SAFECO FIELD -- Mariners manager Scott Servais was jokingly trying to hit the reset button on the 2017 season prior to Monday's home opener against the Houston Astros.
"The season starts today," Servais said with a grin. "I’m excited to get going. It’s been a long Spring Training."
The season does not start today. The Mariners are seven games into the season and come home for the start of their 81-game home slate with a 1-6 record after a brutal opening road trip to Houston and Anaheim. The Mariners coughed up a 9-3 lead in the ninth inning of Sunday's finale in Los Angeles against the Angels to return to Seattle somewhat shell-shocked. Partnered with an extra inning defeat in Houston last Wednesday, it's already been a tough opening to the season for the Mariners.
"Oh, we're going to stay positive," Servais said. "It's not the start, obviously, that we wanted to get off to. Things happen. It is baseball. We saw some crazy things this first week.
"We can't do anything about what happened last week. I wish I could. Can't. So we've got to move forward and win the series here against Houston, get it rolling in the right direction again and we'll be just fine."
The Mariners aren't going to panic. They started 0-5 at home to start the home schedule last season and turned the season around to finish just outside the playoffs. Servais referenced that start from a year ago for their poor start at home and reiterated that he still feels really confident in the club they've put together this season.
"We've been down this road before," Servais said. "I think we learned a lot about each other last year going through it. We're going to continue to learn a lot about each other. It's one of the thing we talked about after the game yesterday is we believe we have a good team.
"I love our team. I really do. I like our team. I like the personalities, the character of our team, how we line up, the bullpen, everything I like about our team. But liking it and going out and doing it are two different things. You've got to go out and compete every day because nobody is going to feel sorry for you, nobody is going to give you anything in this league. You've got to go earn it and that's where we're at. We know that."