.
Two cubicles to the left, DaddyO suggests a couple of visual similarities between the 1995 miracle crew, and this one. My fave comparison is probably the Rangers' pathetic run differential, vs. the 1995 Angels ... who as of August 11th, were 61-37 but were about to rip off an impressive streak of +11 -28.
M's playoff odds stand at 48.8% on Fangraphs, again that not fully grokking Zeus and Mr. Electricity. Add Price and Chapman to Fangraphs' 'puter and see where the numbers go.
....
Be that as it may, DaddyO liked the "way" the Mariners beat the powerful Detroit Tigers, that is to say, with powerful baseball players of their own. Wednesday night, you had homers by Cano and Cruz, and another double by Cruz. Tuesday night, you had two epic Kyle Seager at-bats. Monday night, Seager and Zuumball. Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Edwin Diaz and Arquimidez Pozo did the pitching.
So, yeah. Big players win big games. The 1995 ballclub also had its star power. Without Edgar Martinez' Teddy-like .356/.479/.628 batting line, the Mariners are nowhere near the playoff game, the new stadium, or the city of Seattle. Meanwhile the Mariners went 27-3 in Randy Johnson's starts that year.
Hadn't run this table in a while. Remember, this is in Safeco Field:
.
| Star Power |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
HR/162 |
RBI/162 |
R/162 |
Runs per 27 outs |
| Cano, 2b |
.297 |
.352 |
.524 |
36 |
102 |
106 |
6.4 |
| Boom, rf |
.285 |
.368 |
.540 |
40 |
103 |
92 |
6.9 (!) |
| Seager, 3b |
.285 |
.362 |
.511 |
30 |
103 |
92 |
6.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Lind + Lee |
|
|
|
44 |
123 |
|
They've got 5% more AB's than Cano |
| Seth Smith |
.261 |
.357 |
.417 |
|
|
|
|
| Zuumball |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Honorable mention |
.
That would be a nice step up for Seager, to bat .285 with 30 homers. Like .300 and 35 in Cleveland. He's flying a bit under the radar, batting 5th, but is giving the M's a Longoria/Tulowitzki type contribution. Fangraphs has all three of our stars among the top 25 or so players in the league by WAR. They musta gritted their teeth when they failed to jimmy the numbers against boomstick.
Seager's plateau leap, from 5.0 runs per game to 6.5, is sweet. But it might not rival Mike Zunino's step up ... Jason Varitek here we come baby ...
Enjoy,
Dr D
