Xmas32
New member
They win so many close games...it seems like that flips as the season goes on.
Yup, there is almost zero correlation with 1 run games and how good a team is. The Mariners are definitely running way above expectation in that department. Their run differential is also way, way, wayyyy below the other 3 teams in the AL.
https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/run-differential
Now, you could argue a little bit that the Ms play in the toughest division so their run differential should be lower (this excludes the Astros of course, who are built like the Death Star). The Ms next stretch of games where they play the Orioles, Royals, Angels and then go to Colorado will tell me a lot. They should, in theory beat up on those teams a bit (Baltimore and KC especially). While I don't expect a +100 run differential like NYY, Boston and Houston if the Ms could get close to where Cleveland is which is in the +60 range, that would be pretty great.
With all that being said, sometimes the baseball gods simply deem one team to run way above expectation, the 2016 Rangers won 95 games and had a MINUS 4 run differential and the 2012 Orioles won 90+ games while having a +5 RD. It appears (hopefully) the Ms are this years team. The nice thing was as tough as this last stretch of games was, the Ms only dropped 1.5 games to the Angels in the WC standings. This next month is absolutely massive for Seattle has they play the Angels 9 times. If the Ms can rip off another 6-3 or better stretch, they can really bury LAA. LAA also has a handful of games against the Dodgers who are butaning right now and the always tough Astros.