Death From Above: The Mariners' Dominance Of The 09 Athletics.

Fingers could be pointed in any number of directions when applying blame for the Oakland Athletics' disappointing 2009 season, but perhaps the best direction to point them is North, towards Seattle Washington and the inhospitable confines of SafeCo field.

The playoffs were most likely out of reach for the '09 A's regardless of their tribulations with their northern neighbor, but a winning season and respectability would have been realistic goals for the A's if the Mariners hadn't dominated the season series between the two clubs.

The Mariners and A's played 19 times and the Mariners won 14 of those contests.The final records for the two teams for the season were as follows:

Mariners 09 Win/Loss record: 85 and 77

Athletics 09 Win/Loss record: 75 and 87

Discounting the meetings between the two clubs, the records become nearly identical:

Mariners 09 Win/Loss record excluding games .vs A's: 71 and 72:

A's 09 Win/Loss record excluding games .vs Mariners: 70 and 73:

It seems that the teams were, other than their match-ups against each-other, relatively equal, but the Mariners outscored the A's 91 to 70 in the match-ups between the two clubs. Here's what their season totals would have looked like without each other's influence.

Mariners Runs Scored .vs Runs Allowed

With A's games: 640/692

Without  A's Games: 549/622

Athletics Runs Scored.vs Runs Allowed

With Mariners games: 759/761

Without Mariners games: 689/670

By that measure, the A's were actually a better team than the Mariners this season. So why were the Mariners so dominant over the A's while the A's were arguably a better team relative to the rest of the league?

The Mariners also clobbered the A's in close games taking 9 of 11 contests.

	Seattle Wins:	Oakland Wins
Games decided by 2 or fewer runs	9	2
Games decided by 3 or more runs	5	3

There may be some scout out there who could pinpoint exactly why or how the Mariners were able to beat the A's so thoroughly in 09. Maybe it was their signing of Don Wakamatsu (2008 A's bench coach) as manager. Maybe it was Mike Sweeney and sour grapes from his experience with Oakland's stingy management. Maybe the Mariners were still mad about the A's beating them 17-2  in the 2006 season. Maybe it was just bad luck.

And while there's no clear reason how the Mariners were able to beat the A's so consistently, here's no doubt that their dominance of the season series was the primary factor in sinking the A's hopes for a respectable season.