Silly Pre-season hopes and predictions

[octagondd]

As we all know, after a long layoff from baseball and as spring starts to warm things up, it is easy to regain even the smallest shred of hope for this ridiculous team. Every spring it seems like the young players are making progress and are going to turn the corner, but this team always has so many IFs attached to it. Here are my IFs and prediction.

It is highly unlikely, but possible this team wins 81 or more games IF:
-Someone figures out how to lead off whether it is Chavez, Ackley, Almonte, or anyone
-Seager continues to be a solid contributor
-Cano doesn't get hurt or miss significant time
-Iwakuma and Walker come back healthy and stay that way
-Miller can actually hit well when the games start to count
-The team figures out what to do with Franklin
-Hart and LoMo can stay healthy for 80% of the season and contribute above replacement level
-Someone takes the Closer job and can actually do it
-Zunino continues his progress
-Smoak figures out how to hit for an entire season and maybe even from both sides
-Romero challenges for and wins a starting spot and can maintain it during the season

If by some magical powers of John Schneider and Pete Carroll rubbing off on the other major teams in the area, and all these IFs come through in this season, then they could have a shot at a playoff spot or the division, but that is a hell of a lot of IFs.

There are many more IFs if I cared to take the time to think on it, but this was enough for me to conclude this team will probably be a 70-75 Win team. They will tease us here and there with some good stretches and they will be absolutely awful during many others.

"Mariner baseball - for your amusement while waiting for Football pre-season to begin."

 

[cezero]

-Smoak and Ackley live up to a modicum of the hype they generated 3 years ago.

 

[octagondd]

Well, only two games in and this team is trying hard to make me believe. My insides want to proclaim a division contender, but my brain has seen a hot month or two before. Soon enough they will stop throwing FB to Almonte and he will be a useless lead off, then Smoak will try to kill every ball and fall off the face of the earth. Miller will eventually lose his momentum and Kuma and Walker will be brought back too fast and get hurt again. That is my Seattle brain talking, although there is something different in the air now up there since the perfecto by Felix and the whole Super bowl thing and all.

We need Russell Wilson to talk with our team and burn his Rangers jersey.

Why not you Smoak?
Why not you Ackley?
Why not you Miller?