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Happy Félix Day. There have been many important, stressful Félix days in the past few years. Two of them have been facing the Blue Jays, while one was last year in Houston. Astronauts are tied to their schedule just as the Astros of our nightmares, and so of course they oppose The King again tonight. Last night we saw a pitcher with a low-90s fastball utilize expert control to have success against a strong MLB lineup. Tonight we'll watch a pitcher who has the capacity to utilize expert control attempt to have success against the strongest lineup in all of baseball. The good news is 320 foot fly balls won't be homers down the left field line anymore, but Safeco has shed its anti-homer roots the last couple years and every hitter is a threat.
Félix takes the mound with what is likely the most talented team he's ever played with behind him. It's almost incontrovertibly the best offense he's ever had, with only the 2007 team averaging more runs per game (4.90) than this year's squad (4.87), and they're all healthy. For fun the sake of research, I looked up the average runs per game the Mariners have had prior to this year since 2006 when Félix debuted. 4.05 runs per game. He has earned being put on someone else's back, and hopefully tonight his teammates can come through.
Game Time: 7:10 PM PT
TV: ROOTNW
Radio: 710 AM ESPN
Online: MLB.tv
Grab some sunshine and let's have some fun.