I'm not much of a baseball fan mostly because the Mariners have sucked. Can someone explain to me how they seem to be respectable this year? Is it just relief pitching as it appears to be? I mean, I know they got Cano but they don't have much more than that to speak of.
While you're correct in stating that the bullpen has been flat out amazing, the starting pitching has been a surprising strength, as well. Chris Young came out of nowhere as a free agent coming off an injury that kept him out for a year or so, and Roenis Elias made the rare jump from double-A to the MLB roster. Elias was a defector from Cuba, and we've seen lately with guys like Juse Abreu, that you have to treat players from Cuba on a whole different level than "regular" rookies.
The Cano signing was huge in ways more surprising than anything else. While he hasn't hit for the power that was expected, he has hit for a very high average (top 3 in the AL). His influence was also seen throughout Spring Training, as he was helping guys out in the batting cages with their approach and refinements to their swings.
But it's not just Cano; it's kind of the perfect storm of a lot of guys playing much better or improving to what their baseline will be while learning on the Major League level. 3B Kyle Seager is a stud. CF James Jones has been a revelation in the leadoff spot. C Mike Zunino is the guy who is the prime example of learning-on-the-fly, and he's bopped some huge homers of late. SS Brad Miller's batting average doesn't look like anything now, but when you take into account how awfully his season started and how well he's been hitting over the past 1 1/2 months, it's really not that bad.
It all adds up to a team playing surprisingly good baseball... And getting a little lucky along the way.
TL;DR: Starting pitching/bullpen have been surprisingly good, a lot of young players playing up to their potential.
