Dan Wilson displayed damn-near perfect bullpen management Saturday in what wound up being a tricky series of decisions to navigate.
On the Mariners oddly narrow 7-3 win, for @lookoutlanding.bsky.social
Oh interesting still one more move to make. Wilcox gives up a couple runs, loads the bases with two outs, leverage moves back to medium with two outs and tying run at the plate.
Wilson going to Muñoz to try to get the final out. Another by-the-book move.
And on comes Cole Wilcox to finish off what would be the Mariners third "blowout" win of the season.
Pretty damn near flawless bullpen management from Wilson.
And now here is Ferrer in the medium-leverage LOOGY role to get the last out in the eighth against the lefty top of the order
Leaving Bazardo in for low leverage. This is kind of where the pitchers get themselves out of order when one (and tonight two) can't get the job done. So unless you prefer Ferrer here, who threw 20 pitches last night (but is warming, so presumably available), then sticking w/ Bazardo is fine.
Speier gets in trouble, pushes the game back to medium leverage, Wilson goes to Bazardo to face lefty Josh Smith, as part of a double-pinch-hit-handedness thing.
Another fine move
Speier here in what's technically low leverage but against the top of the Rangers order w/ back-to-back lefties. Another good move.
Hey, and as if on cue, game shifts to medium leverage, Kirby pulled, Brash in, pretty much ideal
Mariners SPalso exiting games with the second lowest leverage index in the majors, suggesting Wilson isn't leaving starters in too long either.
TBF in high leverage situations
Muñoz 10
Speier 8
Brash 8
Bazardo 6
Ferrer 4
Legumina 1
TBF in medium leverage situations
Ferrer 16
Speier 12
Bazardo 11
Muñoz 10
Brash 8
Legumina 5
Criswell 3
Wilcox 2
Just about ideal
A table from FanGraphs showing average leverage index for Mariners relievers when entering the game.
Sample is still quite small but Wilson once again getting his best relievers in the biggest spots
Chaos in every half inning
This is a perfect 2026 Nationals game.
Fighting for my life to stay on top of the Mariners' schedule this year.
The Mariners play at 4:15 p.m. PT tonight on FOX.
That’s stupid thing to say. I was clearly mad from the start of this thread. I didn’t suddenly get mad when your dumb ass showed up.
The Nationals are exciting. Maybe not always in a good way, but exciting nonetheless.
I have a carefully constructed media bubble that works fairly well, but every once in a while something from X slips through and it's consistently the stupidest shit I've heard in weeks.
Apparently there's discourse about Angie Mentink.
That's stupid. She's great.
Servais was better with the media, while Wilson seems to be better with the players. In game? Same manager.
(Both are dorky FO yes-men who pinch hit too much, rarely call for bunts, and generally manage the bullpen quite well.)
(Dan Wilson manages like Scott Servais)
Fastball Speeds, Starting Pitchers
- min 2000 total pitches
- min 10% of total pitches being fastballs
- grouped into 20 equal groups, fastest to slowest
- top 5% in 2008: 95.4
- top 5% in 2025: 97.9
- the 20% to 25% fastest in 2025: 95.5
- bottom 25% is where biggest diff happen
Fun new tool alert at Baseball Savant: the Game Strategy Explorer, from @darenw.com
Should you sac bunt with one out, tied in the bottom of the 9th? Well, probably not, and here's why.
Or ..
--> baseballsavant.mlb.com/game-strateg...
This is one reason I hope the WBC doesn’t move to midseason. Any sort of immediate movement upon return will get blamed on the WBC.
If my math is right, the Kraken went 7-17-3 after the Olympics break.
They were hovering within a point or two of first in the Pac at the break, and then just collapsed on the other side.
Fun Friday @fangraphs.com
Looked into whether age or career length determines retirement and mostly found myself checking whether Juan Soto is still just 27.
Kaapo Kaako after getting traded to the Kraken
My thoughts on the Kraken season
Andrés Muñoz is like clockwork.
I am disappointed and amazed simultaneously. Incredible.
Oh my god