Record: 91-71, 2nd place, 1/2 back, won wild card, beat White Sox in Division Series, lost to Yankees in ALCS Runs scored: 907 (4th in AL) Runs allowed: 780 (2nd in AL) Manager: Lou Piniella Home: Safeco Field That was then: Seattle held first place from late June until the last week of the season, when it hung on to win a wild card. This is now: They've won without Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey. Now they'll try without Alex Rodriguez. The Mariners no longer chart their course by the brightest stars in the sky, but rather by seeing the light: tailoring the team to spacious Safeco by emphasizing speed, defense and pitching. It worked for Piniella's 1990 Reds. Upside: The Mariners had the majors' best walk differential: plus-141; four of the top five teams in this underrated category made the playoffs. ... Arthur Rhodes held batters to a .205 average, second among AL setup men to new teammate Jeff Nelson's .183. Downside: The current starting infield combined for 51 homers - 10 more than Rodriguez - and there's little pop in the outfield. ... Jamie Moyer won't get the 4-inch-outside strike this year. Don't miss ... : ... the All-Star Game reunion of Pay-Rod, Griffey and Johnson on July 10 at Safeco. Don't be surprised ... : ... if seven-time Japanese League batting champion and Gold Glove outfielder Ichiro Suzuki follows teammate and closer Kazuhiro Sasaki as Rookie of the Year - and if TV ratings in Japan soar. Eighty-one Mariners games will be on HDTV there, with one camera on the slap hitter all game. Don't expect ... : ... Edgar Martinez, 38, to match his AL-best 145 RBIs or career-high 37 homers without Rodriguez in the lineup. Book it: "The Old Man and the Sea"
Team Previews
Al West
Seattle at a glance 2001 LINEUP CARD AND SKINNY (*-new; i-injured) RF Ichiro Suzuki* ... His .387 second-best ever in Japan CF Mike Cameron ... Career highs in runs , RBIs 1B John Olerud ... 4th in AL in doubles with 45 DH Edgar Martinez ... AL-best 145 RBIs; BB's will rise LF Jay Buhner-i ... Out April; Al Martin to start 2B Bret Boone* ... 16 HRs first half; 3 second half 3B David Bell ... .247; flyball hitter miscast at Safeco SS Carlos Guillen ... .147 first half; .296 second half C Dan Wilson ... Coming off worst year since '94 2001 ROTATION, CLOSER AND SKINNY (*-new; i-injured) RHP Freddy Garcia ... Young ace healthy again LHP John Halama ... Moyer clone; 14 W's, 5.08 ERA RHP Aaron Sele ... 54-20 last 3 seasons; slumped late LHP Jamie Moyer ... Changeup artist; 5.49 ERA RHP Brett Tomko/RHP Paul Abbott ... Tomko has upside RHP Kazuhiro Sasaki ... Led AL in save percentage
SPOTLIGHT
Alex Rodriguez
Texas Rangers
Acquired: Signed Dec. 11 as a free agent.
At what cost?: $252 million over 10 years.
2000 stats: .316 batting average, .420 on-base average, .606 slugging average, 41 HRs, 132 RBIs
Age: 25
Height/weight: 6-3, 210
Impact on team: Signing Rodriguez to the biggest contract in the history of North American team sports has put Texas-size sizzle into the Rangers. The club sold 150,000 single-game tickets when they went on sale Feb. 3, 150 percent more than its previous best, and likely will draw 3 million fans for the first time.
Impact on division: A-Rod's presence figures to tighten the West race. Texas finished 20 1/2 games out last season but can hardly be expected to finish ninth in scoring and last in fielding again with the league's most well-rounded player in the lineup. Watch for a budding rivalry with Rodriguez's former team, the Mariners.
