Joe Pawlikowski notes the Mariners are trying to move their offense from putrid to mediocre. One way to win is to be really outstanding at one aspect of the game, and middle of the road at the other. The Mariners, with their outstanding pitching staff, just need to get their team to the middle of the AL in terms of run production to win:

This disparity is what makes the Mariners an interesting, if not frustrating, team this year. They’ve dealt with high-level problems on offense, and it has dragged down what should be a quality team. As I wrote last month, management is definitely on the right track in addressing the offensive problems, which makes them even more interesting. Already they’ve replaced their worst offensive player, Chone Figgins, with their No. 1 prospect, Dustin Ackley, who has already produced nearly 1 WAR during his three-week stint. They sent down Michael Saunders, who was horrendous to the tune of -11.6 runs earlier in the season. Now they’ve called up prospect Kyle Seager to see if he can help bring the offense to a mediocre level.

We’ll see if this works.