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With any luck, Branyan would have accounted for driving in most of the 50 missing Mariner runs.  Or maybe not.  For most of the first half of the year, he batted with crazy high OPS in the #5-hole.  In most of the second half, in the #2-hole, his OPS dropped some 300 points but essentially maintained his RBI/PA.  How's that?  His OPS didn't relate to his runs produced?  Well, yes, it related to his runs scored, but not his RBIs.  For the year, Russ's OPS was essentially the same whether or not he had runners on base, and it was an even split in occurrence.  So what's the difference?  At #2, he batted after high OBP Ichiro.  At #5, I can only speculate that he had fewer runners on base.  Sorry, I don't know where to divine those stats, though our #2-4 holes were poor for the year for OBP.  If he had more runners on base ahead of him, he may not have hit so many solo HRs (19!?!).
So what's my point?  OPS doesn't care if you have runners on base, only if you get on base.  Batting order matters.  You can't drive in teammates when they aren't on base, and vice versa.  What's luck got to do with it?