CHICAGO — In the late hours of Wednesday evening, following the Mariners’ loss in miserable weather where he didn’t play, Jarred Kelenic stood in the lobby of Guaranteed Rate Field quietly talking to his uncle and cousin and a family friend.

Associated Press

The true initiation into the Mariners’ fraternity of starting pitchers isn’t making your Major League Baseball debut or even notching your first win. No, it’s delivering a solid outing that gives your team a chance for victory and sets you up for a win only to see neither materialize due to a lack of run support.

MINNEAPOLIS — The first four games of what often feels like an endless season of daily games and results certainly don’t offer defining or even predictive data for the months ahead.

MINNEAPOLIS – Matt Festa’s first outing in his return to the big leagues didn’t go exactly as planned. Giving up a solo homer in each of his two innings of work in Sunday’s 10-4 loss to the Twins is less than ideal.

The similarities to the 2021 season continued into the third game of 2022. Having prevailed in their first two games by one run, a staple of their success a year ago, the Mariners first loss was a lopsided drubbing that won’t do wonders for their run differential or fun differential.

MINNEAPOLIS – Julio Rodriguez wouldn’t allow home-plate umpire Marty Foster’s strike zone disrupt his focus. And he certainly wouldn’t let the desire of getting his first big-league hit outweigh the importance of the Mariners rallying for a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon.

MINNEAPOLIS – When Byron Buxton delivered a gut-punch of a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, turning their one-run lead into a one-run deficit, sending an otherwise quieted crowd of 20,867 at Target Field in a momentary frenzy, the Seattle Mariners seemed more unaffected than overwhelmed.

MINNEAPOLIS — There was a little something for everyone to pick and choose from on a tense and terrific opening day, delayed first by the lockout and then by inclement weather and at last delivering a wallop of sustained stress.

MINNEAPOLIS — In the days after the 2021 season ended in disappointment, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto made calling J.P. Crawford his first priority.

Following a pattern that led them to 90 wins in 2021, including a 33-19 record in games decided by one, the Mariners opened this season filled with expectations of the postseason and more with a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.