The Mariners head into the 2019 MLB season having gone through a lot of changes. Significant players gone are James Paxton, Mike Zunino, Jean Segura, Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, and Ben Gamel. And those are just the players who were traded. In exchange the Mariners received a mix of prospects and a couple veterans. And to be totally and completely honest, I think general manager Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners organization as a whole are doing the right thing. Even if the Mariners were going to win with the core of players above, they weren't going to go very far. They were decent, but not great. We need to strive for great to finally break this long playoff drought.
As Mariners fans, we've almost become numb to losing and disappointment. It's not expected, but it's never a surprise, either. Just like the rain we so often get in the Puget Sound area, it's never welcomed but always a reason for gloominess. So this 2019 season, the Mariners are not expected to do a ton of winning. And I am content with that. This is a transition year. Mostly, I'm excited to see how new faces do, and see how the youngsters do if and when they're called up from the minors.
So I thought it would be fun to make a team that may be the core of this roster some day. It might not look exactly like this, but it will be fun to see how close I come to getting it right.
C: Nazvaez/Trade Acquisition/Raleigh
1B: White/Healy
2B: Shed Long
SS: JP Crawford
3B: Seager/Trade Acquisition
OF: Some combination of Haniger, Smith, Kelenic, Rodriguez, Bishop, and Lewis.
SP: Sheffield, Kikuchi, Gonzalez, Carlson, Gilbert, FA/Trade
RP: Dunn, Festa, Mills, Rumbelow, Tuivailala, FA/Trade
The could be the roster come 2021 or so. We'll see. But having acquired a group of talented youngsters, I'm finally excited for the future of the Seattle Mariners.
So onto my predictions for 2019. As I'm not too excited for this baseball season as a whole, I'm just predicting the playoff teams and division winners. As for the Mariners, I'll predict their record to be 73-89. Just barely missing 90 losses.
AL Division Winners: Astros, Twins (you heard it here first), Yankees
Wild Cards: Red Sox and Indians
NL Division Winners: Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies
Wild Cards: Cubs and Nationals
Wild Card Winners: Red Sox and Cubs
AL Divisional Matchups:
Yankees vs. Red Sox (What a matchup!): Yankees win... The-e-e-e-e Yankees win!
Twins vs. Astros: Astros win
NL Divisional Matchups:
Dodgers vs. Cubs: Dodgers win
Phillies vs. Cardinals: Cardinals win
ALCS: Yankees beat Astros
NLCS: Dodgers beat Cardinals
World Series: Yankees in six games
So, there you have it, the Yankees winning the World Series. Just like old times. Good for James Paxton if that does indeed happen. As for the Mariners, they will play spoiler and knock the Athletics out of the Wild Card race in the final series of the season. :)
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Fortnite Appreciation Post
A free to play game that works on virtually every video game console, including PC. Who would've though that would exist? Not me. But it does, and it is called Fortnite, made by Epic Games. The regular Fortnite Battle Royale games pit 100 players against each other in a fight to the end to see which player or players can outlast all the rest.
I got into Fornite around the late summer of 2018. Now Fortnite has what they call "Seasons". Just like with the rest of the world, Fornite has four seasons per year that change about the same time ours do. Each season has a different theme, and introduces a significant change in the map. I got into Fortnite in the middle of Season 5, playing it on the Xbox One.
The map stays the same for each game, but will get updated every few weeks, and especially with each new season. This way, players can get accustomed to the map, knowing where best to find loot, hide, and how to navigate it quickly. Also what's cool is the map is filled with named locations that have alliterative titles, such as "Tilted Towers" and "Dusty Divot" and "Junk Junction". And with each game there is what's called a "storm". The storm will start out as a circle that takes up somewhere around 1/3 of the map, but then get smaller and smaller until there are no players left. If you are outside of the circle in the storm, you take health damage. Navigating to get inside the circle is something players must do to succeed.
As for me as a player, well to put it nicely, I am not the best. I have won squad games (being carried). And just last season (Season 7), I got my first solo victory. It was a huge accomplishment, and for the longest time I felt like I was never going to get a solo victory. It took me over 300 games to get it. I now have two solo victories, getting another one fairly recently. The most kills I've ever gotten in a solo game is 4, to my recollection, which was also my second victory. And the most kills I've gotten in any game was a Team Rumble, 9. So yes, I'm not too good at Fortnite, but I am totally fine with that.
There are mainly two strategies you can take with Fortnite. One, you can be aggressive, attack everyone you come across, and try to get as many kills as possible. The other one is being sneaky and relying on stealth, hoping those skills will progress you as far as you can before you are forced to engage other players. I am in the second group. Not since my high school days playing Halo have I been somewhat decent at killing other human players, I will admit. But, with experience I have become very good at being sneaky and avoiding other players. I'm not ashamed to play this way; it gives me satisfaction to know I progressed further in the game and have a better placement in the game than a lot of the more aggressive players.
My favorite thing to do in the game is completing weekly and daily goals. These goals can range anywhere from landing at a certain location, to getting a kill with a certain type of weapon, to doing a dance in a certain spot. Accomplishing these goals unlocks items in the Battle Pass, which includes skins (outfits), emotes, loading screens, and more.
So I don't think I'll ever be a great Fortnite player, but I'm ok with that. There are millions of kids and young adults around the world who spend WAY more time on the game with me and do better than me. I just don't think I'll ever devote THAT much time to the game. It's just a game and a way for me to relieve stress, which I'll admit sometimes it has the opposite effect.
I got into Fornite around the late summer of 2018. Now Fortnite has what they call "Seasons". Just like with the rest of the world, Fornite has four seasons per year that change about the same time ours do. Each season has a different theme, and introduces a significant change in the map. I got into Fortnite in the middle of Season 5, playing it on the Xbox One.
The map stays the same for each game, but will get updated every few weeks, and especially with each new season. This way, players can get accustomed to the map, knowing where best to find loot, hide, and how to navigate it quickly. Also what's cool is the map is filled with named locations that have alliterative titles, such as "Tilted Towers" and "Dusty Divot" and "Junk Junction". And with each game there is what's called a "storm". The storm will start out as a circle that takes up somewhere around 1/3 of the map, but then get smaller and smaller until there are no players left. If you are outside of the circle in the storm, you take health damage. Navigating to get inside the circle is something players must do to succeed.
As for me as a player, well to put it nicely, I am not the best. I have won squad games (being carried). And just last season (Season 7), I got my first solo victory. It was a huge accomplishment, and for the longest time I felt like I was never going to get a solo victory. It took me over 300 games to get it. I now have two solo victories, getting another one fairly recently. The most kills I've ever gotten in a solo game is 4, to my recollection, which was also my second victory. And the most kills I've gotten in any game was a Team Rumble, 9. So yes, I'm not too good at Fortnite, but I am totally fine with that.
There are mainly two strategies you can take with Fortnite. One, you can be aggressive, attack everyone you come across, and try to get as many kills as possible. The other one is being sneaky and relying on stealth, hoping those skills will progress you as far as you can before you are forced to engage other players. I am in the second group. Not since my high school days playing Halo have I been somewhat decent at killing other human players, I will admit. But, with experience I have become very good at being sneaky and avoiding other players. I'm not ashamed to play this way; it gives me satisfaction to know I progressed further in the game and have a better placement in the game than a lot of the more aggressive players.
My favorite thing to do in the game is completing weekly and daily goals. These goals can range anywhere from landing at a certain location, to getting a kill with a certain type of weapon, to doing a dance in a certain spot. Accomplishing these goals unlocks items in the Battle Pass, which includes skins (outfits), emotes, loading screens, and more.
So I don't think I'll ever be a great Fortnite player, but I'm ok with that. There are millions of kids and young adults around the world who spend WAY more time on the game with me and do better than me. I just don't think I'll ever devote THAT much time to the game. It's just a game and a way for me to relieve stress, which I'll admit sometimes it has the opposite effect.
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