Mariners head to Seattle, looking to get on track vs. the surprising A’s | Notebook

MINNESOTA — In recent seasons past, the Mariners could have looked at their schedule of upcoming games, see a set of games against the Oakland A’s and stamp it as a series win with a high likelihood of a sweep.

When A’s owner John Fisher started trading away the successful core of players following the 2021 season, knowing the franchise could not afford to offer contract extensions to keep them, another rebuild featuring subpar rosters and losing seasons would follow.

The A’s went 60-102 in 2022 and an MLB-worst 50-112 last season.

The Mariners benefited somewhat from those losing seasons. In 2022, they went 11-8 vs. the A’s, which was almost disappointing with some bad losses late in the season. Last season, the Mariners dominated Oakland, going 12-1 in the season series. They outscored the A’s, 68-25, in the 13 games.

But the Mariners shouldn’t expect such dominance this season.

The A’s (18-21) seem to be much improved from last season, or at least their early results speak to a better brand of baseball.

On May 4, they crushed the Miami Marlins, 20-4, to win their sixth straight game and improve to 17-17; an impressive feat considering Oakland started the season 1-7. But the A’s haven’t quite gotten over .500 since then, losing to the Marlins the next day and dropping three of four to the Rangers despite scoring a combined 35 runs in four games. Oakland has series wins over the Orioles, Rangers and Tigers — all teams with winning records.

“We’ve got a big homestand with Oakland coming in, and they’re playing really well, and Kansas City behind them,” manager Scott Servais said. “So we’ll have our work cut out for us here.”

While even most die-hard fans can’t name more than a few players on the A’s roster, the collection of youngsters, castoffs and players trying to stay in the big leagues has put together a better record than the Astros, Cardinals, Giants and Reds.

The Mariners can’t just roll out and expect victories.

“Yeah, you can’t really do that to anybody in the league,” Haniger said. “It’s all good teams, no matter what the record shows. So we’ve got to come in tomorrow, prepared and come in with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder to get back on track and play better all-around baseball.”

The A’s don’t really stand out in any statistical category in their offense or the pitching. But they aren’t awful in any aspect. While their .221 batting average and .299 on-base percentage are slightly lower than the Mariners’ .223 average and .302 OBP, the A’s have smashed 51 homers this season — third most in MLB — while the Mariners have only 40. And they strike out only 25% of the time compared to the almost 29% rate of Seattle.

Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers each have nine homers on the season.

Their overall pitching numbers have been about average, getting a lift from a bullpen that has produced the third-highest FanGraphs WAR (1.9) in MLB.

Pitching matchups:

Friday — Paul Blackburn, RHP (3-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo, RHP (2024 debut)

Saturday — Joey Estes, RHP (2024 debut) vs. Bryce Miller, RHP (3-2, 2.61 ERA)

Sunday — Alex Wood, LHP (1-2, 5.30 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo, RHP (3-3, 3.54 ERA)

Here’s a few things to watch in the three-game series:

Knock, knock, Woo’s there

After he was shut down with elbow discomfort just before the start of the season, right-hander Bryan Woo will be activated from the injured list on Friday and make his 2024 debut to open the homestand.

Woo was dominant in his three rehab outings, not allowing any runs in 11 1/3 innings while allowing five hits and striking out 17 batters with no walks.

Obviously, Woo won’t be quite that dominant vs. MLB hitters. The Mariners also won’t push him over 75 pitches in his first start. But how many innings will he work with those pitches? Seattle will have their leverage relievers available for the first game.

The A’s will likely have a lineup featuring six left-handed hitters to try and exploit Woo’s struggles last season. It was a focus for Woo in spring training to improve his plan against left-handed hitters, using his two-seam fastball and at least showing his changeup.

Swing and make contact?

The Mariners struck out 53 times over the four-game series against the Twins. While that total is somewhat nauseating to traditionalists, it wasn’t unexpected. The Twins’ pitching staff came into the series leading MLB in strikeout percentage at 26.4%, while the Mariners’ hitters were striking out at a 27.9% rate, which was also an MLB high.

The A’s pitching staff isn’t quite at Minnesota’s level in terms of strikeouts. Oakland ranks 23rd^st in MLB with a 21.1% strikeout rate. Their three starters — Blackburn, Estes and Wood — are not hard throwers or big strikeout pitchers.

Perhaps it will help the Mariners get out of their swing-and-miss funk.

Will Seattle use left-handed hitting Luke Raley, who had two hits on Thursday, at first base again in place of the struggling Ty France?

Meet Mason Miller

Several of the Mariners have already met Oakland’s flame-throwing closer when he was a rookie starter for the A’s last season. Last season on May 2 at the Oakland Coliseum, Miller tossed seven hitless innings against the Mariners. His only base runners came on four walks, and he also struck out six batters. But Seattle scored a pair of runs against the A’s bullpen after Miller’s departure and got a strong outing from Bryce Miller to win 2-1.

But after a strained ulnar collateral ligament put him on the injured list 10 days later, the A’s limited his usage when he returned in September and decided to convert him into a reliever role this season.

He’s flourished in that role this season, taking over as the closer.

In 13 appearances, he posted a 1.10 ERA with eight saves. In 16 1/3 innings pitched and 60 batters faced, he allowed seven hits, no homers, struck out 33 batters and walked only four.

He does it with a fastball that averages 100.8 mph and has reached 103 mph and a slider that has yielded only two hits — both singles this season. Hitters are whiffing on 47.7% of the fastballs he’s thrown and 43.9% of the sliders thrown.