The 2011 Seattle Mariners fell just short of 100 losses last year. The fact that I see this a semi-positive thing is definitive proof of the abusive relationship this team has with my heart. I don't have many rational reasons for optimism for the 2012 Mariners, but I've got a few irrational ones so that's good enough for me.
The big offseason move was trading Michael Pineda to the Yankees for catcher/DH Jesus Montero and pitcher Hector Noesi. I'm sad to see Pineda go because he is already awesome and will probably only get better if he stays healthy. Seeing his Safeco debut and a few of his other starts in person were some of my only positive memories of last season. Assuming Yankees fans and New York media don't eat him alive for no good reason, he'll be a star. Or maybe this will be like the Jay Buhner trade and there will be jokes on Seinfeld about it some day.
As I write this, we're about 12 hours away from the Mariners opening the season against the Oakland Athletics for 2 games in Japan. MLB has done this with other teams in the past, but none of those teams had Ichiro so no one cared. Now, I'm sure Japanese folks are stoked, but literally no one outside of Seattle and Oakland gives a shit about the AL West's 2 worst teams playing games that will air live at 3:10 am PST. On one hand, I understand. Come August or so, watching the Mariners play the stupid A's will seem about as appealing as a warm Bud Light. But, then again, it's Felix Day! Er, morning. Same thing. I do so love watching Felix pitch. Then we go back to a few days of meaningless spring training games before the season starts for everyone else around April 4th. MLB seems logistically-challenged to me, but whatever.
Back to the crappy Mariners. As has been the case since like 2007 or so, literally EVERYTHING will need to go right for the Mariners to even win 70+ games. The rest of the AL West would need to die in simultaneous plane crashes in order for the Mariners to finish above .500 even. I'm excited to see if Montero can do some mashing in Safeco and I'm hoping for Ichiro to bounce back now that he'll be batting in the 3 spot instead of leading off. Ackley will be get to play his first full season and I'm sure he'll do great. If Smoak can maintain the power he showed during his hot start last year, it will be a huge boost to the lineup. And maybe known ginger Mike Carp will prove he's not destined to be a lifetime minor leaguer.
As usual, I'll be there at the home opener on April 13th with my dad. Bad baseball is better than no baseball.
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