In the sports industry, Seattle is known for being a much smaller market compared to other professional teams. It seems as if smaller market teams are almost bound to fail. Teams with a big market, like the New York Yankees, are bound to have a successful franchise. In other words, monopolizing the MLB. In 2002, the Oakland Athletics proved that wrong as Billy Beane put together a playoff team and only spent 41 million dollars. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees paid 126 million and got the same exact amount of wins as the Oakland Athletics. The management style of Billy Beane was to pursue a means of winning based off of statistical/economical misunderstanding in baseball. Many of you have probably heard this story or seen the movie because you think Brad Pitt is a stud, but there is more to what Billy Beane accomplished in the way he acquired wins.
The sequence of the idea of Moneyball was being able to look past certain traits of a player and focus on his strengths. Often times the big market teams can snag the free agents that do everything on appearance that you would want in a player. For example, power hitter with a good glove. Small market teams can’t accomplish that, but they can look for other strengths. The idea of looking past the indisputable physics of each player is something that has been fostered into more than the MLB.
The Seattle Seahawks are one to foster this system in their 2012 draft. After the draft was over, the Seattle Seahawks' draft class received an F. That year they went into the playoffs, the next year won the Super bowl and then returned back to the Super bowl the year after. Players from the draft included J.R Sweezy, Bobby Wagner, and Russell Wilson who were all key players in the Seahawks success. John Schnieder (General Manger) and Pete Carroll (Head Coach) saw certain characteristics in the players from the 2012 draft that indicated they would become good leaders.
At this point, you’re probably wondering what does all with this have to do with Seattle Mariners? Well, it has everything to do with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners standards have gone up since the success of the Seattle Seahawks. The Mariners general management staff has been putting in work to shadow similar practices the Seahawks have.
In pursuit of finding players like the Seattle Seahawks did, the Mariners searched through free agency and they acquired Robinson Cano. He was very productive last year. Not to mention he was a huge leader for the team offensively. The Mariners had a much better season but unfortunately failed to make it into the playoffs.
The Mariners upper management has stayed busy in the offseason. They have acquired the talented Nelson Cruz and several other players. The Mariners upper management is starting to realize that it is time to get into the playoffs. Seattle has seen a playoff caliber team and has grown weary of the Mariners absence in the MLB playoffs. The excuse of being a small market team doesn’t work anymore. Even the fans have seen that. The Mariners have seen what the Seahawks have done to become a playoff caliber team and are establishing a winning culture for Mariners fans. Hopefully, the Mariners can produce that winning culture for the 2015 season and give fans of Seattle another playoff team to cheer for.
