Though the Seattle Mariners are five games over .500 and positioned to qualify for the American League playoff field, the truth is that they haven't played well for the bulk of the year. That nine-series win streak from April and May is still doing a lot of heavy lifting.
And yet here we are on the morning of July 31, fully confident in this team's ability to take a World Series drought that has been active since 1977 and sweep it into the dustbin of history.
The Mariners have used the trade market to progressively get stronger over the last week.