Mariners open camp with more expectations than ever
PEORIA, Ariz. — Asking Scott Servais in regards to the Mariners’ playoff drought on the primary morning of the primary full-squad exercise had turn into as customized in these components as checking on which gamers reported in the perfect form of their life. But after Seattle lastly ended its 20-year postseason absence final fall, there’s a palpable feeling that an intangible weight has been lifted.
“It’s beautiful,” the Mariners’ supervisor stated. “I haven’t gotten one question about it.”
Servais and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto enter their eighth season collectively in Seattle overseeing a roster filled with as a lot expertise as they’ve seen of their tenure, almost all of which returned and opened camp on Tuesday. Opening Day on March 30 is a methods off, however there’s assurance understanding that for the primary time since 2001, a brand new playoffs banner will hold within the T-Mobile Park rafters.
“Along with that, expectations — they get a little bit a little bit higher,” Servais stated. “I’ve said it early on, and I’ll keep saying it: That’s a good thing. We broke through the playoff drought in Seattle, so the expectations are naturally much higher, which is a great thing. They should be higher. We have a very good team.”
Servais’ tone, emblematic of the remainder of the group, is much extra assertive than lately, the place confidence was preached however maybe tempered — and it’s straightforward to see why. The Mariners received 90 video games for the second straight 12 months, swept closely favored Toronto on the street in an exciting AL Wild Card Series, then went toe-to-toe with the eventual champion Astros within the AL Division Series.
“How exciting everything was towards the end of last year, you definitely kind of have that as a motivation going into workouts this offseason,” stated catcher Cal Raleigh, who crushed the playoff-clinching walk-off homer on Sept. 30, the Mariners’ most iconic spotlight in a long time. “Whether it’s in the weight room or in the cages, or just even talking to the guys, the Zoom calls we’ve had too as well. So it’s been a lot of fun, and the energy is definitely high.”
The Mariners proved final October that they belonged — a validation as rewarding because it was stinging.
In that ALDS, Seattle blew two four-run leads in Game 1, misplaced a slight edge in Game 2 and couldn’t muster a run in Game 3 regardless of blanking Houston for 17 innings, underscoring Servais’ suggestion that, “we were probably one swing of the bat away from winning all three of those games.” Moreover, it was as deflating that these video games had been arguably probably the most difficult that the Astros performed en path to the World Series title, making a “what-if” that lingered all winter.
And maybe simply as quashing — even when they received’t say it out loud — it was that their season ended by the hands of the group that’s tormented them for years, and the one which they have to supplant to win the AL West.
“Obviously I was sad about it, but I feel like that also brings a lot of motivation,” middle fielder Julio Rodríguez stated. “I feel like you can avoid it and try to forget about it. You can also learn how to take something from it. I just feel like that whole situation with our whole loss against the Astros, I feel like it made this team stronger.”
“As great as it was last year and we accomplished a lot of things, I know how I felt and I know how [the players] felt when the season ended,” Servais stated. “It was a very empty feeling.”
The Mariners insist that they’ve turned the web page, arriving with a refreshed angle, a younger nucleus pushed by elite pitching that put them on Houston’s radar and lineup upgrades they imagine will deal with their deficiencies.
They additionally return a rotation that could possibly be the division’s greatest, composed of two workhorses (Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray), two rising stars (George Kirby and Logan Gilbert) and the longtime staple of consistency (Marco Gonzales). They’ll even have Castillo, who grew to become their postseason celebrity, for roughly 20 further begins that they didn’t final 12 months after buying him forward of the Trade Deadline. Health, particularly after not shedding a starter to the IL final 12 months, will stay paramount.
“We’re coming in here knowing that we’ve got to prepare for the long season and hopefully take the team as far and even further than we did last year,” Castillo stated by means of an interpreter. “This team has a lot of talent and it’s coming in with the mentality that we want to go further.”
They additionally now have an intangible attribute with worth that may’t be quantified: playoff expertise.
“You get a taste of what Major League Baseball is really about, and we got a little bit of taste of what we can do,” Kelenic stated. “And I think our expectation is to go and win a World Series this year. Anything short of that, I know we’re going to be frustrated.”
The Mariners confronted expectations final spring after remaining in competition till the ultimate day of 2021, however that is completely different. They’re not the shock darlings. The rebuild is over. The fan base is reinvigorated.
“That outside noise, it can get to you a little bit,” Ray stated. “And as a younger guy, it’s a little more difficult. But having veteran guys around you kind of helps you when you can see those guys not panicking and not going through those moments and pressing. … You can’t put too much pressure or too much thought on those expectations.”
