The Mariners Wild Wild West

So far this spring training has giving Seattle Mariners fans some excited things to look forward to this 2013 MLB season. The Mariners made some very interesting transactions this offseason. The big one was re-signing Felix Hernandez to a 7 year deal worth $175 million dollars and basically made him a Mariner for life. The Mariners also went out and signed a few veterans including Jason Bay, Kelly Shoppach, Joe Saunders, and Raul Ibanez (who will make his 3rd stint with the team this year). The Mariners did make some sacrifices as well trading Jason Vargas to the Los Angeles Angels for Kendrys Morales. The Mariners were then apart of a 3 team trade in which they traded away clutch hitter John Jaso to the Oakland A's for Nationals slugger Mike Morse. The team had now added power to a great lineup of young guns who can hit for average and power. The Mariners pitching rotation is still to be decided with as 4 pitchers are in competition for the 5th starting role.

The Mariners are going to have an extra competitor in the AL West this season as the Houston Astros joined the American League in the offseason. The Astros last year finished dead last in the NL Central at 55-107. They dont pose a big threat in the AL West but both the Oakland A's and Los Angeles Angels do. The A's are coming off a season were they had a second half that helped them win the AL West. The Angels have added Josh Hamilton to their impressive lineup of power hitters. The Mariners matched up pretty well against their division rivals last year. Though they had a bellow .500 winning percentage against all of the teams they improved dramatically from 2011. 

The Mariners began the 2011 season on the road against the A's who they had a 7-12 record against last year. They began by taking 3 out of 4 games from the A's in the opening series, two in Japan and 1 in Oakland. They then played the A's 4 days after that taking 2 out of 3. They had to wait till June to see them again where they lost that series dropping 2 out of 3 to them. A month later the A's took another 2 games out of a 3 game series from the Mariners. The final two series the Mariners were swept in both 3 game series and they lost the last 7 games against the Athletics. 

The Rangers gave the M's trouble in the beginning by taking the first series in Texas 2 games to 3. A month later the Mariners bounced back and took 2 out of 3 from the Rangers in Seattle and then made a trip down to Texas where they played a 3 game series and after losing the first game the M's bats went crazy winning the 2nd game 10-3 and in the 3rd game they walloped Derek Holland and the Ranger bullpen 21-8! In July the M's and Rangers split a 2 game series in Seattle and then in September split another 2 game series and won the final 3 game series in Seattle 2 games out of 3.

Now the Angels. Well, the Mariners didn't see them until May and the first series wasn't pretty, the M's were swept in a 4 game series in Seattle. In June the M's came back and took 2 out of 3 from the Halos in Anaheim. The M's then went back to Anaheim in August and took another 2 out of 3 from the Angels and at the end of the month through the 2nd of September the M's lost 2 out of 3 at home. The M's took one more trip to Anaheim and avoided the sweep in the final game by winning 9-4 but losing 2 out of the 3 games. The final series with the Angels was also the final series of the year for the Mariners and they took the final 2 games from the Halos in nice fashion with a 6-1 win in the 2nd game and in the final game of the year blew out the Angels 12-0. 

Looking back to last season and looking forward to this season I am predicting that both myself and Mariners fans are going to enjoy a winning season. Both in the AL West and against other opponents.