Seager-san… the M’s in Japan (2020 Season)

[pauwoo]

Off to a great start so far in July – winners of 4 straight, outscoring our opponents 24-3 over that stretch and delivering some stellar pitching performances… especially in the last of those where SP Erik Swanson befuddled the Orix Buffalo during a complete game, 2-hit shutout that included 12 Ks and only one free pass. Swanson even caught fan-favorite, Jabari Blash, looking three times during the outing.


On the year, Swanson has registered 6 wins, 3 losses, and a 109 ERA+ over 11 starts. We’ll take it.

[pauwoo]

The Skidaddle Mariners are well represented in the all-star game…

SP Marco Gonzales (SEA) - 10-4, 2.41 ERA, 141.2 IP, 0.97 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 2.2 WAR
SP Yusei Kikuchi (SEA) - 12-1, 3.24 ERA, 125.0 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 0.7 WAR
SP Taijuan Walker (SEA)* - 11-2, 2.22 ERA, 117.2 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 2.4 WAR
RP Taylor Guilbeau (SEA) - 1-3, 10 SV, 2.32 ERA, 31.0 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 11.0 K/9, 0.6 WAR
C Tom Murphy (SEA) - .282/.349/.600, 305 AB, 26 HR, 181 wRC+, 5.4 WAR
1B Danzilla Vogelbach (SEA) - .242/.386/.516, 335 AB, 27 HR, 160 wRC+, 3.7 WAR
2B Shed Long Jr. (SEA)* - .281/.367/.562, 338 AB, 23 HR, 16 SB, 173 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
3B Kyle Seager (SEA) - .270/.354/.407, 356 AB, 10 HR, 4 SB, 124 wRC+, 3.4 WAR
SS J.P. Crawford (SEA)* - .292/.411/.441, 315 AB, 7 HR, 5 SB, 151 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
RF Mitch Haniger (SEA) - .259/.360/.491, 224 AB, 13 HR, 3 SB, 153 wRC+, 3.0 WAR

Also, your boy, the man, the myth, the legend in his own mind, made the cut as well…
RF Jabari Blash (ORI) - .233/.350/.565, 317 AB, 31 HR, 2 SB, 163 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

As for the game, the Pacific League won by a score of 4-3, none of our guys had a standout performance, and Kyle Seager committed an error at 3B… also, weird scheduling note – the league is off for the next ~3ish weeks, and will resume play on 8/14 – not sure if that’s a normal thing for the *** or if I messed up the schedule when I added Seattle to the mix… either way, after all those 10+ hour flights our guys have been on, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the break.

[pauwoo]

RECORD: 65-30
APRIL RECORD: 16-7
MAY RECORD: 17-10
JUNE RECORD: 14-8
JULY RECORD: 12-2
STANDINGS: 1st (+7)
RUNS SCORED: 579 (1st)
RUNS AGAINST: 292 (1st)
DEFENSIVE EFF: .714 (1st)
ZONE RATING: +2.1 (2nd)

We really laid it down in July – a weird, short little month – are still -9 against the PYT, boast a +287 RDiff, and posted a couple of smashmouth results in the process (with our 16-1 win over the 2nd place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks being the most meaningful of the two). Now, it’s just about keeping our guys focused, keeping their eyes on the prize, and finding creative ways to inspire them to keep their foot on the gas.

[pauwoo]

Complacency… so, after a looooong break, we’re back at it – sort of. We dropped two of our first three games after the break to the 3rd place Saitama Seibu Lions… close games, one and all, we were outscored 10-8 over the three-game set.

Buncha lollygaggers you ask me… of note, sort of, since his unfortunate opening day, Danzilla Vogelbach has avoided a second golden sombrero… meanwhile, your boy, Jabari ‘Big Daddy’ Blash, has collected four goldens and has come within one K of that dubious distinction in an astounding 17 games. It should come as no surprise then, that he is leading the *** in strikeouts with 159 on the year… kinda makes me want to simulate a season with Bo Jackson in the *** – the 1989, peak swing & miss, era Bo Knows in Japan – that’d be fun. It’s happening. For sure.

[pauwoo]

I sidetracked myself with that Bo Jackson idea… so, the answer to the question of how a 26-year old Bo Jackson would fare in the 2020 version of the *** is… not too bad. He finished second in HRs to Neftali Soto with 44, posted a solid 4.5 WAR, and struck out 194 times which was good enough for third on the table. Jabari would not be outdone here folks – he finished first in strikeouts with a whopping 213 on the year for the Golden Eagles.

Here’s his final line…



Bo’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters made the playoffs – even won the opening round against the heavily favored, Jabari-led, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, 2-1… but in the end, Bo didn’t know how to bring a championship to his *** club.

Oh, and for the record, Bo earned four Golden’s and one Platinum Sombrero over the course of the season… Jabari, by contrast, posted 8 Golden’s and didn’t have it in him to put a Platinum on the board.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…