West Coast interleague action here as the Arizona Diamondbacks host the Seattle Mariners for the finale of their series. Both teams look like they're going to miss the playoffs this year. Justin Dunn will start for Seattle, while Luke Weaver takes the mound for the Diamondbacks.
Mariners Improving
The Seattle Mariners had pretty low expectations after their abysmal 2019 campaign. They were decent through the first week or so of this season but then completely fell apart, going 8-19 through their first 27 games. That being said they have really turned it on lately, going 11-6 in their last 17. It's probably too little too late to get into the playoffs, but they've now got some nice momentum to build on for next year. As they look to keep that momentum going in this series finale they'll turn to youngster Justin Dunn on the mound, who they're hoping can be a building block for the future of this rotation.
I'm really high on the 24-year-olds upside, and he's been absolutely fantastic recently. Over his last three starts, he's dominated, giving up only two total runs. In two of those three starts, he gave up only one hit. After struggling mightily early on, the lineup has been hitting really well over the last month. During this 17-game run, they have scored at least four runs 11 times. They've been closing sets well, as they are 5-0 in their last five games during the third game of a series. They've also been cleaning up against bad teams, going 6-1 in their last seven games against teams with winning percentages below .400.
Diamondbacks Disappoint
The Arizona Diamondbacks weren't great last year but they were solid and managed to finish in second place in the NL West, so expectations were relatively high for 2020. They've been one of the biggest disappointments in the league so far, entering Saturday with a 17-29 record. Things have been much worse recently as they are just 4-18 in their last 22 games after starting the year off nicely at 13-11. They've been in a complete tailspin over the past month, and now have no shot at the playoffs. They'll start Luke Weaver here, who has also been a big disappointment.
He's been one of the worst starters in the majors, entering with a 7.12 ERA through nine starts. Given that Weaver had a 4.95 ERA in a full season in 2018, I'm thinking his great 12 games with Arizona last year were a fluke. He has yet to go even six innings into a game, which is bad news for Arizona because their bullpen ranks 25th in the league with a 5.09 ERA. The D-Backs are just 2-7 in Weaver's nine starts. The pitching has been far from the only issue, however, as this offense has been pitiful recently. The offensive upside is very low, and in 12 of their last 22 games, they've mustered only one or two runs.
Notable Trends
N/A
N/A
