Seattle Mariners’ Domingo Santana, center, celebrates with teammate catcher Omar Narvaez (22) at home after hitting a grand slam off Oakland Athletics starter Mike Fiers in the third inning of Game 1 of their Major League opening series baseball game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Left is Athletics catcher Nick Hundley. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

Seattle Mariners’ Domingo Santana, center, celebrates with teammate catcher Omar Narvaez (22) at home after hitting a grand slam off Oakland Athletics starter Mike Fiers in the third inning of Game 1 of their Major League opening series baseball game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Left is Athletics catcher Nick Hundley. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

POLL: What’s your approach to the 2019 Mariners season?

Are you on board with following a rebuilding team, or are you going to sit this one out?

Don’t look now, but the Seattle Mariners are on top of all of Major League Baseball.

OK, so that’s because the Mariners and the Oakland A’s are the only teams that have played games that counted so far, with Seattle sweeping the two games the teams played in Japan last week. But still, given the expectations for this season, that’s a better start than anyone anticipated.

This is the season of the dreaded “step back,” as Mariners executives like to put it. In layman’s terms, this is the season Seattle finally committed to rebuilding.

For 17 years the Mariners have been stuck in a rut of mediocrity. Seattle hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001, giving the Mariners the longest active postseason drought of any team in the country’s major professional sports leagues. Last year looked like the year the drought would come to an end, but the Mariners fell short despite winning 89 games. With a team that overachieved based on run differential and a roster populated largely by older players on the downside of their careers, the Mariners decided it was finally time to start from the ground up.

A big chunk of the players who comprised the core of last year’s team are gone. Closer Edwin Diaz and second baseman Robinson Cano were traded to the New York Mets. Ace pitcher James Paxton was shipped off to the New York Yankees. Shortstop Jean Segura was sent to Philadelphia, while catcher Mike Zunino was flipped to Tampa Bay. And designated hitter Nelson Cruz was allowed to walk as a free agent, signing with Minnesota. Only four of the 10 players who were in Seattle’s starting lineup for the 2018 season opener were in the lineup for the 2019 opener, and one of those players was Ichiro Suzuki, who played just 15 games before moving into the front office last season, then officially retired after the games in Japan this season.

Seattle’s roster is largely a collection if players cobbled together just to make it through the season in one piece. The hope is that the prospects acquired in the offseason trades — players like pitchers Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn, shortstop J.P. Crawford and outfielder Jarred Kelenic, who are starting the season in the minor leagues — will help the Mariners emerge as a healthy and competitive franchise within a couple of years.

But those players aren’t going to be much help this season. Most predictions and projections have the Mariners winning in the range of 75 games and finishing fourth in the AL West, and those are the type of numbers and position Seattle fans are all too familiar with. But while this year’s team isn’t expected to be very good, there at least appears to be a long-term plan in place.

Seattle has its home opener Thursday against the Boston Red Sox. So with the season beginning in earnest this week, what’s your mindset about the 2019 Mariners? Let us know here:


Talk to us

More in Sports

The Everett Elite Flag Football 14-under team practices Sunday morning at Harbour Pointe Middle School in Mukilteo, Washington on January 16, 2022. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Community roundup: 3 Jackson grads to D-I baseball tournament

Plus, Jayden White is headed back to the NCAA track and field nationals, the Silvertips sign their first-round picks and more.

X
Vote for The Herald’s Prep Athlete of the Week for May 22-28

The Athlete of the Week nominees for May 22-28 Voting closes at… Continue reading

Washington's Sami Reynolds runs the bases against McNeese during an NCAA softball game on Saturday, May 20, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Local softball stars Reynolds, Mahler set for WCWS

Washington’s Sami Reynolds (Snohomish) and Stanford’s River Mahler (Monroe) each play prominent roles on their Pac-12 teams.

The Mariners’ Cal Raleigh smiles as a teammate throws bubblegum at him during an interview after Raleigh hit a single to drive in the winning run against the Yankees during the 10th inning of a game Wednesday in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Raleigh’s RBI single in 10th gives M’s 1-0 win over Yankees

George Kirby pitches one of the best games of his young career with eight shutout innings in Seattle’s 1-0 win.

X
AquaSox top Hops on wild pitch in 11th inning

Everett edges Hillsboro 3-2 in a game with strong pitching on both sides.

Alberto Rodriguez.
Rodriguez puts on power display, leads AquaSox to series win

The 22-year-old outfielder mashed 11 extra-base hits, including six home runs, as Everett took five of seven from Eugene.

Daniel Kim, left, and Ben Borgida, right, chat between holes during the Snohomish County Amateur golf tournament at the Everett Golf and Country Club in Everett, Washington on Monday, May 29, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Kim soars to 4-shot win in 92nd Snohomish County Amateur

The WSU freshman and Kamiak graduate’s 12-under final total was the historic tournament’s lowest since at least 2010.

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge gestures after hitting a solo home-run against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 30, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Caean Couto)
Judge strikes again, Mariners lose to Yankees

Seattle falls 10-2 for a second consecutive lopsided loss.

Cooper Cummings from the United States celebrates after winning a men's downhill during the Cheese Rolling contest at Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, Monday May 29, 2023. The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event where participants race down the 200-yard (180 m) long hill chasing a wheel of double gloucester cheese. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Arlington High School grad is the big cheese after winning UK race

Cooper Cummings, who grew up in Lake Stevens, defeated a world record-holder in Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake.

Most Read