Virtual Season: Marco, Fraley lead M's to victory

The Mariners won their third game of the season Tuesday night, scoring four runs and holding off the Minnesota Twins to even their record at 3-3. Marco Gonzales pitched six solid innings to earn his first win of 2020 while Kenta Maeda took the loss for the Twins.

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games, COVID-Void Alternate Universe; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 31, 2020 at 11:59pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Evan White breaks the mold for M's at 1B

When Seattle General Manager Jerry Dipoto announced his “step back” plan after the 2018 season, the focus for 2019 immediately shifted to the farm system. Mariner fans quickly learned about young stars like Jared Kelenic, Julio Rodríguez, and Justin Dunn. One young player who went under the radar was first baseman Evan White. All this changed when White was signed to a six-year major league contract last November.

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Posted in Mariners; Tagged Evan white  |   Posted on March 31, 2020 at 6:30pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Virtual Season: Walker strong in victory over Twins

Taijuan Walker returned to the Mariners' fold in style Monday night at TMP. The one-time prized prospect, traded to Arizona along with Ketel Marte after the 2016 season for Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura, took the hill in his second Mariner debut and pitched seven shutout innings to earn a win over the Minnesota Twins.

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 31, 2020 at 3:00am   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Virtual Season: M's drop finale to Texas, fall to 1-3

This post chronicles a virtual 2020 season played on the computer game Out of the Park Baseball 21. See the virtual opening day post for details on the setup. We’ll be updating this “season” as our coronavirus-enforced life without real baseball continues.

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games, COVID-Void Alternate Universe; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 30, 2020 at 5:45pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Virtual Season: Gallo, Minor lead Rangers to 4-2 win over M's

Joey Gallo smacked his second 2-run homer in as many games and Mike Minor pitched six shutout innings to lead the Texas Rangers to their second win of the season, a 4-2 defeat of the Mariners at TMP.

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games, COVID-Void Alternate Universe; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 29, 2020 at 2:35pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Virtual Season: M's win 6-5 in dramatic comeback

Scores from around the virtual league:

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games, COVID-Void Alternate Universe; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 29, 2020 at 1:13am   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Virtual Opening Day

We have no baseball right now (no live baseball, anyway; some TV channels and MLB.com are providing broadcasts of old games here and there), thanks to global pandemic chaos, so to keep us entertained here at grandsalami.net I have engaged the computer program Out of the Park Baseball to provide a facsimile.

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games, COVID-Void Alternate Universe; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, GSAU  |   Posted on March 27, 2020 at 9:50pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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The Longest Offseason

Today was supposed to be Opening Day across baseball. Alas, instead it's just another day in this holding pattern that will last...months? Who knows at this point. The players' union and the Commissioner's Office are struggling to come up with rules covering things like service time for arbitration and free-agency purposes and the draft in this strange year (how would you like to be the Los Angeles Dodgers, having just traded prized prospects for one year of Mookie Betts and then have that one year be wiped out and he's a free agent before he ever suits up for LA?).

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Posted in News; Tagged MLB, COVID-19  |   Posted on March 26, 2020 at 8:30pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Still no baseball

Hi, everyone. Weird times we're living in, aren't they? With COVID-19 having shut down so much of our regular lives, we're all making do as virtual shut-ins.

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Posted in Mariners, News; Tagged Transactions, Books, From the archives  |   Posted on March 22, 2020 at 8:01pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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What If...?

Nerds of a certain age may remember the Marvel Comics series "What If...?" that was published regularly in the late 1970s and early '80s, with a revival in the late '80s and 1990s. The anthology series took an event from the long canon of Marvel Comics history and turned it on its head, telling "alternate universe" stories wherein, for example, Spider-Man's Uncle Ben had lived, or Captain America had run for President. Well, let's apply that concept to baseball, shall we?

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Posted in Mariners, Virtual Games; Tagged OOTP, COVID-19, What If  |   Posted on March 15, 2020 at 9:56pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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COVID-19 update

Events continue to unfold at high speed, but here's the latest on the state of affairs with MLB and the Mariners.

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Posted in Mariners, News; Tagged Spring Training  |   Posted on March 13, 2020 at 7:27pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Season delayed

Well, that was fast.

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Posted in News, MLB; Tagged Opening Day, Spring Training  |   Posted on March 12, 2020 at 7:25pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Spring Training check-in II

We're now just two weeks from Opening Day—maybe—so let's check in once more with how the Mariners are doing down in Arizona. The record is underwhelming at 6-12, but remember, wins and losses don't really matter in spring training. More important is how particular players are developing and how competition for roster spots plays out.

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Posted in Mariners; Tagged Spring Training  |   Posted on March 11, 2020 at 11:06pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Age of uncertainty

Opening Day is just two weeks away...maybe.

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Posted in Mariners, News, MLB; Tagged Opening Day, Spring Training  |   Posted on March 11, 2020 at 9:37pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Spring Training Check-in

Having hit the quarter-pole for Spring Training 2020, let's check in with Your Seattle Mariners and see who's doing well and how the battle for various roster spots is progressing. The sample size remains small, of course; we're talking a week's worth of games in which players generally get just a couple of at-bats each. Still, it's a starting point to refer to as the spring goes on and we approach Opening Day on March 26th.

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Posted in Mariners; Tagged Spring Training  |   Posted on March 3, 2020 at 7:56pm   |   Permalink   |     |  
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Sliding scale

Dylan Moore, the utility man currently competing in spring training to reclaim his bench role with the Mariners, is out of action observing concussion protocol after an injury suffered in last Wednesday's exhibition game against the Reds. Moore clocked his head against the knee of Reds infielder José Garcia while diving into second base, attempting a steal.

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Posted in Columns, Around the Horn; Tagged Baserunning  |   Posted on March 1, 2020 at 6:40am   |   Permalink   |     |  
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