harmony

Indeed the defending World Series champions came from behind to avoid a four-game sweep in Seattle: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA201903290.shtml Kikuchi surrendered four hits and two earned runs over six innings with five strikeouts and no walks. FWIW Kikuchi and Shohei Ohtani attended the same rural high school in the sticks of Japan: https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-shohei-ohtani-yusei-kikuchi-angels-mariners-20190608-story.html

If only the league handed out an April pennant: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-mlb-predictions/ https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings

The series can still be swept. Or not.

Lefthander Yusei Kikuchi is probably the best starter the Red Sox will face in the Seattle series (the Sox will avoid Marco Gonzales and Justus Sheffield). The Red Sox remain favored to leapfrog over the Mariners tonight in the Wild Card standings.

Both lineups: https://twitter.com/shannondrayer/status/1385687018202570752/photo/1

Terrible calls hurt the Mariners as well. MLB Gameday suggests that Adam Ottavino did not get the strike call on one borderline pitch (perhaps two): MLB Gameday: Mariners 7, Red Sox 3 Final Score (04/22/2021) | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Mariners vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park Go to eighth-inning plays. Compare: https://twitter.com/DKramer_/status/1385398389093797895/photo/1

... and a more detailed Seattle perspective: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2021/4/22/22398754/mariners-need-just-three-hits-to-defeat-red-sox-human-element Scroll down.

That's how the Mariners have been winning this year ... it's probably not sustainable. If Seattle holds on, the Mariners will share the league's best record with the AL West rival Athletics.

Kendall Graveman has been unhittable this year. Graveman and Hunter Renfroe were drafted out of Mississippi State in 2013.

The series preview from a Seattle perspective: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2021/4/22/22397769/series-preview-seattle-mariners-vs-boston-red-sox-april-2021

East Coast weather is dismal during much of the baseball season. West Coast postponements are rare.

Today my fantasy team sends Hyun-Jin Ryu, Marco Gonzales and Corbin Burnes up against the top three teams in the current MLB Power Rankings.

And the Red Sox are tied for the second-best record in baseball.

The Seattle Mariners face a challenging week with two games against the top-ranked Dodgers and four games against the third-ranked Red Sox. The 21st-ranked Mariners, 10-6, to date have won four of five series against teams ranked No. 6, No. 10, No. 12, No. 18 and No. 26. Tough, tough April schedule.

Growing up in southeast Iowa I was a rare Minnesota Twins fan starting in 1964. My switch to the Kansas Royals began in 1980 when the Royals advanced to the World Series as I started law school 200 miles from Kansas City. World Series titles landed in Minnesota and Kansas City in the 1980s. After spending much of my early adulthood in the Rocky Mountain region I became a Colorado Rockies fan upon their inception in 1993 even though by then I had moved to Los Angeles. I went to many Dodgers games during my six years in Los Angeles but could never embrace the Dodgers because of their seven-game World Series win over my Minnesota Twins in 1965. I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1994 and got caught up in the 1995 remarkable run to the American League Championship Series by the long-doormat Seattle Mariners (where my allegiances remain today). My closest baseball friend completed his tour of home games for all 30 MLB teams in 2013 when I accompanied him to Toronto. My friend has now visited the newest stadium of each team except Texas. I've been to home games of 23 teams: White Sox (2 stadiums), Twins (2 stadiums but not the current), Mets (2), Royals, Rangers (2 stadiums ago), Cardinals (1 stadium ago), Angels, Dodgers, Padres (2), Giants (2), Athletics, Mariners (2), Diamondbacks, Rockies (2), Cubs, Cleveland, Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, Orioles, Nationals, Blue Jays and Brewers.

FWIW this year Bobby Dalbec has a BABIP of .167 in 23 plate appearances. Dalbec's strikeout rate in a smidgen lower than his 2020 rate. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/bobby-dalbec/19966/stats?position=1B

Christian Vazquez went unclaimed at the preseason auction in my 10-team mixed fantasy league. In the league's first twice-weekly draft on Sunday I picked up Vazquez with the 10th and final pick. Since then Vazquez has gone 5-for-11 with two home runs, five runs, four RBI and one stolen base.

NBC Sports columnist John Tomase offers his annoying take: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/sneaky-good-sneaky-gross-red-sox-season-already-disaster?fbclid=IwAR1-Cop5eCZzHKLrHli8BNzkiD7-Lylk0P0NLLNtkrOzjiVU1i6cynQO4P8

Not to be outdone, the Oakland Athletics, who were a solid 36-24 last season, have opened the 2021 season losing four straight at home with a negative 26 run differential. The Red Sox are 0-3 at home with a negative 13 run differential. It's early.

As of 7:25 pm EDT Sunday FiveThirtyEight gave the Red Sox a 14 percent chance of advancing to the postseason (and a 4 percent chance of winning the division): https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-mlb-predictions/

Today is likely the low point of the 2021 Red Sox season. Better days lie ahead.

This year the Red Sox should win most games when they hold the opponent to three or fewer runs. Today's was not one of those games.

The Seattle Mariners have only one Dominican-born player -- closer Rafael Montero -- on their 26-man roster: https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/roster/_/name/sea/seattle-mariners

Tyler Olson was one of two Gonzaga lefthanders taken in the 2013 MLB draft: https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?pos=P&year_ID=2013&draft_type=junreg&query_type=pos_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0 The other was Seattle southpaw Marco Gonzales.

Over my 20 years in this fantasy league I had never favored Mariner players until two years ago when I started rostering Seattle prospects. Perhaps a Seattle fan is better conditioned for disappointment. Six of my 16 Mariners are prospects who are currently ranked on at least one Top 100 prospect list. My four Mariner outfielders do not include 2020 Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis. My six Mariner pitchers do not include James Paxton.