How Do the Seattle Mariners Match Up with Each AL West Team?

The Seattle Mariners currently sit in third place out of four teams in AL West, but how does the team stack up against the other teams in their division outside of the win column?

The Texas Rangers lost CJ Wilson, added Japanese phenom Yu Darvish and haven’t looked back. They have a stranglehold on the AL West.

The Oakland Athletics have been a surprising team in the early going with a .500 record.

The Los Angeles Angels made perhaps the biggest splash this past offseason by signing CJ Wilson away from the rival Rangers and adding MVP-caliber slugger Albert Pujols.

Unfortunately for the Halos, Pujols has been anything and everything but MVP-caliber this season. He didn’t hit his first home run before a career-long homerless drought of 110 at-bats. He’s now batting .211 with three homers, 18 RBI and a pitiful .256 on-base percentage.

So with the consistency of the Rangers and the struggles of the Angels, and with the A’s and Mariners sandwiched in between, here’s where Seattle matches up with other teams in the AL West.

Hitting

As far as scoring runs is concerned, the Texas Rangers not only lead the AL West, but they lead every team in the majors with 235 runs scored.

The Rangers offense is first in runs, first in batting average, first in on-base percentage and first in slugging percentage, so it’s safe to say they win this category by default.

As for the team that ranks second in the AL West at the plate, the discussion gets a bit more convoluted.

The Mariners have actually scored the second-most runs in the division (Mariners: 164, Angels: 153, Athletics: 150). However, the runs scored don’t tell the whole story.

The Mariners have been downright bad with runners in scoring position this season, which is an interesting statistic given the fact that they’ve scored the second most run in the AL West thus far.

Before Saturday’s 10-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, Seattle was 6-for-58 at the plate with runners in scoring position. If you’re keeping score, that’s a .103 batting average.

Despite scoring more runs than the Angels so far, the Mariners’ batting average (.235), on-base percentage (.291) and slugging percentage (.374) are all worse statistically when compared with Los Angeles.

It’s a close call, but the Angels are a better team at the plate in the above three categories despite Pujols’ on-base percentage being worse than Kelly Johnson’s batting average… That’s not a good sign for the Mariners once Pujols gets it going.

The addition of Jesus Montero from the New York Yankees was a great move for the Mariners, but they’re still behind the Rangers and Halos from an offensive standpoint.

As for Oakland, they rank in the bottom four in Major League Baseball in runs, batting average (dead last), on-base percentage and slugging percentage. It’s safe to say they’re the worst offensive team in the AL West.

Pitching

The ace of each pitching staff in the AL West has remarkably similar statistics.

LAA, Jared Weaver: 6-1, seven quality starts, 2.80 ERA, 0.93 WHIP

TEX, Yu Darvish: 6-1, five quality starts, 2.60 ERA, 1.33 WHIP

SEA, Felix Hernandez: 3-3, six quality starts, 3.02 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

OAK, Brandon McCarthy: 3-3, six quality starts, 2.95 ERA, 1.34 WHIP

Weaver and Darvish have the added benefit of playing on better offensive teams, which is reflected in their win/loss records. Nevertheless, each ace for their respective team has been impressive and impressively similar.

With that said, the Rangers not only have the best hitting team in the AL West, but the best pitching team as well. As a team, Texas ranks third in the majors in ERA (3.18), ninth in quality starts (24), second in WHIP (1.15) and third in batting average against (.230).

A case could be made for the Angels having a better starting rotation than the Rangers (and they probably do), but as a complete pitching unit, bullpen included, nobody in the AL West can stack up with the Rangers.

Every pitcher out of the bullpen for the Rangers has an ERA of 2.60 or lower, which is nothing short of amazing.

Once again the Mariners are edged out by the talent of the Rangers and Angels, but they beat out the Athletics on the basis that the tandem of Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas is better than that of Brandon McCarthy and Bartolo Colon.

Fielding

After being edged out both at the plate and on the mound, the Seattle Mariners make a strong case to be the AL West leaders with the leather.

The Mariners have committed the fewest errors in the AL West thus far, only 16, and as a result they have a division-leading .990 fielding percentage. When you add the fact that three of the team’s 16 errors have been committed by one player (Miguel Olivo), you get the idea that those numbers could look even better.

Ichiro has yet to commit an error in the outfield this season, but the real surprise has been 25-year-old first baseman Justin Smoak.

In 338 total chances so far this season at first base, Smoak has not committed a single error, which is truly impressive for a player with a lack of experience at the major league level.

The Athletics, Rangers and Angels have all committed 20 or more errors this season. Although sabermetricians could argue for statistics like zone factor or range factor, the numbers are pretty similar throughout the AL West.

Although the Mariners need to improve their on-base percentage and batting average with runners in scoring position to help their pitchers, the defense in Seattle has been rock solid.

Baserunning

Ichiro has been impressive on the base paths yet again. Even at 38 years old, Ichiro has swiped six bags this season without being caught.

However, as a team, the Mariners have been lacking in the baserunning department. Their 25 stolen bases are the fewest in the AL West and they’ve been caught stealing 11 times (tied for the most in the division with the Rangers).

Surprisingly, the Oakland Athletics have been far and away the best team in the division in this regard. The A’s have stolen 38 bases thus far and have only been caught stealing eight times. Nearly 83 percent of the time, the A’s are successful at swiping bags.

Of course, when you have a .216 batting average as a team, you have to make baserunners count. Oakland has done that so far this season with great success.

In comparison, the Rangers have swiped 30 bases and the Angels have stolen 27.

The Mariners don’t have many speedy players outside of Ichiro and it has shown in the stat department.

Conclusion

Although the Mariners sit in third place in the division so far, they’re still a few tweaks away from being a steadily consistent team.

Their hitting has shown improvement so far this season, but it still doesn’t measure up with the Texas Rangers or the struggling Los Angeles Angels.

The pitching is heavily reliant upon Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas for success, but even when those two have good starts, they aren’t guaranteed a spot in the win column because of the team’s spotty offense.

Their defense has been a big bright spot when compared with other teams in the AL West, but only time will tell if the consistency there is sustainable over the course of a long season.

Although Seattle doesn’t have many speed threats on the roster, they would benefit from being more aggressive on the bath paths. The Oakland Athletics rarely get runners on base due to their lack of consistent hitting, but they push the envelope when they do get on, leading the division with 38 steals.

It’s unrealistic to think the Mariners will be competing for a playoff spot in September this year, but there are some positive signs that this team is moving in the right direction.