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For the past two weeks, I have been out in Arizona, bouncing around the Cactus League, visiting a different Major League Baseball team's spring training camp each day.

Tuesday morning, I arrived at Mariners' camp bright and early. The clubhouse was open to the media from 7:00 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., a longer period of media accessibility than I have experienced at other camps. As I walked around the clubhouse at 7:05, I was met with recognizable faces and personalities. There was Jarred Kelenic, the can't-miss outfield prospect that has struggled to find his footing in his first two Major League seasons, but is off to a terrific spring and hopes to turn a corner in year three. There was the friendly Taylor Trammell, another former top prospect and MVP of the 2018 Futures game, who can't keep quiet about his love for dinosaurs or his Christian faith. There was the veteran and 2016 World Series champion Tommy La Stella, who, after signing a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, was designated for assignment in January, with one year left on his contract and is now competing for a roster spot with the M's. The clubhouse was filled with unique players, each with unique stories.

The Mariners are coming off a historic season, in which they returned to the MLB postseason for the first time since 2001, the same season Seattle tied an MLB record for wins in a single season, collecting 116 of them, while 27-year-old Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki batted .350, taking home American League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, and an AL Batting Title to go with it.

For the second straight year, the Mariners finished 90-72, in 2022. Seattle made its triumphant return to the playoffs, sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card Series, and going toe-to-toe with their division rival, and eventual World Series champion Houston Astros. The Mariners led both Game 1 and Game 2, but failed to win each game. In Game 3, the M's took the Astros to 18 innings, before being eliminated from playoff contention on a Jeremy Pena game-winning home run. Though the Mariners finished 16 games behind the Astros in the regular season, and were swept out of the playoffs, the club has more than enough reasons to be feeling hopeful about its chances in 2023.

With a year of playoff experience under their belts, the Mariners are looking to take the next step in 2023. The club improved at second base, flipping Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro for smooth-fielding infielder Kolten Wong. The M's added another big bat to its lineup in the form of Teoscar Hernandez, and the club's pitching rotation, featuring Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Marco Gonzales and Chris Flexen, could be among the best pitching staffs in Mariners' franchise history.

As the locker room fills up as more players arrive, the atmosphere can best be described as joyous and optimistic. Players have been at spring training for over a month now, and are working out at the team's facilities in Peoria, Arizona each morning, before the team's meetings, warmups and games.

Spring training is not for the faint of heart; it's a grind. Despite the fatigue that may be beginning to set in for players and coaches, the mood is positive and upbeat. Loud pop music begins playing as players start challenging each other to ping-pong matches. This club is just beginning what it hopes will be a nine-month marathon to the finish line: its first World Series championship in franchise history. The club's players better like each other, because most of them will be seeing each other daily from now until the season ends, whenever that is. As for now, the mood is optimistic. On a fresh spring morning, hope springs eternal.

Media time ends and after spending some time in the media workroom, I'm out on the backfields of the Mariners' complex, watching players take batting practice and participate in various competitive hitting, bunting and fielding drills and minigames.

More familiar faces emerge. The first is newly-hired bullpen and quality control coach Stephen Vogt. The 2007 12th round pick out of Azusa Pacific carved out an eleven-year big league career for himself, making two All-Star appearances, and playing catcher for six different Major League teams. As a player, Vogt established a reputation for himself as a remarkable clubhouse guy that knew how to lead young players. During his playing career, when he wasn't busting out his spot-on impersonation of Chris Farley's 'Matt Foley' Saturday Night Live character or his best imitation of an NBA referee, he was mentoring and leading young players. Former teammate Ryan Dull played alongside Vogt in Oakland, with Vogt often catching for him. Dull told me on the Jack Vita Show earlier this year, that Vogt would one day make a great coach. Dull had no insider trading, and yet, Vogt was hired by the Mariners just days after Dull made that comment. Now, Vogt's a rookie coach, embarking on the next chapter of his baseball life.

I move over to a field where Mariners hitters are participating in a competitive hitting minigame, while hitting against a pitching machine. Former Mariners All-Star center fielder Mike Cameron participates in the competition with the Mariners young players. Despite being out of the game for 12 years, Cameron, or as the M's young players call him, 'Cam', is holding his own with the M's' young guns.

As I make my rounds among the four different practice fields, I arrive at the batting cages, where a Mariners great and future Hall of Famer is spotted, stretching as he prepares for a round of batting practice.

Ichiro Suzuki, still a part of the Mariners organization, has been working out at the Peoria Sports Complex with the Mariners every morning, while taking cuts in the cages. I ask Ichiro if he can still play. He jokingly says, "No," then laughs and says, "Yes, I can," while giving me a 'gotcha' look.

Ichiro, at the spry age of 49, enters the cages, and he's still got it. He hits frozen rope after frozen rope.

After watching one of the greats take BP, I head to press box and begin working on pregame stories for spring training games from around the league. Fast-forward to first pitch, and Logan Gilbert takes the mound for the Mariners.

Gilbert broke out in 2022, in his first full season in the big leagues, posting a 13-6 record, 3.20 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 116 ERA+ over 185.2 innings pitched and 32 starts.

The Kansas City Royals hang two runs off three hits on Gilbert, but Gilbert settles down, striking out six and walking no one. The Mariners go on to top the Royals 8-6, receiving an RBI from Kolten Wong, Mike Ford, Jarred Kelenic, Tom Murphy and Jacob Nottingham, and two RBI from Randy Bednar. The Peoria Sports Complex reaches its loudest volume when catcher Jacob Nottingham circles the bases on a rare and improbable inside-the-park home run.

The Mariners improve to 9-7. Manager Scott Servais faces the media, and the players go home to rest before doing it all again the next day.

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