injuries are obviously a very big part of this as well when it comes to the Rangers but I would also counter that with you know hey the the Mariners are without Matt Brash and Gregory Santos and Gabe spire and they've been without Ty France for a little while they've been without J palanco for a little while and you know they've obviously haven't gotten the the level of production that they thought out of you know Garver palanco Etc so far Julio their best player Julio yeah absolutely so um you know there's obviously a lot of things that you can say on the mar side as well here but um you know you look at the Astros as well and that's a team that's dealt with its own injuries Kyle Tucker most recently uh also some injuries in the pitching staff Justin Verlander most recently aw uh they just had a another terrible season from Jose AB BR which led to his release and they're eating what 30ish million dollars for him to just go away basically um but this offense has still been pretty good for the Astros it's just they can't pitch at all right now and obviously some of that is due to the injuries but still they they cannot pitch I'd say good chunk of it is mostly the starting pitching uh injuries but also they spent like $90 million on their Bullpen and it sucks yeah uh it's it's worse than the Mariners Bullpen the Mariners Bullpen without Gabe Spire Matt Brash and Gregory Santos and it's still somehow worse uh you know despite Josh haer and abrau and Presley like yeah yeah their Bullpen sucks and they don't have the starting pitching to to you know help their Bullpen out all that much uh so yeah uh offense can still hit a little bit uh but I just we're we're finally seeing the kind of like the end of the oh the Astros are just going to pull this you know 17y old that they signed for a $5,000 bonus out of there you know what and in four years he's going to be a four- win starting pitcher like seen a little bit with Blanco but they can't do it for all five rotation spots at one time right and that's kind of what we're looking at right now so uh injuries are a bit more of a an excuse I'll say for the Astros than they are for the Rangers uh but yeah it is a team that just they have not pitched whatsoever and uh that that's what's fighting them right now so finally that brings us to the question once these teams get healthier really just as they currently stand How concerned should Mariners fans be about either of those teams both of those teams making a run at the Mariners I mean we still have like 85 games left so somewhat yeah I mean there's a lot of time left so that's why I asked the question right uh one thing to keep in mind here and I'll keep on throwing it out there uh it's a race to seven against your division Rivals uh if you get to seven wins you have the tiebreaker against them there is no one game 163 uh right now the Mariners have five wins against the Astros they have five wins against the Rangers if they win just two of their next uh six games against them and hopefully they do better uh but they would just two their next six they have the tiebreaker which means they essentially get another game another full game in the standings ahead of those teams because if you win 92 those two teams have to win 93 to kick you out of that division lead they can't win 92 and beat you uh so you know keep that in mind playing them as well as they have early this year has been a big help uh but you know again assuming that they get like we just assume they get back to 100% healthy right um which obviously isn't going to happen you know the Astros have already lost a couple guys to for the year to Tommy John uh but assuming that everything you know works well for them for the next few months uh I would say Seattle still has a really good shot of holding on to this uh division League just because they pitch so well uh their starting pitching is is such a big advantage over those other two teams it's like we talked about in the offseason it's the great equalizer and the fact that they've thrown the most innings in in in the league which again you know goes kind of hand in hand with the quality start stat is insane uh and the production that they've gotten just one through five especially because again they've had a couple hiccups right it hasn't been perfect it hasn't been just from opening day to now the rotation has just been lights out there obviously they got off to a pretty poor start to start the year and I was like uhoh were we wrong about the Mar's rotation and then you know they quickly got it together they went on that insane stretch for whatever it was like 19 straight starts where they only allowed basically a a run per game um and obviously they've been really good lately as well but yeah you know there have been a couple of hiccups there and it's just like how are the Mayers at this point even when like again at times their greatest strength has not been at its 100 percentile and I think some of that too is a little bit of um everyone that pretty much everyone that has come up while they might not have been able to sustain production they've at least had a couple of good games here and there they've at least been able to help like Jonathan CL was able to help for a couple of games Ryan Bliss has been able to help for a couple games here and there Tyler loer is the most recent example of that like they've at least been able yeah like even from some of the guys that you would you would not expect like they are getting little I would say nuggets of help and one little hidden bonus that the Mariners have over the Astros and the Rangers they have a farm system that can put them in the middle of a discussion for any player that's available the Rangers do not have that the Astros do not have that so you know the Mariners are just they're in a significantly better spot uh you know I think you've rolled this season out a hundred times based on from June 18th until the end of it I think the Mariners probably win this division 90 times would be my guess uh so you know I think for the Astros and the Rangers something has to happen to the Mariners like it's not just going to be because you start playing better ball uh which you obviously you have to do uh but it's not like the Mariners are going to be you know they're not going to win 40% of their games for the rest of the year unless something tragically happens big injury something like that a massive underperformance which is possible but by the way the other thing that we we've failed to mention up to this point like they've gotten through their toughest part of their schedule already in terms of like you know not necessarily quality of opponents because that's really tough to judge you know months in advance but uh in terms of like the day off structure and all that yeah like this this yeah yeah you know they again they played 30 games in 31 days after this nine game stretch they'll played 51 games in like 53 days or something like that so yeah it's uh it's been it's been a brutal stretch but they're going to after uh well starting with this series they will not have uh they they sorry they only have one stretch where they will play 10 consecutive games between days off for the rest of the year they have a couple nine game stretches in there so it's not like you know everything's hunky dory there but uh you look at some of these teams they have they' played five fewer games than the Mariners already that's gonna flip in the second half yeah to where the Mariners are gonna get more days I mean the Guardians who we're gonna see tonight they've played five F this is game 70 for them this is game 75 for the Mariners yep so you know hopefully the schedule helps out too but yeah a lot of things pointing in in favor of Seattle um you know as a franchise whose like Shining Moment is erasing the 12 game deficit 13 game deficit in six weeks I think every Mariner fan is well aware that this thing's hardly on ice or anything like that you have to continue to play really good ball uh for the next you know three months four months uh and you're still setting yourself up to hopefully make a World Series run so uh yeah but obviously the Mariners are in phenomenal shape right now now they can absorb you know a bad little stretch of baseball as long as it doesn't get too far out of hand and still be in pretty good shape so uh and hopefully hopefully we're seeing them getting healthier and we're seeing some of the guys that we need to see hitting they're starting to hit with Garver and Julio Etc so yeah you know and we'll see what they can add uh but they've put themselves in a position where it's going to be basically impossible for the front office to be like no we don't think that this team is worth investing heavily in this summer so right absolutely yeah cuz if they don't buy now they'll never buy right right this is absolutely the the best opportunity they've had to win a championship in the depoto era and arguably since 2003 yep and obviously this is their biggest division lead since the end of 2001 all right that is going to do it for our show but before we get out of here a reminder that lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 24/7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app thank you so much for joining us here on the locked on maror podcast for kobby patod I'm tiing Gonzales be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at Lor Mariners you can follow me at Tien Gonzales and Colby at cpad 11 that cp11 you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time peace

Channel: Locked On Mariners

Views: 7,997

Keywords:

Id: EIkEYDVduW0

Length: 40min 33sec (2433 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2024