Seattle at Toronto, 16-18 August

The Mariners took stock after their 89-73 campaign a year ago and, remarkably, came to the correct conclusion. Which was: we're not that good. I find that unusual. Teams often let themselves be persuaded by the W-L record, even if it was built mainly on Random Good Luck. The 2018 Mariners allowed more runs than they scored, and had no business finishing above .500 at all, never mind 16 games over. But they played a ton of close games and won considerably more than their share (36-21 in one-run games.)

But Jerry DiPoto wasn't fooled and set about dismantling the entire team. He let LF Denard Span and DH Nelson Cruz walk as free agents. And he started trading... pretty much everybody.

November 8 - Traded C Mike Zunino and CF Guillermo Heredia to Tampa Bay

November 15 - Traded 1B Ryon Healy to Oakland

November 19 - Traded LH James Paxton to the Yankees

November 30 - Traded RH Alex Colome to the White Sox

December 3 - Traded SS Jean Segura, LH James Pazos, RH Juan Nicasio to Philadelphia.

December 3 - Traded 2B Robinson Cano and RH Edwin Diaz to the Mets

December 13 - Traded 1B Carlos Santana (obtained in the Segura deal) to Cleveland

December 21 - Traded OF Ben Gamel to Milwaukee

That was the off-season. In June, he traded Jay Bruce (obtained in the Cano deal) to Philadelphia and Edwin Encarnacion (obtained in the Santana deal) to the Yankees. At the deadline, he sent Mike Leake, one of his best starting pitchers, to Arizona.

So yeah, you're gonna need a program. Kyle Seager is still the third baseman. Dee Gordon, who filled last year while Cano was suspended, is at second base. That's about it from last year's team.

Several bodies obtained in the trades have been playing more or less regularly: C Omar Narvaez came over in the Colome trade, SS J.P. Crawford came from the Phillies in the Segura deal. LF Domingo Santana came from Milwaukee in the Gamel trade and CF Mallex Smith came from Tampa in the Zunino deal.

Matchups! For what it's worth, anyway. Seattle is using an Opener tonight (he'll be followed by LH Wade LeBlanc) and who knows what the plan is tomorrow. On Sunday, the Jays will presumably be going with the Font-Panone tandem.

Fri 16 Aug - Wisler (2-2, 4.35) vs Waguespack (3-1, 4.30)

Sat 17 Aug -  TBD vs Thornton (4-8, 5.34)

Sun 18 Aug - Kikuchi (4-8) vs Font (1-0, 2.20)