Mariners split series with Red Sox to open the season and offense looks anemic despite historic night for Julio

It's what we have all been waiting for. For the last... 5-6 months it seems like, Mariners' fans have been waiting for this first series of the season. The Mariners were welcoming the Boston Red Sox to town for a four-game series to open the season. We all knew that the starting rotation was going to be good, but it was the offense that people wanted to see. They looked so different, and many a fan thought that the team had done enough to get better.

Well, it sure didn't seem that way after the Sox series came to an end. Anyway you look at it, it was an ugly series on offense. Sure, there were some cool things that happened. There is no argument there. The Mariners were able to win game 2 on a solo homer from JP Crawford, watching him provide the only offense in the 1-0 win. There is just something special about seeing a win like that, knowing that it was done on one swing of the bat. You just want your offense to show up at some point after that.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, they just never did that during the first nine innings of any of the games. Game 1 actually saw the Mariners score more runs during the first nine innings than the remaining three games did COMBINED. I already mentioned the 1-0 win. Then, in game 3, The Mariners went to extras tied at 1-1. In the final game, they only scored one run once again.

Every game matters. You can't deny that. Even though it is a 162 game season, every game matters. There have been plenty of times where the thought "oh, it's just one game, they will make up for it" comes to the forefront of your thoughts. However, think about where the Mariners ended up last season. A shot at the playoffs still in game 161. Two games short of making the playoffs. If they had found a win or two earlier in the season in games that they should've won, maybe that wouldn't have been the case.

Don't take this as me saying that the Mariners season is already over. It is early, and things are just getting started. Even thought the Mariners split the series 2-2, we saw utterly dominant performance from George Kirby and Logan Gilbert. Kirby went 6-2/3, and Gilbert decided to turn it into a Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan commercial. "Anything you can do, I can do better... I can do anything better than you".

Well, I doubt that was going through his head, but Gilbert turned in 7 beautiful innings during game 3, despite getting a no decision. Luckily, he had some guy named Julio to save the day. Maybe you've heard of him? If not, maybe it's cause you normally see his name spelt out JULIOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The Mariners offense looked putrid, but they did enough to split the series. Next up is the Guardians, and the Mariners will look for their first series win of the season.