clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Sunday Funday Fact

The Mariners, however, are third in the league in "What?" images behind the Pirates and Astros, who surprise everyone constantly for still being MLB franchises.
The Mariners, however, are third in the league in "What?" images behind the Pirates and Astros, who surprise everyone constantly for still being MLB franchises.

Michael Pineda's start today means that the Mariners have completed three full turns through the starting rotation plus a little extra for Felix's bump. I went foraging for interest in the numbers and here is one thing that I found:

The Mariner starters lead the league in lowest percentage of balls thrown. They were at 35% coming into today and Pineda's 31% will only help lower that a tad. They are almost two full percentages ahead of next best Cleveland and a good five plus points ahead of the last place Boston Red Sox*. The only team in baseball better than the Mariners coming into today was the Phillies, but being second to their rotation is never a slight and besides, they get to face pitchers.

*Unfun AL East note: The three worst teams, and four of the worst five, are all AL East teams. 

The same ranking holds for walk rate, where the Mariners were second in baseball and first in the American League entering play. Coincidentally, those ranking continue to hold for strikeout to walk ratio where the Phillies are torching the league (5.5 Ks per BB) with the Ms in second (3.7). Haha, Pirates.