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What’s Next: Benchmark brings intriguing matchups
- Updated: May 16, 2016
Baseball, we’ve all been told, is a game of constant adjustment.
You didn’t get a hit the first time up against the changeup? Well, keep looking for the slow stuff. Once the pitcher realizes you’re onto the junk, gear back up for the heater.
The same goes for expectations, especially after the small sample sizes of April grow to this point in mid-May. We’re just now getting around to realizing that the teams that have vaulted into current contention might simply be that good and in it for the October haul.
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Until the rest of the pack makes the necessary adjustments.
The week ahead will get us to the point where we are officially one quarter of the way through the 162-game regular-season grind.
What’s next is a midweek benchmark that will provide plenty more intrigue to digest in the form of scintillating series among contending clubs that might have seemed like surprises heading into Opening Day but are suddenly seeming like very legitimate threats to carry the momentum all the way to the postseason.
Take the Mariners and Orioles. Few pundits liked their chances in the American League West and East, but here they both are, with the Mariners right on the heels of first-place Texas in the West and the Orioles tied with the Red Sox for the top spot in the East. And here they both are, ready to face off against each other in a three-game series at Camden Yards starting on Tuesday night.
It’s the teams’ first meeting since their big offseason trade that sent slugger Mark Trumbo from Seattle to Baltimore. He’s tied for the team lead in homers with Manny Machado at 11, just shy of the Mariners’ rejuvenated Robinson Cano, who leads the AL with 12.
The Mariners renovated their roster in the offseason and have been getting continuity on offense and defense while pitching well enough to hang in games. They are also road warriors, having gone 13-6 away from Safeco Field thus far.
The Orioles were expected to hit the ball but not necessarily expected to prevent other teams …
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