Major League Baseball

Three reasons to watch the Mariners in 2015

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:28 p.m. ET

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So here’s the best reason to watch the Seattle Mariners this year: They’re supposed to be pretty good, probably co-favorites at least in the American League West. By the way, something a lot of people might have missed last year: The Mariners were pretty good then, too.

It was actually quite easy to miss, because the Angels finished with the best record in the majors, the Athletics with the best run differential. There just wasn’t much room in our heads for yet another team from that division. But the M’s finished with the fourth-best run differential in the whole league – only the A’s, Angels, and O’s were better – and came up just short of the playoffs.

So if you’re an M’s fan . . . well, if you’re a real M’s fan you’re going to watch them every season, regardless. But if you’re not an M’s fan, you should watch them this season because they might be the best team in the whole American League.

Then again, they might not be. In fact probably won’t be. So here are three more reasons to watch the 2015 Mariners:

1. Hey, they’ve got a DH this time!
The Mariners finished two games behind the Royals in the wild-card standings, and just one game behind the A’s, and all because they couldn’t find just one decent hitter. Just one decent designated hitter. Last season the M’s DHs – mostly Corey Hart and Kendrys Morales, if you’re into the blame game – finished the season with a .190/.266/.301 batting line and just 50 RBI, with all of those figures easily the worst in the American League.

It’s fair to say that if the Mariners had signed Nelson Cruz – there were, we’re told, fruitless discussions – before last season, they would have been in the playoffs instead of the Royals or (more likely) the A’s. In which case, 2014 might look quite a bit different.

Well, now the M’s do have Nelson Cruz. For the next four seasons. Which might not work out real well, especially in the long term. Maybe spectacularly so. In the short term, though? Nelson Cruz has to be better than Corey Hart and Kendrys Morales. Has to be.

2. Walker worth the wait?
If you believe the Mariners’ official depth chart, Taijuan Walker is the club’s No. 5 starter. So maybe you shouldn’t pay much attention, because we all know what happens to most No. 5 starters. But hold on a minute, because Taijuan Walker’s not your usual No. 5 starter, ticketed for Triple-A by Memorial Day.

Just one year ago, Walker ranked among baseball’s premier pitching prospects. And if he’d pitched well in the majors, maybe nobody would have noticed how poorly Corey Hart and Kendrys Morales were hitting. But Walker hurt his shoulder in spring training, went to the minors, struggled with the big club in a mid-summer stint, went back to the minors, and never really looked good until a couple of late-season starts against the Astros and Blue Jays.

But Walker’s still only 22 years old and he’s pitched brilliantly this spring. Of course you never know with young pitchers, but Walker might well join Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma to give the M’s the best trio of starters in the league.

3. Next-gen M’s?

You know about Felix Hernandez and Robinson Canó, and now you know about Taijuan Walker. But Walker’s hardly the only young Mariner who might soon be getting a lot more attention. Third baseman Kyle Seager was an All-Star and a Gold Glove winner last year, and he’s improved in each of his three full seasons in the majors. Is this the bust-out year, though, when he becomes a serious MVP candidate? Catcher Mike Zunino batted .199 last season and . . . okay, so that’s not real good. But he also hit 22 home runs and ranked among baseball’s best pitch-framers. Zunino turned 24 just last week, and still has a chance to bat .230 and become one of the league’s better catchers. And finally, there are 24-year-old shortstops Brad Miller and Chris Taylor; one of them figures to earn the every-day duties, while the other settles into a utility role. But which will do which? Watch and find out!

Seattle Mariners
2014 record: 87-75
Playoffs: N/A
Projected 2015 record: 88-74*
Key additions: 2B Rickie Weeks, OF Seth Smith, OF Justin Ruggiano, DH Nelson Cruz, SP J.A. Happ
Key subtractions: 1B Kendrys Morales, OF Michael Saunders

*Projected records courtesy of FanGraphs