Three things to watch as Mariners face rival Rangers for first time this season

DENVER — After 25 days and 22 games of peculiar scheduling from Major League Baseball that featured 12 of their last 15 games coming against teams from the National League, the Mariners finally play a team from their own division.

But it isn’t just any team.

It’s the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers, who currently lead the American League West with a 12-11 record.

Meanwhile, the Mariners, who are 11-11 after Sunday’s doubleheader at Coors Field, sit a half-game behind Texas.

The two teams open their season series with a three-game set at Globe Life Field on Tuesday evening.

Unlike the offseason and spring going into the 2023 season, the Mariners leadership wasn’t quite as vocal about winning a division title during a tumultuous offseason or even during spring training when they extolled the improvements to the roster.

But manager Scott Servais and his players continued to maintain that winning the division title is a legitimate and reachable goal for this season.

Why?

The Mariners felt like they underachieved last season and still were right there till the final days of the season. They even led the American League West for a handful of days in late August.

But the Rangers handled Seattle last season, winning nine of the 13 matchups, including all six in Arlington. Three of those losses came on Sept. 22-24 in the final 10 games of the season.

Texas scored 49 runs on 64 hits with 14 homers in those six games at Globe Life.

The Mariners believe they are better equipped to compete against the Rangers this season.

And they know, to win the West, they will have to go through Texas.

Neither team is at full strength going into this first series. The Rangers are using a pieced-together starting rotation with Max Scherzer, Jacob de Grom and Tyler Mahle all on the 60-day injured list. Third baseman Josh Jung is also on the injured list.

The matchup is one of opposing strengths — the Mariners’ lockdown pitching and the Rangers’ potent and powerful offense.

Texas is averaging 4.96 runs per game with a .256/.325/.395 slash line.

By comparison, the Mariners and their slow-starting offense are averaging 3.82 runs per game with a .229/.325/.351 slash line. 

The Mariners pitching staff has a 3.48 ERA this season with 201 strikeouts and 47 walks in 22 games. 

Over their last 10 games, Seattle pitchers have posted a 1.48 ERA allowing 15 runs in 91 1/3 innings pitched. Opponents are batting just .171 against them and have struck out 96 times while drawing only 16 walks.

Will the oft-used adage of good pitching always beating good hitting ring true?

Here are three things to watch:

Can the Mariners’ recent patience at the plate get them into Texas’ beat up bullpen?

The Mariners’ recent surge of offensive production has come by grinding out at-bats vs. opposing starters and forcing them out of the game early, and then doing damage against opponents’ middle relievers.

Over their last six games, they have produced 35 runs scored, a .291/.389/.461 slash line with 32 walks and 54 strikeouts. And they’ve forced four of the six starters faced out of the game before finishing the fifth inning.

It would be beneficial for Seattle to get into the Rangers bullpen, which is showing signs of the struggles of late last season. 

Rangers relievers have posted a 4.86 ERA this season and have struggled to close out games. Unlike their 2023 championship run where they relied on two or three relievers to finish every game, the Rangers can’t do that in the regular season.

Bryce Miller vs. Corey Seager and the Texas lefty hitters

While he didn’t do it specifically for Seager or Nathaniel Lowe, Miller spent the offseason working on a split-finger fastball to have an off-speed weapon to keep left-handed hitters off balance and off his four-seam fastball.

Last season, left-handed hitters posted a .303/.358/.558 slash line against Miller in 255 plate appearances. He gave up 23 doubles, 12 homers, walked 16 and struck out 47.

This season, lefties have posted a .109/.196/.261 slash line in 51 plate appearances with two homers, five walks and 13 strikeouts. He’s thrown the split-finger 44 times against lefties and allowed one hit off it.

In two starts vs Texas, he allowed a combined 13 runs on 14 hits in 6 2/3 innings pitched, including five doubles and three homers. Seager hit two of those homers and a double, going 4 for 7 with three RBI and four runs scored.

Miller is going to throw the split-finger to Seager, Lowe, Evan Carter and Josh Smith. They know he’s got the pitch and will be prepared for it with two strikes.

Adolis Garcia vs. uniform sleeves and the Mariners bullpen

Well, uniform sleeves on a “smedium” jersey are really no match for Garcia’s massive biceps. These new Nike uniforms are begging for help when he swings. But Garcia has a knack for coming up with big hits vs the Mariners. In 51 games, he’s got a .270/.321/.495 slash line vs. Seattle with 11 doubles, 11 homers, 39 RBI, 15 walks and 67 strikeouts. Given how Servais deploys his bullpen, it’s likely Andres Muñoz will be facing Garcia at some point during the series with the game’s outcome in the balance.

Note

The Mariners optioned right-handed reliever Brett de Geus to Triple-A Tacoma after Sunday’s doubleheader vs. the Rockies.

The team was allowed to carry 27 players for the doubleheader and reinstated right-hander Cody Bolton from the injured list to be the extra player.

To get back down to the normal 26 players, de Geus was sent to Tacoma.

Signed to a minor-league contract this offseason, de Geus had his minor-league contract selected on April 8. He made four appearances, allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings pitched with no walks and two strikeouts.