Why can’t Mariners hit with runners in scoring position? Good question

Either they’re unlucky or they are fatally flawed.

It’s got to be one or the other when it comes to the Mariners and their continuing inability to cash in scoring opportunities.

Either they’re a mediocre hitting team that is due to start coming through with runners in scoring position or they are a collection of players who unfortunately hit their worst when it matters most.

Through one-third of this season, the Mariners are more average offensively than you might expect until a runner advances to second base or – gasp – reaches third. That’s when Seattle goes from almost being almost OK to absolutely awful.

The Mariners are hitting .215 with runners on second and/or third, worst in the American League. The Cincinnati Reds are the only Major League team hitting with a lower average when men are in scoring position.

That’s a bit of a surprise when you consider that Seattle’s average without runners in scoring position is .234, which ranks 19th in MLB. The Mariners’ slugging percentage of .400 ranks 13th.

Yet put a man on second and/or third and Seattle’s productivity plummets. In fact, only three Major League teams have a worse differential in their average once men get in scoring position.

And it’s getting worse for Seattle. At least it did over this most recent homestand, which is still giving off fumes. In 11 games, the Mariners lost nine times and never did score more than three runs. Not that there weren’t opportunities.

Seattle logged 15 hits in 87 at-bats with runners in scoring position for a batting average of .172 and left an average of 7.9 men on base per game. Those numbers just confirm what anyone watching this team has already known: The Mariners’ tendency to leave runners to die on the vine is this team’s biggest collective problem.

Deciding whether it will improve is more a matter of faith at this point.

Do you believe in the power of probabilities? If so, you probably think that things tend to even out over the breadth of a 162-game season. Or do you think that Seattle’s lack of success in scoring situations is indicative of a lineup that tends to buckle as the stakes increase? If that’s the case, you probably think that the first third of this season has demonstrated a fundamental flaw.

So far this season, the numbers have shown this team finds it easier to hit with a runner on first than a runner on third. Whether this season improves depends upon whether that characteristic changes.

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