Mariners vs Royals: Seattle looks to shut down the biggest surprise in baseball

1 of 4

The Mariners had a funky series against the Athletics, with the offense showing up quite strong in the first and last game, but the middle one being a massive stinker that saw no offense outside of a Cal Raleigh solo homer. They won the series, and it was nice seeing it be due to the offense instead of dominant starting pitching.

The Mariners are going to need a combination of that against the Royals if they are going to be able to win the series. As it was with the Athletics, these aren't the Royals you are used to. This is a team with a darn good offense and some pretty good pitching to boot. They're fighting for the division lead, sitting just a half game behind the leaders, but still rocking a 25-17 record with the 4th-best run differential in all of baseball.

Knowing that they have an off day this coming Thursday to reset as they head off to another road trip could lead to an early hook for Woo (especially with his injury recovery) the final day for the Mariners. We could also see that for Wacha and Marsh, as the Royals have a travel day Thursday as well.

Who's going to come out ahead? Let's dive into the matchups, hitters to watch, and final thoughts for this week's Mariners' series against the Kansas City Royals.

Mariners vs Royals: Pitching Matchups

Monday, May 13th @ 6:40 PM - George Kirby (3-3, 4.15 ERA) vs Brady Singer (3-1, 2.36 ERA)
Tuesday, May 14th @ 6:40 PM - Logan Gilbert (3-1, 2.94 ERA) vs Michael Wacha (2-4, 5.15 ERA)
Wednesday, May 15th @ 1:10 PM - Bryan Woo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Alec Marsh (3-0, 2.53 ERA)

Luckily for the Mariners, they aren't going to have to face Cole Ragans in this series, and they'll miss Lugo and his killer curveball as well. They will still have their hands full, as the Royals staff has been really strong this year.

The series kicks off with Brady Singer, who is coming off of three straight outings where he has given up just one run in each of them. He hasn't been going deep into games, has been having a bit of a walk problem as of late, and has been getting lucky with a .235 BABIP. If the Mariners can have one of those games where they show patience, they could knock him out of the game after four innings and start the series off right.

Michael Wacha has been up and down this season, coming off a start they saw him allow just three hits, but walking five. His FIP is nearly one and a half runs better than his ERA, as evidenced by bad luck on his BABIP. He's done fantastic at limiting hard contact, with an exit velo over 2 mph below league average.

They'll finish off with Alec Marsh, who has been struggling to make it through the fifth inning this season. However, it seems like it's more of a cautionary thing and due to the way that Marsh pitches, as he has been doing a good job at limiting baserunners as he currently holds a 1.031 WHIP.

Mariners vs Royals: Hitters to Watch

Once again, Salvador Perez ladies and gentleman. The guy just keeps on hitting and is showing no signs of slowing down. He is at a slash line of .329/.388/.555 with eight homers and nine doubles. I'm fully prepared for him to plague my nightmares again, so let's hope he doesn't do too much damage this series.

Watch out for Dairon Blanco. While he's far from a big name, the Royals' LF has crazy speed, with ten steals in just 38 AB. He's also hitting well with a .289/.357/.447 slash line. If he gets on base, expect him to run, and it's going to be fun seeing if Raleigh, who led the league in runners thrown out in 2023, can catch him on the basepaths.

We can't talk about the Royals without talking about Bobby Witt Jr. 11 doubles, five homers, and 15 steals already this season, and he's hitting like the superstar he is with a slash line of .305/.372/.524. He's got five triples as well, so be prepared for Haniger to take his normal bad line on a ball in right, misplay it, and watch Witt coast into third base.

Mariners vs Royals: Final Thoughts

It's been a while, but I'm nervous about Salvador Perez, enough so that I'm mentioning it for a second time. The 2021 series against the Mariners that saw him hit two grand slams still sits fresh in my mind, as those horrendoes streaks of opposing hitters often do. You know, like the Pudge Rodriguez game where he had nine RBI against the Mariners back when they were in the Kingdome still in1999.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the series. The Mariners are still rocking a 16-9 record over their last 25 games with a +33 run differential. Am I saying that it's a guarantee that they win the series? No, I'm not. However, I think that the Mariners will have a good game against Michael Wacha, and one of either Marsh or Singer is going to struggle.

Maybe something along the lines of a 3-5 loss, a 7-3 win, and then a 6-4 win. The biggest factor is going to be if Julio continues to heat up and adjust that launch angle as he has shown signs off lately. It wouldn't surprise me if he went on a run and hit a homer in 4-5 straight series, getting the BA up to the .280 range. Julio is to the Mariners as the Field of Dreams was to fans. If you build it, they will come... if he starts hitting, so will the Mariners.

Who knows, maybe this ends up being a WC preview, with the Mariners winning the AL West, albeit with the worst record of the division winners. Then the Royals sneak in as the 6-seed. They're playing well right now, but will probably have a midseason swoon. I still think they're a dangerous team who will fight for the playoffs. The Mariners are going to have their hands full, but this is the exact kind of series that they need to show up and prove that they can be a team to be reckoned with in 2024.

Home / Mariners News