Mariners’ Sloppy First Act Still Has Life Because the AL West Left the Door Open

Does anybody actually want to win the AL West right now? That is not exactly the kind of question a division should be inviting 40 games into the season, but here we are. Just look at the current shape of the race:

Athletics 20-18
Mariners 19-20
Rangers 17-21
Astros 16-23
Angels 15-24

That’s not a division race so much as a group project where nobody wants to present first. Nobody has grabbed the AL West by the throat. And nobody has played clean enough baseball to make the rest of the group feel like it missed its window.

For the Mariners, that is both a gift and a warning.

Seattle’s start has been frustrating. The Mariners have spent the first chunk of the season looking like a team that knows what it is supposed to become but has not quite figured out how to look that way every night. The pitching has had its bumps. The lineup has had its quiet stretches. Injuries have interrupted the version of the roster they expected to roll out. Cal Raleigh is still hitting under the Mendoza Line. Luis Castillo has not looked like “The Rock” Seattle has grown used to watching. Bryce Miller started the season on the shelf. Brendan Donovan had his own injury interruption before returning from the injured list this week.

That’s a lot of friction for a team many people still expect to win this division. But the AL West has yet to punish them for it.

In some divisions, a start like this already changes the whole conversation. Teams begin looking up and realizing the leader is gone. Front offices start having uncomfortable internal conversations about whether they are buyers, sellers or something far more annoying in between. Fan bases start doing trade deadline math in May because the standings have already boxed them in.

The Mariners have not been boxed in. If anything, the door has been left so wide open that it almost feels rude not to walk through it.

The AL West has given the Mariners a chance they have not fully earned yet

The Athletics have been better than many expected, and they deserve credit for that. This is not the old version of that roster that could be brushed off. Shea Langeliers has looked dangerous, while Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson and others have given them real young position-player juice. The A’s being in first place is not a total accident.

But do they feel like a team that should scare Seattle away from believing it can win the division? No.

The Angels have star power. Mike Trout looking like Mike Trout again with 11 home runs and changing their entire temperature. José Soriano has broken out. But we have watched enough Angels baseball over the years to know the difference between talent and staying power.

The Astros still have Yordan Alvarez, enough said. But Houston doesn’t look like the same machine.

The Rangers are close enough to remain dangerous, but they are going through organizational changes and haven't played like a team forcing the issue either.

Seattle’s record is annoying. But it looks different when placed next to the rest of the division. The Mariners have not played their best baseball, and they are still sitting right in the middle of the race.

At some point, “they have not clicked yet” has to become “they are starting to click.” The roster has too much talent to live forever on the promise of better days ahead. A slow start from Raleigh can be understandable. Donovan’s injury can be contextualized. But all of those explanations only matter if they eventually lead somewhere better.

The Mariners need to make sure they are not the team still waiting for things to make sense when that happens.

Add us as a preferred source on Google