The Seattle Mariners game Saturday lasted so long that my satellite feed cut off because I hadn’t changed the channel in six hours.
It was an epic ending to an epic season for the Mariners, easily their best and most exciting year since the 116-win season in 2001.
Which, like this year, ultimately ended in disappointment. That 2001 team was a bit of a fluke, built with a lot of spare parts and castoffs like Mike Cameron, Bret Boone and John Olerud who all had career or near-career years. It was built with 38-year-old Edgar Martinez and 38-year-old Jamie Moyer leading the way. It wasn’t surprising when, three years later, the Mariners completely collapsed.
This year’s team is different I think. It is very young. The cornerstones of team, Julio Rodriguez and Luis Castillo, have been signed to in long-term contracts. I thought it was great that Seattle went to the lengths it did to lock these guys up. Too many teams like the Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays try to win with young — and cheap — players, then let their teams fall apart when those young guys hit free agency. The Mariners seem serious about remaining in the hunt for a while.
Cal Raleigh and George Kirby are young and staying with the team for a while. Robbie Ray, Ty France and Eugenio Suarez are all under team control for at least three more years.
Mitch Haniger is the one major free agent. I suspect the Mariners will allow him to move on. I would. He gets hurt a lot. I wouldn’t pay a lot of money for a guy that seems to miss 30 to 60 games every year with injuries. But lots of other good players will be available on the free agent market that can replace Haniger’s bat … hint, hint, J.D. Martinez.
So, barring some major injury issues, expect the Mariners to keep contending for a while.
The Mariners had great pitching this year, fifth in the American League in ERA. They were even better defensively, making only 69 errors. That led the American League.
Great pitching and great defense is a good formula for winning.
Now, for the Achilles’ heel — the Mariners’ hitting.
Seattle was 14th in the American League in team batting average — .230. And keep in mind Rodriguez and France hit a combined .280. You take those two guys out of the equation and the rest of the team hit a collective .218. Ouch, big ouch.
The Mariners have to fix that. The Houston Astros exposed their weakness big time. The Mariners had 12 hits in their last 91 at-bats against Houston, a .132 batting average. They had 12 hits and two runs over their last 27 innings. Seattle’s pitching is good, but it isn’t good enough to overcome that.
The Mariners have fallen into a trap that a lot of teams do, I think. They rely too heavily on home runs to score. They hit their share of homers, but against a good, experienced pitching staff like the Astros have, they’re going to get exposed if they have no other way to score.
That’s two years in a row the Mariners were near the bottom of MLB in hitting and won 90 games in spite of it. I don’t think they can keep that up. The 1965 Dodgers could get away with it with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, but virtually no one else does. Not for long. Those young players have to become better hitters and make better contact. It would be nice for Seattle to go shopping for at least one or two bats in free agency that can bring at least .265 to .280 into the lineup.
Batting averages are down in general in baseball. This year’s MLB-wide .243 was the lowest since 1968. I hate how baseball has turned into a walk, strike out or hit a home run league.
I expect batting averages to go up next year, maybe by as much as five to 10 points MLB-wide, because the shift is being limited. No more shortstops in short right field wiping out singles through the infield. I’ve been clamoring to limit the shift for almost 10 years. I believe it’s hurting the league and wrecking batting averages.
Anyway, that’s a digression. I barely care about the playoffs now other than I want the Yankees to lose in the most heartbreaking fashion possible. Already looking forward to 2023.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
