By Blaidd Drwg
Remember a couple of months ago when there was all the excitement about the Mariners having one of the best records in baseball since the all-star break? Well, I am here to tell you my friends that the record was completely built on smoke and mirrors. The Mariners managed to build their momentum against possibly the 4 worst teams in the AL – Toronto (who lost 4/5 ths of their pitching staff to injury along with their best hitter), KC (who has no pitching anyway), Cleveland (ditto) and Minnesota (the worst team in the AL, period). If you toss in the Red Sox, the only other team they played with a losing record, they have a stellar 23-4 record. The problem is you eventually have to face teams with a winning record – The Mariners managed to go just 16-33 against those teams, capped off by ending the season with 18 straight games against Baltimore, Texas, LAA and Oakland. The gritty details:
| Team | July | August | Sep/Oct | W-L |
| Texas | 1-2 | 3-3 | 4-5 | |
| KC | 7-1 | 7-1 | ||
| TB | 2-1 | 2-1 | 4-2 | |
| NYY | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2-4 | |
| Toronto | 2-0 | 1-0 | 2-1 | 5-1 |
| Baltimore | 0-3 | 1-5 | 1-8 | |
| LAA | 2-2 | 3-3 | 5-5 | |
| Minnesota | 6-1 | 6-1 | ||
| Cleveland | 3-0 | 3-0 | ||
| CWS | 0-3 | 0-3 | ||
| Boston | 2-1 | 2-1 | ||
| Oakland | 0-6 | 0-6 | ||
| Total | 13-6 | 15-12 | 11-19 |
| July | August | Sep/Oct | ||
| Record Vs Winning | 4-5 | 5-11 | 7-17 | |
| Record Vs Losing | 9-1 | 10-1 | 4-2 |
While their record against losing teams in encouraging, this team is still way of from being a contending team. There are still a ton of holes in the lineup and questions surrounding the future of Felix Hernandez. The addition of the Astros to the AL West next season means the Mariners won’t be the worst team in the division, but if the A’s turn out to be for real, the M’s would be a longshot to make the playoffs as they would still only be the 4th best team in the division.
FlatbreadGarden 
That W/L split is indicative of what the M’s were last season. Mediocre.
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It could have been much worse – the in the last two against LAA, the Angels packed it in because they were eliminated and Toronto and Boston both completely imploded at the end of the season. They might be a .500 team in 2013 with the fences in, but I don’t see them better than that, unless they make a major move in the offseason.
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