Today's Fun Fact*

by Jeff Sullivan on Jun 8, 2009 11:59 AM PDT in Seattle Mariners Stats

*actually fun!

According to Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA postseason odds, the Mariners only have a 14-15% chance of making the playoffs. While that may seem low, however, it was just a little while ago that they stood at a season-worst 7%. By winning seven of their last nine games, they have improved their position by double, and they still have another 15 games to go against Baltimore, Colorado, San Diego, and Arizona while both the Rangers and Angels have to deal with a tougher schedule. Yeah, things get harder at the end of the month, but getting back in the race is getting back in the race, and this team is still very much alive. They just can't afford to slip up.

By the way, Angels update:

Kelvim Escobar came back over the weekend, showing good velocity, good movement, and poor command. He'll be taking the place of Matt Palmer in the rotation, who I'm just so glad was able to have the best start of his life at our expense.
Ervin Santana's average fastball was up to 91 on Friday. That shows a little improvement, but this is now five starts over which he hasn't come close to matching his old velocity.

0 recs | 25 comments

Comments

That was more intriguing than it was fun.

Poochie - June 8, 2009 reply

Today's fun fact: ghostriding!

Jeff Sullivan - June 8, 2009 reply

I like the guy holding the stop sign in place of the one that normally extends at a stop.

Eyebrows - June 8, 2009 reply

I've heard of ghostriding, and I think I've seen this gif

But god damn if it didn’t tickle my funny bone today. Perfect 4 o’clock hour entertainment.

Robert Lintott - June 8, 2009 reply

This is classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTvSUCCqPo

Phil Hatzenbuehler - June 8, 2009 reply

See, this is a fun fact

Kirsten Schlewitz - June 8, 2009 reply

PECOTA playoff odds already adjusts for strength of schedule, doesn't it?

lailaihei - June 8, 2009 reply

My point is that the M's have the chance to really get hot and make up a lot of ground

Coming out of this stretch something like two or three games out of first puts the M’s in a pretty decent position to both buy and sell as the deadline approaches.

Jeff Sullivan - June 8, 2009 reply

Yeah, just clarifying, not trying to demean your article.

We take a few more games and things get interesting getting closer to the trade deadline.
On the flipside, get swept by the Rockies and San Diego or something and we’re pretty much out of it.

lailaihei - June 8, 2009 reply

Well, yeah

Just because we have a chance doesn’t mean we’ll take advantage of it. I’d really like to see a stretch of something like 9-6 or even 10-5.

Jeff Sullivan - June 8, 2009 reply

A stretch of like 8-7 would just piss me off.

I’d like it if we either have a chance or don’t at the end of this stretch. If we do, I’d love to take advantage of it. If we’re still middling, it might be hard to maximize the value of our assets going forward.

lailaihei - June 8, 2009 reply