This will lead up to my rankings of the best hitters and pitchers of 2014, and how the Mariners compare.

Phase I

1) Baseball is paradox.

Swing hard … but don’t miss.

Wait for your pitch … but don’t get caught looking.

Throw strikes … but not meatballs.

2) The very best baseball players of all time were remarkably accomplished at consistently accomplishing self-contradictory feats.  How did Ted Williams “hit the ball on the screws” so consistently while hardly ever missing?  Well, that’s the issue, isn’t it?

3) Intuitively, baseball folk have tended to gravitate to three numbers:

• Batting Average | Home Runs | RBIs
• Wins | Losses | ERA
• BA | OBP | SLG
• OBP + SLG = OPS

4) I believe the tendency to choose three numbers relates to the inherent nature of baseball.

Full article at Mariner Brainstorm: here.