![]() They form the core of a pitching rotation that can stack up with any other team in the bigs.Ī s far as new faces, the Mariners' two big moves were trades for the Blue Jays' slugging right fielder Teoscar Hernández and Brewers' second baseman Kolten Wong. But he wasn't the only one, both of the rotation's young arms, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, also pitched like No. After coming over midseason in a trade, Luis Castillo pitched like an elite ace. Speaking of that staff, the starting arms should provide the foundation for this team. "The Big Dumper" (nicknamed as such for his prodigious posterior) was unquestionably a top five catcher in all of baseball last year, leading all backstops in homers while also expertly handling the pitching staff. No Mariners fan will ever forget his clutch home run that sent the Mariners to the playoffs, but it was hardly a fluke occurrence. In addition to Rodriguez, catcher Cal Raleigh established himself as a clear building block with star potential last season. There's basically nothing he can't do on the field, and it wouldn't be shocking to hear his name in the MVP conversation this season. He's already being positioned as one of the faces of the game by MLB, and it's easy to see why. Not only did the 22-year-old center fielder win Rookie of the Year in 2022, he established himself as a superstar, and his infectious personality overtook the often dour Mariners franchise. There are certainly more reasons to be optimistic about the team's future than not. So where does that leave the franchise heading into the 2023 season? Was last season the start of the M's becoming an actual perennial contender or a flukey blip on the usually miserable radar? Then again, occasional highs and crushing lows have kind of been the Mariners thing for a while. But mere days later, the team suffered one of the worst losses in franchise history, being eliminated when they went an agonizing 18 innings without scoring a run in the first Major League Baseball playoff game in Seattle since 2001. That playoff run saw one of the most thrilling victories in franchise history when the M's miraculously came back to stun the Toronto Blue Jays. ![]() Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodrigez look to carry Seattle to new baseball heights.Īfter decades of incompetence, the Seattle Mariners finally made the playoffs last season, ending the longest postseason drought in American pro sports. ![]()
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