SEATTLE, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The goal is simple: win the AL West.
The slow start doesn’t matter. The record doesn’t matter. It’s all about where you stand in the American League West.
The media and some fans were quick with a “here we go again” after the Mariners were 6-10 without a series win against their first four opponents. During that span, the strikeouts were piling up, circus-music caliber plays on defense and a homerless Julio added up to lots of “I told you so’s.”
But this is baseball. It’s a long, 162-game season with lots of ups and downs. Sure, the Mariners had a less-than-impressive start to 2024, but so did the rest of the AL West. The Houston Astros look like they may have traded uniforms with the West Sacramento A’s. The defending world series champion Texas Rangers are a .500 team. The Angels are, well, the Angels. A team that hasn’t finished .500 or better in the last six seasons.
Despite the Rangers pedestrian start, they have hovered around the top of the division. After a series sweep (and first series win), the Mariners have gone on a bit of a roll. They followed up the sweep against the Rays with a road series win over the lowly Colorado Rockies, despite winter-like conditions. They opened this week’s Texas series with a shutout win over the Rangers. The win put the M’s atop of the AL West going into Wednesday’s game two.
Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller have been lights out. Cal Raleigh has smashed six homers and knocked in 13 runs in 23 games. Ty France’s off-season works appears to be paying off, and Mitch Haniger is back being Mitch Haniger.
Is this Mariners team firing on all cylinders? No. And that’s the good news. Julio finally hit a homer after 22 homerless games. Some of the new additions have been inconsistent at best. Our Ace, Luis Castillo, is 1-3. No one saw that coming…
But here we are. Sitting atop of the AL West by not living up to early expectations. The best is yet to come with this baseball team. They will sync up this offense.
We are already seeing signs of life on the base paths. They rocked the Rockies with 18 runs over the weekend and left plenty on base. It could’ve been much worse.
At press time, the Mariners are a game over .500. But more importantly, they sit atop of The AL West with a lot of upsides.
This team is just getting started.
