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FanPost Friday: Mariners vanquish month of May

Jerry has done it again, folks. The Dipoto-era Mariners finally slayed the pesky dragon known as the month of May with a 17-11 record

By sanford_and_son
/ new
MLB: New York Yankees at Seattle Mariners
In Sarah Langs’s words, “Baseball is the best.”
Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday! Somehow it is now June, which means the month of May is over and it’s time to review how the Mariners did in a historically troublesome month (see this FPF from last month for more background) for the Jerry Dipoto-era squad. You have to go back to 2018 for a Mariners team that had a winning record in May, which as we all know was a completely different team than what has been established more or less since 2019. Tossing out 2020, this current iteration of the team struggled mightily in both 2021 and 2022 during May, but let’s take a look at how they fared in 2023.

May 2023

mariners.com
boom!
baseballreference.com

As bad as those first two games against the Yankees had us all feeling, things are looking pretty good when you take a step back. Yes, playing the subterranean Athletics seven times certainly helps bulk up that win column, but we’ve all seen this team blow many a series against inferior teams over the years so yes, it feels like a big boost to actually fatten up versus poo-pile teams. That is what contenders should do.

Here’s a poll for ya!

Poll

What made the biggest difference for the Mariners this May compared to 2021 and 2022?

This poll is closed

  • 51%
    The dominant pitching rotation
    (95 votes)
  • 33%
    Differences in strength of schedule
    (62 votes)
  • 3%
    Better offense
    (7 votes)
  • 10%
    Mostly luck, I don’t know?
    (20 votes)
184 votes total Vote Now

All right, well let’s look ahead at the rest of June and do some prognosticating.

June 2023

mariners.com

So the Rangers and Padres are obviously worrisome, but after that it’s a stretch of very beatable teams until they head to the (l)east coast for the Yankees and Orioles (who are good now, something that will take me all season to actually wrap my head around). But then the Nats come to town, who are quite bad, so it all shakes out to be a pretty favorable month for the Mariners.

More polls!

Poll

What will the Mariners record be for the month of June?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    8-16
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    9-15
    (2 votes)
  • 3%
    10-14
    (8 votes)
  • 5%
    11-13
    (12 votes)
  • 15%
    12-12
    (33 votes)
  • 15%
    13-11
    (33 votes)
  • 28%
    14-10
    (60 votes)
  • 14%
    15-9
    (30 votes)
  • 7%
    16-8
    (16 votes)
  • 2%
    17-7
    (5 votes)
  • 1%
    18-6
    (3 votes)
  • 2%
    Better than 18-6!?!?
    (5 votes)
  • 0%
    Worse than 8-16 :(
    (0 votes)
207 votes total Vote Now

Poll

By the end of June, the team will be...

This poll is closed

  • 4%
    under .500
    (9 votes)
  • 8%
    right at .500
    (16 votes)
  • 20%
    still at 2-3 games above .500
    (41 votes)
  • 44%
    4-5 games over .500
    (87 votes)
  • 21%
    6 or more games over .500
    (43 votes)
196 votes total Vote Now

All right, on a completely different and more somber note, and this was mentioned in today’s links, but I do want to call out that today is Lou Gehrig Day across MLB, an effort to raise research funds and general awareness for ALS, which is still incurable. If you follow Sarah Langs on Twitter, you know a) she is a stat-master of the highest order and is always finding the most oddball baseball stats imaginable and b) she was diagnosed with ALS last October. Her infectiously joyful “Baseball is the best” mantra when sharing many of the most human moments of the game in addition to the statistical anomalies continues to be a gift to the world of baseball, but her voice is very sadly one we will be losing sooner rather than later. Follow her while you can and support ALS research if you are able. Many of us probably know someone personally who has been affected by this disease. If you remain unconvinced or unsure, make sure you’re in a place you feel comfortable crying and give this a watch.

Confronting our own mortality and our loved ones’ mortality is about as heavy as it gets in life. As uncomfortable and sad as it is to think about, I truly believe it is a vital thing to ponder occasionally because of the perspective-shifting power the thought can hold. I’ve lost close family members and friends and I struggle with depression and feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness often, but there are few things more inspiring to me than witnessing the power of hope persevering in the most impossible situations. That is obviously little consolation to Sarah and her family and friends, who are living through grieving the loss of someone while they are still alive, but inspiration is one of the very best gifts we as humans can leave behind when we die.

Take care of yourselves and hug your loved ones and friends. Baseball is the best.

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