The Seattle Mariners are 17-13 as of Wednesday afternoon.
That record is good enough to lead the competitive AL West, which has the last two World Series champions.
A big part of the M’s success is the quality of their pitching staff.
Codify Baseball has a really impressive stat involving the Mariners’ pitching, more specifically their starting rotation.
“Earned runs allowed by Mariners starters, last 18 games: 1, 0, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1, 0. That’s 18 earned runs in 18 starts and that’s totally ridiculous,” they tweeted.
Earned runs allowed by Mariners starters, last 18 games:1 0 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 2 1 0🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
That’s 18 earned runs in 18 starts and that’s totally ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/PYvZi0bhum
Seattle owns MLB’s second-best ERA before Wednesday’s games, at 3.03.
Only the Boston Red Sox, at 2.59, have been better to this point.
We knew the Mariners had some really talented hurlers, but the extent of their dominance has been incredibly impressive.
The starters have been huge, especially in their current run that allowed them to take possession of first place in the division.
Health has also been a major factor: only five pitchers have made starts for them this year, which is the ideal scenario.
The worst of their starters has been Emerson Hancock, with a 5.06 ERA.
Even he has managed to improve a lot in recent outings, and that ERA is more of a reflection of a horrible start early.
The rest of the staff has been amazing: Logan Gilbert has a 2.03 ERA and Bryce Miller is at 2.04, each with six outings.
Luis Castillo is at 3.46, and George Kirby checks in at 4.18.
That is extremely hard to achieve.