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.
MINNEAPOLIS – As Seattle Mariners players wandered around the visitor’s clubhouse of Target Field, many of them wearing heavy sweatshirts and thick beanies issued by the team, there was no frustration about having Thursday’s game to open the 2022 season pushed back till Friday.
The good news: The Mariners added big-name talent to a team that stunned MLB by winning 90 games last year – a 22-win improvement from 2019, their previous full season.
After three years of tearing down, waiting for prospects to develop and an unexpected season of contention, the Seattle Mariners are poised to escape the narrative that has hung over the franchise for two decades.
On Thursday, Servais announced that left-hander Robbie Ray, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, will take the ball on the afternoon of April 7 to face the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.
The Mariners have had some of the best infield defense in baseball the past few years, and infield coach Perry Hill has gotten a lot of credit for that, particularly with the development of shortstop J.P. Crawford, who won a Gold Glove in 2020.
SEATTLE – Want a number that will make you happy? Here’s one: 90. That’s how many games the Mariners won last year without Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and former All-Stars Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suárez and Adam Frazier. Those are the big names Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto added to the roster this offseason.
