Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is rapidly approaching. With that being said, it is time to make predictions for each team heading into the 2021 season following a 2020 pandemic-shortened campaign.

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The Seattle Mariners have unanswered questions in all areas of the game that will probably prevent them from making a postseason run in 2021. Missing the postseason will bring their playoff drought to 20 years. The Mariners have never played in a World Series and have played postseason baseball four times in 44 seasons. Looking onto 2021, there are a multitude of concerns that will probably prevent the team from finishing the season with a winning record.

Here are Seattle’s projected starters.

Seattle Mariners Projected Batting Order:

1. SS J.P. Crawford
2. OF Mitch Haniger
3. OF Kyle Lewis
4. 3B Kyle Seager 
5. 1B Evan White
6. 2B Ty France
7. C Tom Murphy
8. OF Jake Fraley
9. OF Jarred Kelenic

Seattle Mariners Projected Pitching Staff

• SP1 Marco Gonzales 
• SP2 James Paxton
• SP3 Justus Sheffield
• SP4 Yusei Kikuchi
• SP5 Chris Flexen
• CL Rafael Montero

Seattle Mariners Team Outlook:

During the offseason, the Mariners signed starters Chris Flexen and James Paxton. They also signed reliever Ken Giles and Keynan Middleton. Another reliever, Rafael Montero, was acquired via trade. He is the favorite to be the team’s closer this season.

Regarding the Mariners’ starting pitching, the rotation is below average, and hope for the future lies with young pitching prospects and their development. Seattle’s bullpen has potential if Montero can stay healthy, but new acquisition Ken Giles will not pitch this season after having Tommy John surgery.

Looking at Seattle’s offense, Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager are solid, but the real difference maker will be outfielder Mitch Haniger if he can bounce back after an injury-ridden 2020. With all of this in mind, it seems likely that the Mariners will finish at the bottom of the standings in the American League.

Seattle Mariners Schedule:

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Houston Astros reliever Ken Giles gave up a big home run to the New York Yankees at home on Tuesday night, and he clearly showed how angry about this he was.

Ken Giles Punches Himself In Astros’ Loss

Gary Sanchez smacked a three-run homer over the center-field wall at Minute Maid Park in the ninth inning to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. New York won the game 4-0. As the visitors celebrated their major hit, Giles instead kept his head down and then punched himself hard across the face while furiously heading to the dugout. Giles, 27, then proceeded to throw a tantrum by picking up a bat and throwing it down onto the ground and kicking an object in the dugout.

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Unsurprisingly, dozens of GIFS of Giles’ actions began surfacing on social media.

Giles also allowed the Yankees’ fourth run and was pulled shortly after that. He took responsibility for the Astros’ loss, and noted how the defending national champions could have won the game had he played better. Giles has only given up two runs in his first 11 appearances this year.

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“I screwed up a win,” Giles told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart after Tuesday’s game. “We should have won this game. We should have bounced back. I didn’t give our team a chance. Of course I’m going to be frustrated with that. This team deserves the best out of everybody and they need me to be the best I can be. They deserve that and that’s what I’m going to give them from here on out.”

The Yankees (19-10, second in AL East) and Astros (20-11, first in AL West) will face off again on Wednesday at 8:10pm EST, the third game of a four-game series in Houston.

According to baseball cliche, good pitching will always outdo good hitting. Both the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros are attempting to put that wisdom to the test.

The Phillies are sending closer Ken Giles west to an Astros team in need of bullpen support. Last year, Houston’s relievers averaged a league-worst 91.1 mph on their fastballs; Giles’ heater can clock in at over 98 mph. He also has back-to-back seasons with ERAs under 2.00 and has 151 strikeouts in 115major league innings.

In return, Philadelphia had one desire: “Pitching. And more pitching,” an executive told ESPN.

In return, Houston sent them pitchers Vincent Velasquez and Brett Oberholtzer, in addition to a third significant prospect and a fourth player.

The other players are reportedly going to the Phillies are minor league outfielder Derek Fisher and right-handed pitching prospect Thomas Eshelman, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Based on the Phillies’ recent struggles, they are using this opportunity to build for the future. Meanwhile in Texas, the Astros will hope that bullpen reinforcements will help them make it over the postseason hump.

Photo: Ken Giles #53 of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on September 29, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies won 4-3. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)