Season Preview

I really think this will be a terrific baseball summer in the Emerald City. The Mariners righted the ship last year in finishing only six games behind the Angels in the AL West, and if not for a late-season swoon in which they lost 15 of 17 games, they could have been October-bound. The pitching is better, I think some key lineup pieces will be better and, hands down, having John McLaren in the manager's chair instead of Mike Hargrove is a better way to start the season. Video Outlook

Strengths
Top to bottom, Seattle's rotation has the potential to stack up with anybody's in the AL. Their lefty-righty combo of Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez could be as good a one-two punch as there is in the game. But what will really boost the Mariners is the way Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista round out the starting five. Batista won 16 games last season. No other team can boast having a 16-game winner as a No. 5. The defense is solid bordering on the spectactular, especially at shortstop, where Yuniesky Betancourt's only fault is he can be careless with his throwing. All told, this is a team that can make Ichiro Suzuki very proud -- especially while he's compiling his eighth consecutive season of 200-plus hits.

Weaknesses
They're not set up for life at designated hitter, where Jose Vidro lurks after hitting only six homers and collecting just 59 RBI last year. They start the season looking like they're lacking one bat in the middle of the order, something GM Bill Bavasi may need to address come July. The Mariners face baseball's most difficult travel schedule (even including Boston's start-of-the-season Japan-California-Toronto-Boston odyssey). Five of their first seven trips begin in the eastern time zone, and they're facing an airsickness-bag-inducing 55,000 air miles this season. Remember last year when an early season, four-game series in Cleveland was snowed out and knocked the M's off balance the rest of the way? Their first trip of the season begins in Baltimore -- another eastern city to which this is their only visit. Meaning, any weather issues, rescheduling is going to be another challenge.

Difference Maker
Richie Sexson. In a word, he stunk last year (.205, 21 homers, an underwhelming 63 RBI). He's due $14 million in the final year of his contract, and if he doesn't snap into shape, the M's are going to have to pull the plug on him early. Most egregious: Sexson went a miserable 8-for-82 combined against division rivals Los Angeles and Oakland. He was 3-for-45 against the Angels and 5-for-37 against the A's. He does that again, and the Mariners allow him to do it, they're dead.