Paced by their top three starters, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert, the Mariners should again have one of the better starting rotations in baseball. In fact, they return all five starters from last year. Remember, Seattle had the best combined ERA (3.74) in the American League last season. Seattle pitchers recorded 18 shutouts in 2023, the most in the big leagues and a franchise record. The Mariners also set a franchise record with 1,459 strikeouts in 901 innings pitched. Today's starter Castillo is the best of the bunch. In 5 spring starts Castillo had a 2.95 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Opposing batters hit only .194 against him here last season. The Red Sox are a young team which is in for a long season. Bello had a 4.66 ERA when starting on the road last year.

Mitch Haniger, who has returned to Seattle, said this of the Mariners: "This group is just hungry The guys in here want to win. Ultimately, being a loser is not fun. It's really motivating just to try to get back into the playoffs and win a World Series -- the No. 1 goal. It's win the division first and get in the playoffs, and then make a run and win that last game of the season." They take the first step towards that goal on Thursday night!