The Mariners Have the BIGGEST Division Lead in Baseball... But HOW?!

Despite a plethora of key injuries and a mostly woeful offense, the Mariners find themselves nine games up in the American League West, which is their largest division lead since the end of 2001. How is that possible? Plus, Ty France is back and Tyler Locklear is still on the roster. How will Seattle make that work? Ty and Colby discuss.
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[@JurasekIII]

I like Scott Servais, I feel like there was a couple of seasons where he should've won manager of the year.

[@dsnow42]

It is clear why he will never be a REAL manager

[@aontheartist4868]

@@dsnow42yep

[@thomassexton6783]

Having power to be able to pinch hit is something the Mariners haven’t had in awhile. Not the worst idea.

[@condlewis]

To summarize your guy's points as to why this team is doing so well, other than Servais of course, I think it can be boiled down into one point: they are clutch. Despite several stressful ass games this year, I still have faith these boys are in every game until the last out is called.

[@dsnow42]

lol oh Scott… he is bad

[@Sean-os2pe]

I'll tell you how they're doing it and they're going to win the world series also. My friend Jim who lived in Seattle his whole life and watched every game his whole life and knew every statistic of every player he's been following the Mariners his whole life. The biggest Mariner fan I know. He passed away last year and I asked him to show me a sign that he's still with me. And this is the sign , the Mariners will finally win the world series❤!

[@condlewis]

@@dsnow42 naw he's pretty fine. not bad, not amazing. just fine. but he's a winner. career winning record +50 games

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodGentile]

If we play .500 ball from here, we’ll finish with 87 wins .. sky is the limit

[@jamesmaass8929]

Not now. Things are getting back to normal. Whew what a relief

[@daveconlin8342]

How are they 9 games up ? They play in a horrific division where every other team is at least 7 games under .500.

[@trevorbye6965]

we've played every divisional team twice so far, and houston and texas (WS champion) are playoff teams that don't play to their current record. The rest of our schedule has been brutal, primarily against playoff/WS teams with the exception of a series against the rockies and white sox.

[@daveconlin8342]

@@trevorbye6965Not saying they aren't good.I think with that staff they can hang in a series with any team.Just saying they wouldn't be in first in Central or East let alone 9 games up.

[@jacobcrawford7470]

Raliegh has been playing virtually every day, I think he's even DH'd when Garver has been catcher. At some point thats got to change. Raleigh is obviously a big part of this lineup but if he's on the bench that frees us AB's for Locklear to prove he belongs.

[@Vanessaira-Retro]

"Part of the Ship, part of the Crew" if this team gets to the post season. They will be dangerous because they have played so many close games. Survived so much and won. Getting all this experience and confidence now. Rather than being dominant all season and walking into the playoffs to get a face punching wake up call.

[@420gzuz]

how many bottles of brew will they take for france at this point? they say they need to figure out if france is gonna be a key contributor in the playoff run but all they can really do is speculate, and even if france comes back hot, he will cool down before october without a doubt.

[@jarrettchristensen_music]

The yankees are in the same division as Baltimore that's how

[@LegoGBlok]

away/road record is a bit troubling, .. you know to have a long playoffs run.

[@OHANA-Beach-Suites-CDO]

I’m so excited for my Mariners!!!!

[@paulscheidel3258]

Scott isn’t a perfect manager but he’s perfect for this team

[@SunsetSailboat1844]

Nice episode

[@sl-bo4lb]

I started the conversation last time about Scott Servais being brilliant as a manager and will continue it with several more examples. Mitch Garver was off to a mediocre start. He was moved to being an occasional starter at catcher and has since been a better hitter. Rodriquez was off to a slow start, he was moved around in the lineup and even given a day off (to rest was the cover) since then he's been hot. He moved the best clutch hitter Raleigh to clean up in the lineup. When they have runners on base that can fly Servais allows them to steal, Bliss and Rodriquez for example. His platooning lefty and righty so- so hitters in the lineup has worked out ok. Not to mention his handling of the 5 starters on the pitching staff. Anybody have issues with that? If you do you are an idiot. Plus he's been very adroit with a decimated bullpen.

[@kenSpiffyJr.]

GOMS!!!

[@LegoGBlok]

And now its 10 games

[@Extinguisher10]

Getting 3-4 of these guys ABs vs lefties is easy. Righties on the other hand? Yikes! 2

[@patmcgroin1547]

So let me ask you this. Are you convinced Scott can be a manager of a WS team? I don't think so. He's a decent manager, but will not get you over the top. The only problem is who can you get to replace him?

[@gregoryjones7727]

I think winning a WS has less to do with the manager and more to do with the players. Also I do think Scott is capable of being a WS manager, he can motivate and keep a teams head in the run the entire way through

[@leviw1910]

I'm curious how high your opinion of Dusty Baker is

[@condlewis]

@@leviw1910 or the rangers manager for that matter

[@zacharyduncan6118]

Bad take bro. Players win championships, not old dudes standing near the dugout getting ejected.

[@patmcgroin1547]

@zacharyduncan6118 Yeah, but managers have to make the right decisions, right? Regarding bullpen, lineup and in-game strategy. There's that saying that players win games, but managers lose them.

[@paulhan7770]

This doesn't logically make sense.. Holy Brocolli.

[@packerfan655]

Mariners has not played their best baseball and still up 10 games in the AL West that scary. Watch when Julio gets red hot no team will beat them in a series.

[@yashakuzmin3145]

DFA’d Seby with France back. Gotta think we are trading for a catcher right? Or do they REALLY wanna bring up Ford…?

[@SeattleSporting]

It is annoying that a lot of fans of other teams (and even some Mariners fans on social media) are focused on "the division all stinks" angle as if that suddenly makes it not count that the Mariners are now up 10 games. We're not good because the division stinks, we're great because the team is great.

[@daveconlin8342]

But the reason they are 9 up is division blows.

[@SeattleSporting]

@@daveconlin8342 No the reason they're 10 up is because they've won 58.7% of the games they've played so far. By this same logic the Dodgers are only good because their division is awful. The Brewers are only good because their division is awful. The Phillies are only good because their division is awful. The Guardians are only good because the White Sox exist. The Mariners have won 13 more games than they've lost this year. Every division has a team with 35 or fewer wins right now. Some divisions have multiple. Mariners would be 1st in the NL Central, 2nd in the AL Central (for now) and 2 up on 3rd place, 2nd in the NL East and 2 up on 3rd place, 2nd in the NL West and 7 up on 3rd place. The only division we wouldn't be Top 2 is the AL East but we're still better than 3 of the teams in that division.

[@daveconlin8342]

@@SeattleSporting I'm not saying they aren't playing well just that they wouldn't be up 9 in other divisions.

[@statik2550]

@@daveconlin8342 No shit

[@LegoGBlok]

just 6 wins shy of 50.

[@glennwilliams1586]

Astros are coming !!!

[@dsnow42]

Hanger in right Graber at C Ty at 1st lock and DH dumper on the bench mark my freaking works Scott will make this happen…. #InScottIDoNotTrust

[@dsnow42]

Bros….. not even 24 hrs later Scott made it happen…. Not exactly the same positions as I mentioned but all starting in the game… Scott never fails my expectations.. u all know this is funny

[@brentbell7235]

Seattle has elite pitching and with Texas and Houston tanking, they are playing in the weakest division in the American League and perhaps the MLB.

[@jojobankston-wh3jf]

Yo momma

[@tysonhartle2439]

They are 14-14 against teams currently in 1st or 2nd place in the AL and NL, with a lot of those losses coming early in the season. And 5 of those wins are against the Astros who are in 2nd place today, so not stellar against top competition. They have split with the Yankees, Indians (i refuse to use the other name), Braves and Brewers but the Oriels, Diamondbacks and Twins took those series. The only Series the M's have won against 1st or 2nd place teams was against the Astros....I love the Mariners and have followed them my whole life and want them to do well but they need to be able to score more consistently. They would be in 2nd place in the AL Central and 3rd in the East.... They have the Twins and Baltimore back to back in a few weeks. Lets see how that week goes and reevaluate.

[@brucez9600]

Is Locklear still here because the Mariners want to showcase him for a mid-season trade?

[@Cwill69]

Nah. I hope not at least

[@seahawksbluegreen9257]

I think they want to take a longer look at him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we sell France high at the trade deadline if Locklear continues to do well, because regardless I see him being our future 1B. He already saved a game for us on defense that I don’t think France would have made.

[@thenewvirus6855]

Speaking of all these roster moves, when is Canzone gonna get the boot? I was happy to give him a chance when he came over in the trade since was a higher rated prospect and was hitting well with AZ but hes been terrible in my eyes besides running into a HR on occasion. Very rare to get an AB out of him thats more than 5 pitches and him flailing way out in front or just looking out matched. I hate that they are basically forced to keep him because of Haniger. Dude has been awful at the plate (id say even worse than the numbers say, id much rather have Garver hitting than Canzone at any moment). Dont say hes been hitting recently either, majority of those are fluke/bloop hits.

[@Spencer_Plant_Projects]

I'm not afraid to say it: I stan Colby Patnode and Dave Sims. Bring on the down votes haters!

[@Cwill69]

I would agree if Locklear is only going to play twice a week the M's are doing him a disservice. And yeah they did Seby dirty. Not sure why they hated him so bad he played completely fine.