Where do the Mariners stack up against rivals in the A.L. West after the first month?

Baseball is a long season. I know that is not news to anybody, I know. Baseball plays 162 games per season, the most out of any major sports league in all of the world. When you play that many games, you need to have a short memory. a 3-game losing streak is not the end of the world. Winning 8 in a row does not mean you are bound for the World Series. Heck, you can win 116 games in a season and not even make the World Series. (Too soon). I know, I'm sorry.

I say all of this because it is a long season. April records do not mean much in September. Yeah, you can come up short by a game or two and miss the playoffs, but more times than not, the wild card teams don't make too much noise in the playoffs (ignoring 2023). Yeah, those games in April would have gone towards that win total, but a team should not have to win 12 of their next 15 to get into the playoffs.

With all of that said, I am writing this as of April 29th. So keep that in mind when looking at the records moving forward. I am going to go in reverse order of the current American League West division standings. I do not expect this to be the final year standing at all, but the current standings are interesting and surprising.

5th place in the A.L. West: Houston Astros (9-19), 6.0 games back

This may be the biggest surprise of 2024 so far. The Astros have the 4th worst record in all of baseball and are currently only better than the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, and the Colorado Rockies. This is not some bad streak that they had early on, they have just been playing bad baseball. They were swept in their first series of the year in 4 games by the New York Yankees.

Houston won their next series against the Blue Jays, which was highlighted by Ronel Blanco's no-hitter. They would go on to split a 4-game series against the Rangers but were then swept by the Kansas City Royals. They also have been swept by the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs. Could this team, who has been to 7 straight ALCS, be this bad?

No, I still think that the Astros will figure it out moving forward. They have dealt with some crazy injuries already this season. They have had an entire pitching rotation on the Injured List this year. Justin Verlander just came back and has made a few starts, and Framber Valdez is back too. Cristian Javier is on the injured list with neck discomfort, while Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, and Lance McCullers Jr. are all on the IL with elbow injuries.

They have also dealt with bullpen injuries and overall ineffectiveness so far. They lost Kendall Graveman for the season, while their prized free agent Josh Hader is rocking a 7.59 ERA through 10.2 innings. Their other top reliever Ryan Pressley has been almost as bad so far, rocking a 6.75 ERA through his 10.2 innings of work. Hunter Brown has a 9.68 ERA through his 5 starts so far. I absolutely expect all 3 of these guy's ERA's to come back down to their normal.

Their run differential is currently sitting at -22, and that is with blowing the doors off of the Rockies in their last two games, where they gained back 14 runs towards their run differential. They have a losing record both at home and on the road, and their record against .500 or better teams currently sits at 4-16. For a team as talented as the Astros are, you still can't count them out. It is nice to see them at the bottom of the standings this far into the season, though.

3rd Place in the A.L. West: Oakland Athletics (13-17), 3.5 games back

We all know how back Oakland A's fans have it. This is the franchise's last year in the city of Oakland before they make their move to Sacramento in 2025. They will leave the confines of the Oakland Coliseum for a AAA team in California's State Capital. They will play in Sacramento for a few seasons before the team heads out to their new home on the Las Vegas Strip.

The A's are in a weird, purgatory period this year. Nobody believe that this team will make the Postseason, but they have been "Sneaky-alright" this year. 13-17 is a bad record no matter how you spin it. But with everything swirling around the team, the terrible expectations of the team, 13-17 is not that bad.

Their closer Mason Miller has reached "Appointment Television" status. He has touched 104 MPH with his fastball, and has been striking out some of the leagues best players. Last week in New York, Miller came in and faced Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. He struck them all out swinging. Miller is now destined for the All-Star Game, should he stay healthy.

This is going to sound like I am picking on the A's, but they will come back down to Earth. Currently, they only have one player who is regularly in the lineup with an on base percentage above .300, and that is Lawrence Butler's .318. Tyler Nevin and Esteury Ruiz have an OBP over .300, but they do not have enough ABs to qualify. They also rank 29th out of 30 in runs scored with just 84.

The pitching rotation outside of Paul Blackburn has been bad. Blackburn and the bullpen has actually ben really good. The rest of the staff? Yikes. The A's rank 18th in team ERA (4.13). They have also given up 19 home runs so far, the most in all of baseball. I believe that they will fall from 18th down to 25th or worse in terms of ERA. I still expect that this team will finish last in the A.L. West.

2nd in the A.L. West: Texas Rangers, 15-14, 0.5 games back

The Texas Rangers may be the scariest team in this division. I know I am not breaking any news with that statement, but the Rangers have reinforcements coming. They rank 15th out of 30 in team ERA, and their struggles in the rotation have been documented. They have Max Scherzer coming back soon, as he is already on a rehab assignment. Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle should be back around the trade deadline. Their starting rotation will look a lot different come August.

Their offense has been a middle of the road type, hovering between 11-15 in all of the major categories. Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia are having their typical dominant seasons, while Corey Seager has struggled out of the gate. Josh Jung is injured yet again, this time with a fractured wrist. He could be back by the end of May, but he has missed a ton of time over his career.

The Rangers have a good young core in their lineup. Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford have given the Rangers a much-needed boost so far this season. With Carter, Langford, Jung (when healthy), Heim, Semien, Seager, and Garcia, the Rangers have a good portion of their lineup locked up for the next half-decade. Should their pitching stay healthy, the Rangers can be the best baseball team again.

The Rangers run differential this year is just +7 so far. They also have a record of 9-8 against teams .500 or better. That tells me that they have had a tough schedule so far, so look out when they get to play the White Sox, Angels, and A's. The Rangers are likely the betting favorite to win this division unless the Mariners can keep up their winning ways.

1st place in the A.L. West: Seattle Mariners (16-13), Division Leader

The Seattle Mariners are in first place. How sweet are those words? Yes, it is not even May yet, but who cares? The Mariners took the division lead while winning a series against the Texas Rangers. The Mariners are living up to the hype so far, which is a far cry from where fans were thinking this team was not 3 weeks ago.

Yes, the offense is still struggling. They are 27th in batting average, 26th in OBP, 24th in slugging percentage, and 25th in OPS. Guys like Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco, and Mitch Garver have not been playing up to the back of their baseball cards quite yet. I imagine those numbers will all hover around league average when all is said and done.

What the Mariners can do is pitch. They are 3rd in team ERA, 6th in strikeouts as a staff, 1st in WHIP (Walks + hits per inning pitched), and second in opponents batting average. Over the Mariners' last 17 games, the starting pitchers have given up just 18 earned runs. I am no mathematician, but that is just over a 1 earned run on average over the last 17 games. I think that is good?

The Mariners have a +11 run differential, which is the best in the A.L. West. They really need the bats to heat up to start complimenting this pitching staff. Their record at home is 10-7, while their road record is 6-6. The record against .500 teams is 11-9, so hopefully they can take advantage of sub-par teams moving forward.

I fully suspect this team to make it into the Postseason, most likely as a Wild Card team. This team is built for Postseason baseball. Relentless starting pitching, and a terrific bullpen. That combo leads to success more times than not in the playoffs.

As always, Go Mariners!