Morosi: Why no AL West rivals stack up to 1st-place Mariners

While it’s too early to say the Seattle Mariners have completely righted the ship after an underwhelming start to a season with sky-high expectations, the club is at least where it expects to be in the American League West standings – in first place.

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MLB Network insider Jon Morosi believes they’re there to stay.

During his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Thursday, Morosi laid out why the Mariners are still the clear team to beat as they try to win back-to-back division crowns for the first time in franchise history.

“The Mariners, it’s certainly not been as smooth as it was a year ago, but look at them, they’re first place in the division. And as you look at things now, now that they’ve normalized a bit, there’s not a team in this division that (stacks up). Set the records aside, just look at the rosters and the personnel,” Morosi said. “You’ve been able to do all of this with (Cal) Raleigh and (Brendan) Donovan on the injured list. Arguably your No. 1 most important player and then one of your two or three most important offensive players are both hurt, and you’ve been able to navigate it to this point.

“So for me, I’m still buying stock in the Mariners. The best is yet to come from them this season.”

Depth is the difference

The division race is still plenty tight at this point. The M’s entered Friday just one-half game in front of the second-place A’s and 2 1/2 games up on both the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. The Astros still being that close despite a disastrous start that has been impacted by several key injuries was concerning to co-host Bob Stelton, but Morosi pointed to the pitching depth the Mariners have been lauded for over the years as the key difference between them and the rest of the pack.

“I still think when you look at the depth of this Mariner team, there is no team in the game … that’s got six major league starters all going the way the Mariners do,” Morosi said. “And (Luis) Castillo, there’s a bit of an asterisk there because it’s interesting, he really has started pitching the best this year once the drama has picked up about what his role is going to be, which the human mind is a fascinating thing in that respect. So for me, the Mariners have greater depth in that category to where I think they’ll be able to continue to move past whatever challenges come up.”

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It isn’t just the starting staff that has Morosi confident in Seattle. It’s also the bullpen. He pointed to the work right-hander Nick Davila and left-hander Domingo González did when they were called up from the minors following injuries to leverage arms Matt Brash and Gabe Speier. Davila pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings over seven outings, and González tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings in four appearances.

“They’re back down in the minor leagues now. In most every bullpen in Major League Baseball, they’d both be in the major leagues right now,” Morosi said. “So the Mariners have more depth than a lot of other teams do. Both guys that are on the injured list, which is the case with Raleigh and Donovan, eventually they’re going to come back. But then the pitching side of things, they’re the envy of a lot of other teams to where they’re, I believe, going to remain a step or at least a half-step ahead of teams like the A’s, the Astros and anyone else who might challenge them there in the division.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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