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

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.