The Seattle Mariners (24-27) have been struggling to find momentum and consistency all season long. After taking two-of-three this week from the upstart Chicago White Sox, the Mariners now head to Kansas City to take on the reeling Royals, who have lost nine of their last 10 games. They were just swept by the Boston Red Sox.
The Royals always play the Mariners hard, regardless of record, with fans often citing the Royals as one of the most annoying teams to play against. Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the most incredible players in the sport, but beyond that, the Royals historically haven’t struck out much against Seattle, slapping the ball all over the field and stealing bases. The Royals have pulled off multiple big comebacks in the last several years against Seattle, and if the M’s catch Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo in a series, it’s always a difficult one to win.
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The Royals beat the Mariners two-out-of-three in Seattle earlier this year, but despite all of that history and all of those difficulties, the M’s have to find a way to take advantage of this chance.
There’s no better way to start to grab momentum than beating teams at the bottom of the league, and the M’s have eight of their next nine series’s against teams with a losing record. This is the time to make a move, even as beat up as the Mariners are.
Buster Olney of ESPN said as much on the most recent edition of the ‘Refuse to Lose Territory’ podcast.
“About facing Kansas City right now. We go through the season, and there’s always the question about, you know, when are you catching a team? Are they hot, are they cold? Are you catching them at the right time?
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If you are the Mariners, you cannot hit the Royals at a better time. They’ve scored five runs in their last three games against the Red Sox.
Vinnie Pasquantino, their first baseman, has really struggled this year. Salvador Perez, veteran catcher, he’s really struggled. Their offense: they’re 27th out of 30 teams in runs scored.
And now you’re going to be throwing out your big dogs with (Logan) Gilbert, (George) Kirby and (Bryan) Woo in the three games. This is a series for opportunity for Seattle.”
You can listen to full interview on the ‘Refuse to Lose Territory’ podcast here, and you can watch in YouTube below.
The Mariners and Royals will play on Friday afternoon at 4:40 p.m. PT.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
