The two hottest teams in baseball start a three game weekend series Friday

Mashing Mariners host streaking Astros

Cody Stoots
Apr 12, 2019, 5:44 am
Getty Images

It's rare to have the two hottest teams in baseball square off but Friday we get just that as the Mariners host the Astros in the Emerald City of Seattle.

Both teams have won six straight games and did so on the strength of their bats for the majority of the wins. The Astros though find themselves looking up at the Mariners in the American League West which is a huge surprise for almost every baseball prognosticator, even this early in the season.

Seattle was supposed to be rebuilding after a slew of names were moved in the offseason. Stud infielder Jean Segura was traded to the Phillies and his mate up the middle Robinson Cano was also sent to the NL East in a trade to the Mets. One of the best closers in the game Edwin Diaz was also moved with Cano. James Paxton had been a mainstay of the rotation and was also moved to New York, the Yankees for him. Even young outfielder Ben Gamel was swapped out for another young outfielder.

Replacing them is a hodge-podge of players who failed to succeed elsewhere. It is a who's who of "oh he plays for them now?" Jay Bruce has been a journeyman outfielder converted to first base. Former Astros outfielder Domingo Santana was the player they swapped Ben Gamel for in the trade with the Brewers. Tim Beckham is a failed first overall pick who signed for less than $2 million.

Somehow, Seattle is better. Way better.

It's all led to the best offense in baseball up to this point. They lead in almost every important hitting category and some of those leads are significant. They're 13 points better than Houston who is in second in batting average. They're slugging 30 points better than the closest team. Bruce leads the majors in home runs. Santana is the RBI leader. Beckham, the failed top pick, is slashing .347/.429/.694.

The old baseball adage is each game back in the standings takes a week to erase. The Astros trail the Mariners by four games right now. It isn't the end of the season if the Astros have a bad weekend but it does make the climb to the top of the division a little tougher. Despite Seattle's hot start, they're not super scary.

They have beat up on teams who are supposed to be bad this season and the struggling Red Sox. Their pitching is also mediocre, and did I mention their opponents up to this point have been subpar? The Astros offense has been humming these past six games and that shouldn't change as the eight game road trip begins Friday.

This is a measuring stick for the Astros pitching staff which will see Wade Miley start ahead of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. The Mariners do most of their damage in innings one through six so getting to the bullpen late in the game, where the Astros boast a top ten ERA, will be key.

The AL West might be off to a better start than most expected. This will be the first of many series for the Astros to continue to prove the division goes through them.

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

The Third Starter

Colin McHugh is all that so far

Collin McHugh/Facebook

I know we're just four starts in and you can't make any assumptions in a baseball season until September but maybe just maybe the Astros have found their third starter and he's been right under our nose the whole time.

This is not something the organization had to realize. They've been on the Colin McHugh train since the offseason began. We fans have been slower on the uptake.

The first rumblings came early in the offseason when the team allegedly went after Nathan Eovaldi then James Paxton. They obviously had a number for each in mind that they wouldn't exceed and they lost out to the Red Sox and Yankees on both.

I for one wanted to see them go after Corey Kluber. I dreamed of a rotation of Verlander, Kluber, Cole and then fill in the gaps. Those three at the top of any rotation is the stuff parades are made of. It wasn't realistic to think the Indians wold trade him to the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year but I could dream anyway.

Can't tell you how many times I've been asked if the Astros would re-sign Dallas Keuchel. My answer every time has been a fervent no. It seems almost inconceivable that a guy who won the Cy Young four years ago and was a number two starter on a World Series team just two years ago is still out of work but he's just not the same dominant guy he was. Not even close. Soft tossing lefties are not in high demand especially ones who are 31 and looking for big money long term deals. His last couple of years have not warranted it. He started 2017 with a 9-0 record. He had shoulder issues and finished the second half with a 5-5 record but more than that, every important stat was worse post all-star break. Maybe that was due to the injury but last year when he was thought to healthy he wasn't much better. He gave up more hits and faced more batters than anyone in the league. His WAR was his second worst since 2013. His K/W was down. His WHIP was up and so on and so on. He's not a top of the rotation guy anymore but wants to be paid like it. The marketplace is telling him it's not going to happen, not unless a good team gets desperate anyway.

In spring training Forest Whitley was all the rave. He looked great and he was ready to come in and assume that role of third starter. One problem: tough to do that from Round Rock and oh by the way he hasn't been all that in his two starts. His second outing on Monday lasted 1 1/3 and he has a 9.95 ERA. No big deal but not something any player wants to look up at on the scoreboard no matter how early in the season. The common thought is that the club will bring him up in June to get that extra year of service. If so it'll be plenty of time for Whitley to get acclimated to the bigs and pitch in some pressure games before the postseason. He's got top of the rotation stuff and could eventually be the ace here but when he does get here he's going to have prove that he's good enough to be the third starter on this staff because Colin McHugh won't relinquish that without a fight.

For whatever reason I just don't believe we've bought into McHugh as a big time starter. Maybe it's because of how he looks. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with his looks but it's not what an overpowering athlete is in 2019. Verlander and Cole look the part, McHugh not so much. But looks can be deceiving. Since he's joined the Astros he's had a winning record every year. He's 57-31. He's had a 19 win season. Some 3rd starters never do that. After going 48-28 over 4 seasons as a starter he was asked to come out of the bullpen and responded with what could have and maybe should have been an all-star season.

One big question coming into this season was whether or not McHugh could pitch deep into games after a year in the pen. He went 3 innings twice all of last season. If he couldn't it would certainly tax a bullpen that looks weaker without him and Brad Peacock. So far though he's gone six innings in 3 of his 4 starts. That could get better but A.J. may have some of the same doubt about him that we do. If your name is Verlander or Cole, A.J. will leave you in until you think you're done. If your name isn't Verlander or Cole he takes you out when he thinks you're done.

It's a long season and there are a bunch of starts left but McHugh has allayed some of the fears many of us had this offseason. He certainly looks the part of a 3rd starter on a championship team so far.


SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome