The Seattle Mariners haven’t had the start they hoped for during the opening weeks of the 2024 season.
Salk: The problem with Seattle Mariners’ offense is a new one
After slow starts the past few seasons, the M’s once again stumbled out of the gates. They haven’t won a series yet and entered Tuesday with a 7-10 record, but they’re not the the only American League West contender with a sluggish beginning to the year. In fact, the Mariners sit just 1 1/2 games off the division lead despite their disappointing first few weeks.
ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday to discuss the Mariners and more from around MLB, and he provided a look at the rest of jumbled AL West picture. He started with the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers, who at 9-9 are tied with the Los Angeles Angels for first in the division.
“Their pitching is not very good,” Passan said. “They’re hitting, they’re near the top of the American League in runs scored at this point, and I think they feel good about that.”
The Rangers are hovering around the middle of the pack with a 3.99 team ERA, but the underlying numbers suggest they’ve been a bit worse. Texas’ 4.38 FIP ranks 25th in MLB.
Texas is still awaiting the returns of ace Jacob deGrom and veterans Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle to its rotation. The 35-year-old deGrom had Tommy John surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) suffered last June and isn’t expected back until at least mid-season. Scherzer had offseason back surgery and wasn’t expected to return until at least June, but he recently said he hopes to be back in May. Mahle had Tommy John surgery while pitching for the Minnesota Twins last season and isn’t expected to return until midseason.
