Seattle Mariners are better than you think they are
Joe Swenson
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Although it feels like the Seattle Mariners are struggling more this year, the reality is they are a better team than they were at this point in 2022.
Tuesday night, the Seattle Mariners defeated Oakland 3-2 to even their season record at 24-24. That’s four games better than they were at this point a year ago when they went to the playoffs.
Then why does it feel as if the team is worse, not better?
Weight of expectations
Seattle Mariners had higher expectations, along with the perception Houston would regress some. With the losses of Justin Verlander and Yuli Gurriel, in addition to Jose Altuve and other starters missing time, it feels like Seattle should be closer than they are now.
There is also some credence to how offensive performance impacts perception. In 2022, the Seattle Mariners batted .239 through 48 games, while the current Mariners are batting .228. Last year’s squad had a .707 OPS compared to 2023’s .688.
The expectation is that the 2023 Seattle Mariners will continue to improve, while the 2022 M’s actually regressed to finish with a .230 batting average. This April was especially brutal for Seattle batters, as evidenced by their .218 team batting average.
In May, it rose to .241, and over the last 14 days, Seattle is batting at a .244 clip. So they are progressing towards league average at this point.
What’s harder to see is how outstanding the pitching staff has been in 2023 versus where we were in 2022. At this point last year, the M’s had a 4.07 ERA and were in the middle of one of the worst ERA months of the last decade, posting a 4.63 for May.
This year’s Seattle Mariners are at 3.53, the third-best in the Majors. Over the last 30 days, their ERA is a stingy 3.36.
Hitting woes are much easier to perceive because scoring runs makes headlines. Effective pitching is harder to see when the team loses 3-2.
Despite the record being four games better than it was at this point last season, offensive productivity oftentimes runs the narrative over pitching proficiency. That’s why fans perceive the team isn’t as good.