7 days until Mariners Opening Day

We are just seven days away from Opening Day! The Mariners haven’t played a full season since 2019 so it will be an exciting year for M’s baseball, especially with stadiums opening up slowly.

Not only will things be getting closer to normal, but it will also be fun to watch the handful of top prospects making their debut this season.

Mariners Opening Day: Marco Gonzales vs. Kevin Gausman

Since we are seven days away from the home opener, we might as well highlight our #7 and the Opening Day matchup! It’s actually perfect timing because the San Francisco Giants just announced their Opening Day starter.

This year, the 30-year-old right-hander Kevin Gausman will start for the Giants on Opening Day. Seattle faces a starting pitcher that isn’t that well known, but our friends over at Around the Foghorn think he was worth the one-year $9 million contract that signed him to in 2019.

Last season, Gausman had a 3.09 FIP, 1.106 WHIP, and a 3.62 ERA. Pretty solid numbers all around.

For the M’s, Marco Gonzales will be the Mariners Opening Day starter for the third year in a row. The Gonzaga product continues to trend in the right direction and might be a serious Cy Young contender in 2021. If not, I think he has a fantastic chance to be a first-time All-Star.

San Francisco isn’t a powerhouse team like it used to be and is projected to finish towards the bottom of the NL West. Like the M’s, they are rebuilding and have the 11th ranked farm system in the MLB. The Mariners have the third-ranked farm system in the MLB.

So, the Opening Day series should be a good matchup between two teams that are on the cusp of being competitors in the West. I do think the Mariners have an edge over the Giants just because some of our young talent is already with the major league team, but I could imagine a Giants vs. Mariners World Series in a few years.