Seattle Mariners – What To Make Of Their Strong Start

There is a surprising and unexpected storyline for the Seattle Mariners as the MLB season gets underway: They actually look pretty good!

Seattle swept the Los Angeles Angels to kick off the year and was competitive against a good Oakland team in both the games they lost. The result is a respectable 4-2 record through the first two series of the season.

The surprise is really the manner in which the Mariners have done this. After fielding one of the most futile offenses in baseball last season, Seattle exploded in their series with the Angels, outscoring its division rivals 26-8.

New second baseman and face of the franchise Robinson Cano looks like his usual self but the help that he has been getting from his supporting cast has to be encouraging for new Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon. Many questioned the length of the contract that Seattle gave Cano, and rightfully so. But for now, he’s still a franchise-level talent that gives the middle of the Seattle line-up a degree of credibility that it has severely lacked in recent years.

First baseman Justin Smoak, often criticized by fans and analysts alike for not living up to his lofty potential, has two home runs and 7 RBIs. Shortstop Brad Miller notched a two-homer game in the second match-up of the series against LA. Dustin Ackley, another prospect that has yet to live up to his potential, also looks much improved at the plate after a blistering spring in which he hit .382.

With Felix Hernandez and James Paxton looking good on the mound, the offensive explosion has been nicely complimented, save for a shaky outing by Erasmo Ramirez in Oakland on Sunday. A little bit of timely hitting from new major-leaguer Abraham Almonte has also been a positive aspect of the start to the Seattle season, and M’s fans can only hope that he can continue to develop as he accumulates more experience.

Being part of the AL West – one of the most competitive divisions in baseball – makes the task in front of Seattle a daunting one. The A’s figure to be a tough match-up and the Texas Rangers boast a couple of new high-priced acquisitions, including Prince Fielder and Shin Soo Choo. As underwhelming as the Angels were last year, they still pencil Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout in their line-up every night.

It also bears repeating that the numbers only illustrate the performance of the team for the first few games of the year, a meaningless amount of data if you’re trying to project how they’ll perform over the course of an entire season. I don’t think many fans realistically expect that this year’s Seattle squad will often replicate the offensive fireworks that they displayed against the Angels.

But they really don’t need to. Hernandez has been outright dominant, striking out 19 batters in his first two starts. Hisashi Iwakuma (one of the best pitchers in the American League last year) and Taijuan Walker (one of the best pitching prospects in the league) are both set to return from injuries soon. If they perform at a high level, an improved Seattle offense could end up being the difference in whether or not the M’s have the chance to field a viable contending team. The team has shown that it is, in fact, capable of sustaining strong play in the short term. Now we get to see if it can do it for the long haul.