Editor's Picks: 4/6-4/12

"I hate it when teams move. I hate what it does to towns, how it fractures decades of storylines, tears away at the veneer of baseball as a geographical, rather than an economic, construction." I'm only 25 and have never lived in Seattle, so the Pilots have never been anything other than a trivia answer to me. I've never had one of my rooting interests ripped away like Seattle-ites have with the Pilots and Sonics. The closest thing I've personally experienced was seeing minor league baseball leave Portland a couple years back, but that's not close at all (and at least now we have this. It's doesn't have the charm of old Civic Stadium, but... beer). Still, this article struck a chord for me as someone who can be obsessive about continuity. Combine that with the exploration of one's fandom that I've previously revealed as a personal area of interest, and a history lesson, something that Patrick Dubuque does better than most, and you have my top pick of the week.

Read more about Patrick's journey to Sick's Stadium at NotGraphs.

Speaking of striking a chord, this one by Kyle Davis got a lot of attention around the interwebs and for good reason. The Mariners have stumbled since kicking off the season with a pair of wins. For many, the hope that differentiated this year's Opening Day from past openers was dissipated in Chicago and struck from memory following two games with the Astros. The Mariners and their fans needed a boost and got one from an unlikely source, beautifully and poetically captured in this article.

Now for some analysis, complete with timeliness, screenshots, GIFs and charts. Dustin Ackley was being counted on to make a big leap this season, but has instead looked worse than ever with conspicuous swing adjustments in tow. Michael Barr takes a look at the new Ackley and the benefits of his revamped swing against his worse-than-even habit of rolling over to the second baseman and the Astros' recognition of said habit.

Of note, this swing is now gone.

I was caught off guard by the vitriol that defined Michael Morse-John Jaso trade reaction. I wouldn't have made the trade myself but the players involved didn't seem to warrant such uproar, no matter how out of line GM Jack Zduriencik's process might have been. What I hadn't considered was the path each player took to get here and how that might have shaped public opinion, until Brendan Gawlowski explored the angle in this article. An interesting take.

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Top Rec-getters:

• On the Fan who Caught the Baseball with His Beer by Kyle Davis
• In Memoriam of Seattle's Forgotten Team by Patrick Dubuque
• Michael Morse and John Jaso From Another Angle by Brendan Gawlowski
• 4-7: Mariners Flattened By One Run by Logan Davis
• Should Home Field Advantage Be More Advantageous? by Patrick Dubuque
• A Completely Serious Post About Brendan Ryan's Hitting by Michael Barr
• Quick Thoughts on the Astros Series by Stephen Cheatum