So...the Mariners.
May 6th was the last time they were above .500, and ever since then they've been sinking lower...and lower. Comically so, even. To the point where they're currently in last place behind the Angels and Rangers, and just...refusing to win games.
And it's not like they lost a lot of players to injuries and lost that way. It's just...a lot of their crucial members got cold at the same time. Marco Gonzales and Mike Leake started dropping games, Mitch Haniger and Tim Beckham stopped hitting, and SO MANY MEMBERS OF THE BULLPEN started divebombing games.
A lot of these losses, for the record, have been blowouts. So it's a mixture of the pitching being unable to keep down multiple runs and the lineup not being able to match those numbers. I mean, early on in the season the M's were getting by on their home run game, with people like Vogey and Edwin and Bruce just slamming like 20 home runs a week or so. But...that doesn't work if the rest of the team starts failing you.
The Twins have taken that strategy though, the strategy of hitting a bazillion home runs and skirting by on that. And it works because the Twins' bullpen is pretty great. A bunch of their relievers have sub-2 ERAs, and just...aren't giving up runs. And that's not especially happening with the M's bullpen, as they've gone through like eight bad bullpen options before settling on ones that kind of work.
I mean, you do have decent performances coming out of Seattle. Yusei Kikuchi was the big Japanese import this year, and...while he's not AMAZING quite yet, he's a solid rotation piece for Seattle. Could do some great things. And Vogelbach is definitely still hitting, which helps. But this team's once steady output of production has slowed to a crawl, and it's very evident. And hopefully they can rebound...even a portion of what momentum they've lost.
Coming Tomorrow- In the absence of AJ Pollock, the Dodgers have needed a reliable option at center. Thank God there's been one chilling on the bench for two years.
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