FanPost Friday: Seattle Mariners 2021 expectations versus reality

The 2021 season went out with a pretty big bang last week. Despite falling just short of the playoffs, the team won 90 games(!!!), which is its highest win total since winning 93 games in 2003. Pretty damn remarkable considering how this team looked on paper at the beginning of the season, and especially how it was looking back in mid-April and May. And that’s what we’re here to discuss today. I ran quite a few polls before the 2021 season and it’s a pretty wild ride to compare some of these 2021 expectations to what actually happened. Let’s dive in.

This post was all about breakout players and while it was very tempting to pick the hot prospect names like Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez, the easy money was definitely on Ty France and boy, did he actually deliver! Also, I mean, imagine how much more he would have produced if he hadn’t been a walking bruise for most of the season from all those HBPs. Folks were, um, understandingly skeptical of Kyle Lewis and far, far too confident and hopeful for Evan White and Taylor Trammell, but both those players could still make strides in 2022.

This one is WILD. I mean, of these choices, the clear winner in hindsight is Luis Torrens, but look at the amount of faith in Marmo and SAM HAGGERTY. Folks were correctly skeptical about Shed Long, Jr. and Jake Fraley, but also overconfident in Tom Murphy. We sure do love our fringe starters out here in the far reaches of the Mariners blogosphere.

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Reality was much closer than the poll results here, with Mitch Haniger sneaking by with 2.8 fWAR to Kyle Seager’s 2.5. Beauty before age here, I guess.

In another preseason FanPost Friday, I asked for all your Mariners hopes and dreams, along with your W-L record predictions. Many folks were understandably expecting not great things, with many win total predictions in the 60’s and 70’s. But then, with the last comment on the post, poster lawrence.wolfis connected and hit one out of the park.

I hope no one @’d you, Lawrence, because you were 100% correct on your W-L record prediction and your optimism should be applauded. Nice job. Your other picks? Not great, but hey, I really wanted the Padres to make it happen, too.

Well, that’s all for me this week. Enjoy the playoffs if that’s your thing, and we’ll be back next week with either some more 2021 reflections or maybe something nostalgic. We’ll see!