Mariners at Royals Series Preview: The Final 2022 Road Trip

The Mariners have made it through LA and Oakland (barely), and now travel to Kansas City to play their final road series of the 2022 season. The Royals have one of the worst records in baseball at 61-89 but have been playing decent baseball of late with a sweep of the Minnesota Twins.

With the Mariners whittling away at their magic number, albeit a lot slower than most of us hoped after losing 5 of 7 to the Angels and Oakland, they have another opportunity to cut down that number before heading back to Seattle. The one good thing is that if they do end up making the playoffs, they’ll clinch a spot while at home which is going to be an incredible experience for the city.

They have to play the games first, though. Let’s preview the series against the Royals and look over some of the matchups they may see against KC.

Mariners at Royals Preview: Pitching Matchups

Friday, September 23rd @ 5:10 PM – Marco Gonzales vs Brady Singer

Saturday, September 24th @ 4:10 PM – Logan Gilbert vs Kris Bubic

Sunday, September 25th @ 11:10 AM – Luis Castillo vs Zack Greinke

The Mariners are going to have their work cut out for them in the first game, as Brady Singer has been on fire lately. Over his last eight starts, he has put together a 1.98 ERA over 50 innings, with the Royals going 7-1 in those starts.

It’s sort of the opposite in game two, as Bubic has struggled of late. In his last seven starts, he has been tagged for six HR and 29 runs over 33.1 innings, and the Royals haven’t won a single game he’s started over that stretch.

It finishes up with Greinke, who I really enjoy watching. I still want to see him get tagged, but he’s an overall good dude. He goes up against Castillo, who was tagged in his most recent outing. For some reason, he just can’t pitch against the Athletics. Against Oakland, he has a 7.82 ERA. Against everyone else, it’s 1.83. He has been pretty darn good since coming to Seattle and has a chance to close out their final road game of the season on a very strong note.

Mariners at Royals Preview: Hitters to Watch

Mariners: Jarred Kelenic, Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier

Royals: Their catchers, Bobby Witt, Nate Eaton

Jarred Kelenic was called up and got the start in the final game against Oakland, and returned with a vengeance. He went 2-3 with an HR, a 2B, and a BB. It was a great game for him, especially after being moved to CF after Julio had to exit the game. It’s also why I want to watch Winker. Maybe this will take pressure off of both of them, and Winker can get back to his powerful at-bats from yesteryear.

Frazier, meanwhile, would be a massive boon to the lineup. If he can start hitting .290 again like he has shown the ability to do in the past, the Mariners could be in a great place to start the playoffs.

On the Royals side, Bobby Witt is just fun to watch. He’s been right up there with Julio in the prospect talk, and it’s a shame that Julio might be out for a while to get his ailing back to full health again. Nate Eaton has been crushing it this month, hitting .368 with eight SB. Then there are the catchers, MJ Melendez and Salvador Perez. Melendez is the catcher of the future there, and we all know to be scared of Perez.

Mariners at Royals Preview: Final Thoughts

The Mariners SHOULD dominate this series. The Royals don’t really have anything to play for other than being a late-season spoiler, and the Mariners are looking to lock up their first playoff appearance since the debut of iTunes back in 2001. Yet, the Mariners really need to work hard at not looking past the Royals. The Mariners have been plagued by overlooking teams under .500 this year, and this final road series would be a great opportunity to flip that narrative.

Three games in Kansas City. The offense finally broke out in the finale against the Athletics, and it would be great to see it continue against the Royals. Monday morning will be their final rest day of the season, and it would be great to get to it with a series win. Go Mariners!