Play Ball 2016

I hated those Magic Eye puzzles as a kid.
Supposedly, if you got your eyes out of focus *just* the right amount, an image or word would pop out of an otherwise-chaotic background. All I got was a lot of eye strain.
But that moment when a jumble of disparate pieces pops into place - when the shapes and colors coalesce into a recognizable image - felt all too familiar in the opening series of the Seattle Mariners' 2016 campaign.
For three games in Arlington, we got a tantalizing taste of what this team could look like if all the gears mesh.
The starting pitching, not flawless, but always giving them a chance to win. A better-than-average defense. A surprisingly-effective bullpen that allowed just one hit over nine innings.
And offense. Oh, was there offense.
Robinson Canó played all spring training like a man hell-bent on proving he is still an All-Star to the many who had begun to wonder. He's currently on pace for 216 home runs.
Leonys Martin, coming off a season at the plate bad enough to be offered as trade bait by the Rangers, showed his former team what they were missing. His .455 OBP would have led the league last year.
They scored six runs in the eighth inning on Tuesday and five in the ninth on Wednesday against a pair of hard-throwing relievers that were supposed to lock down the back end of games for the Rangers. They took a pair of close games against the defending A.L. West champions and turned them into blowouts, and stood toe-to-toe when a former teammate attempted to distribute some prairie justice.
Of course the numbers from the first few days, weeks, even month of a season mean almost nothing. If Tom Wilhelmsen were to retire the next batter he faces, his ERA would be 135.00.
The journey has begun and the signs of refreshment and life could yet prove to be a mirage. But for a team marked by a new regime, new faces, and a new philosophy it was the first exciting sign that the components could congeal into a new outcome.
If you squint just so, turn the page slightly and let your vision go a little out of focus, you can see a team that relies on solid pitching, timely hitting, and a flexible roster to make a run late into the season.
The opening series in Texas might have been that moment when Jerry Dipoto's vision of buying low and expecting a rebound first began to materialize. For the season to be a success, a lot of things have to go right. But for three solid games, two of them victories, to open the year, fans caught a glimpse of what it could look like if it does.
***
In the interest of accountability, transparency, and proving that avid interest is not the same as actual knowledge, I present my predictions for the 2016 season, with the additional prediction that the Seattle Mariners' 85 wins will leave them an agonizing one game out of the second A.L. Wild Card spot.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Wild Card
Baltimore at Houston
Division Series
Texas at Toronto
Baltimore at Kansas City
Championship Series
Texas at Kansas City
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Wild Card
New York at Pittsburgh
Division Series
Washington at Los Angeles
Pittsburgh at Chicago
Championship Series
Los Angeles at Chicago
WORLD SERIES
Kansas City over Chicago in 6

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