Beautiful Seattle
The Guardians and Mariners meet in the beginning of a series of homecomings for manager Stephen Vogt who lives in Washington and worked for the Mariners as a coach, played for the Giants and played most notably for the A’s, retiring in Oakland.
The Guardians are 35-32 with a -14 run differential, 21st in wRC+ at 94, 15th in Baserunning Runs Above Average at 0.1, fifth in Defense at 3.2, 26th in starting pitcher SIERA at 4.36, and eighth in bullpen SIERA at 3.51.
The Mariners are 33-34 also with a -14 run differential, sixth in wRC+ at 109, 24th in Baserunning Runs above average at -3.2, 24th in Defense at -19.9, 15th in starting pitcher SIERA at 4.02, and 21st in bullpen SIERA at 3.87.
Put the ball in play and get to Mariners’ starters, that’s the play.
Matchups:
Game one, Friday 10:10PM EDT: Gavin Williams, RHP 4.23 SIERA vs. (Likely) Luis Castillo, RHP, 4.28 SIERA
Game two, Saturday, 9:40PM EDT: Tanner Bibee, RHP, 4.18 SIERA vs. (Likely) George Kirby, RHP, 2.85 SIERA
Game three, Sunday, 4:10PM EDT: Luis Ortiz, RHP, 3.95 SIERA vs. (Likely) Emerson Hancock, RHP, 4.57 SIERA
The Guardians are led by Jose Ramirez at 160 wRC+, Steven Kwan 127 wRC+, Daniel Schneemann 119 wRC+, Carlos Santana 113 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo 104 wRC+ and Bo Naylor 103 wRC+.
The Mariners are led by Cal Raleigh at 181 wRC+, J.P. Crawford at 135 wRC+, Jorge Polanco 123 wRC+, Leo Rivas 123 wRC+, Randy Arozarena 119 wRC+, Julio Rodriguez 117 wRC+ and Dylan Moore 110 wRC+ (who joins Giancarlo Stanton as the only hitters in MLB to homer off of Cade Smith).
Need to find a way to win games 1 and 3 from the looks of the schedule. Hopefully, the last game against the Reds will break the Guardians offense out of their early season funk.