Baseball is back, with a buzz: Mariners set to make noise in 2015

The Mariners have added slugger Nelson Cruz and superstar Robinson Cano in consecutive offseasons. (AP)

The season doesn’t start until Monday for the Seattle Mariners, but they were working Sunday evening in preparation for their first Opening Day at home since 2008.

Just a day after their final Cactus League game in Arizona, the Mariners not only had returned to Seattle but took part in a workout at Safeco Field. It some ways it was business as usual, but there was also an air of excitement in the clubhouse, especially from the last two players to make the team, 25-year-old relievers Carson Smith and Tyler Olson. Monday’s opener will be a special occasion for the two players, as it will mark the first Opening Day in the majors for both of them (Smith was a September call-up last season, while Spokane native Olson is a rookie yet to make his MLB debut).

The two young relievers join a Mariners team that is carrying a different kind of buzz than has been felt over the last decade in Seattle. Entering the season they’ve been picked by many as a favorite to not only win the American League West but perhaps even their first AL crown, lofty expectations for a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2001. The expectations are well founded, though, considering last year’s surprising success – they finished only a game out of the postseason in the first year for both superstar second baseman Robinson Cano and manager Lloyd McClendon in Seattle – and a roster that has added key veterans like slugger Nelson Cruz to a nucleus of young players coming into their own.

The assumption is that good baseball is back in the Northwest, and Monday’s contest between the Mariners and L.A. Angels will be the first hint of that as the opponents are the two likeliest contenders for the AL West championship. Like Seattle, the Angels boast All-Stars of both the homegrown and acquired varieties, but the balance of their lineup is older stars quickly aging, making them the perfect target and foil for the M’s this season.

As is the norm, it all begins for Seattle with former Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez on Monday. Just days away from his 29th birthday, the Mariners ace will be making his eighth career Opening Day start, though it will only be his second time in those eight games he’ll be pitching in front of a home crowd (Hernandez started in 2007 at Safeco, but Erik Bedard was the team’s starter for the last Opening Day in Seattle the next season).

Hernandez will be matched up against old adversary Jered Weaver for the Angels, but the attention Monday will be fixated on the Mariners offense, as it will be for the majority of this season. Even with the addition of Cano last year, Seattle ranked 23rd in team batting average and was tied for 18th in runs scored, continuing a long period of underachievement at the plate for the M’s.

Bringing aboard the 34-year-old Cruz, who led the MLB with 40 homers for the Baltimore Orioles in 2014, on a four-year, $58 million deal was the Mariners showing that improving the offense is a major priority. But it won’t just be up to Cruz – All-Star third baseman Kyle Seager will be given an opportunity to thrive in the fifth spot of the batting order, big things are expected out of center fielder and leadoff hitter Austin Jackson in his first full year with Seattle, and first baseman Logan Morrison and outfielders Dustin Ackley, Seth Smith and Justin Ruggiano could end up being very important role players. There’s also a couple of wildcards in catcher Mike Zunino, who pounded 22 homers but hit just .199 last year, and shortstop Brad Miller, a talented but streaky hitter yet to find his footing in the bigs.

There is one person who can truly be counted on, though – Cano, who has emerged as a leader both on the field and in the clubhouse. He’s hit over .300 in six straight seasons, and the Mariners hope the 20-plus home run power he showed in his years with the Yankees will return after he hit just 14 last year.

The Mariners also have the majority of the best bullpen in baseball last season back, including flamboyant closer Fernando Rodney, and the starting rotation looks in better shape a season after it ran out of gas down the stretch. Alongside Hernandez and fellow All-Star Hisashi Iwakuma are young hurlers James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, who are getting opportunities to prove they can be rotation stalwarts for years to come. Veteran lefty J.A. Happ rounds out the starting five, a fly-ball pitcher who should benefit greatly from playing half his games in spacious Safeco. And should the starters hit a wall at any point, second-year southpaw Roenis Elias, who had a 3.85 ERA in 29 starts with Seattle last season, will be ready to come up from Triple-A and pick up where he left off.

After six months of the hot stove, the questions about the new acquisitions, player development and if this is the year the M’s will return to greatness are about to be answered. The Mariners are home and baseball is back.