What Larson can learn from past Indy 500-Coke 600 Doubles
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
The Memorial Day Double. Double Duty. The Indy-Charlotte Double. The 500/600 Double.
What Kyle Larson will attempt to do this weekend — contest the Indianapolis 500, IndyCar’s biggest race, and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR‘s longest race, on the same day — has so many nicknames that reading the list will leave you with double vision. That’s fitting. Because Larson’s goal will be not only to complete the Double, perhaps even win one or both ends of it, but also do what he can to ensure he and the two teams depending on him are not placed in double jeopardy.
To understand the difficulty of driving two races on two very different racetracks in two race cars that might as well be from two different galaxies, let’s look back at the two-lane road that was paved for Larson by his NASCAR/IndyCar double duty forefathers. A five-pack of drivers who have attempted — or will attempt — to wrap their two hands around the steering wheels of two dissimilar machines and depending on a fleet of other varied vehicles to get from one event to the other, all while staring at the weather radar, gloved fingers crossed.
The Early Years: 1911-93
The Indianapolis 500 took its first green flag on May 30, 1911, on what was then known as Decoration Day. The 500, like Decoration Day, was always on the 30th, no matter what day of the week that fell upon, and quickly became recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. In 1960, NASCAR ran its first World 600, also scheduled around Decoration Day, but instead of the 30th it was held on the closest Sunday to the holiday.
The separate dates allowed for a handful of crossover moves. NASCAR stars such as Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Neil Bonnett attempted to qualify at Indy but came up short. Drivers such as Bobby Johns and “Chargin'” Charlie Glotzbach also chose to skip Charlotte to concentrate on Indy efforts. NASCAR legend Bobby Allison made a pair of Indy starts. In 1965, Ford flew in NASCAR’s famed Wood Brothers crew to pit the cars of Johns and Jim Clark. Clark won the race, which was a huge boost toward his second Formula One world title (Indy was included in the F1 schedule then).
From 1967 to 1971, a total of six drivers ran both races. The first was Cale Yarborough, suffering a mechanical failure at Charlotte and finishing 41st, and three days later finished 17th at Indy after a late spin. In 1969, LeeRoy Yarbrough won at Charlotte but finished 23rd at Indy. The most successful Double Duty racer was Donnie Allison, who won the World 600 on May 24, 1970, and finished fourth at Indy six days later. The next year he earned top-six finishes in back-to-back days, running sixth behind Al Unser in the Indy 500 on Saturday, finishing second behind Glotzbach at Charlotte, and then flying back to Indy for the awards dinner that night.
In 1974, following the standardization of Memorial Day as a Monday holiday, the Indy 500 permanently moved to Sunday, the same day as what was about to be renamed the Coca-Cola 600. Double Duty was parked.
“It was fun, but it would also kick your butt, even when the races were several days apart,” Allison remembered in January on the night of his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “But me and Cale and brother Bobby, we looked at running both as a badge of honor. Like, OK, you are a real racer’s racer if you can pull that off. And Kyle Larson certainly fits that description, though I don’t know how he’s stacking up that schedule to do it. Just tell him to get some fluids in him. I think I sweated out half myself, and I had time to recover. He won’t.”
The OG, John Andretti: 1994
Hydration wasn’t John Andretti’s problem on May 29, 1994. It was quite the opposite. The man needed somewhere to pee.
The modern-age Double Duty godfather had no plans to attempt both races in 1994. He had entered the season merely hoping to secure a ride for one or the other. On the NASCAR side, he had landed a ride with the sponsor-less and cash-strapped team of owner Billy Hagan. But he also had made a half-dozen Indy 500 starts and was riding a streak of three consecutive top-10 finishes. That’s why Charlotte Motor Speedway president and P.T. Barnum-esque promoter Humpy Wheeler called Andretti into his office that spring. Wheeler said he had done the math and believed it was possible for someone to run both races, all 1,100 miles, in one day, and he told Andretti that if anyone could pull it off, it was him.
The seed was planted. Andretti, son of Aldo and nephew of Mario, couldn’t resist. So, he went to his godfather, A.J. Foyt, and secured a car for Indy. Then he mapped out a schedule of 11 flights, crisscrossing the 580-mile distance between Concord, North Carolina and Speedway, Indiana. Then he cut a deal with a private jet company to manage that crisscrossing … and, oh yeah, the much longer, 2,220-mile trips the weekend before, between the Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway and Indy 500 qualifying.
On race day, Andretti finished a solid 10th at Indy after starting on Row 3 and running as high as third. From there, the real race was on.
In a striking contrast to Larson’s harmonic cross-series coordination efforts this year, in 1994, Indianapolis Motor Speedway refused to allow Andretti to land a helicopter at the racetrack. That cost him 20 precious minutes, going from a golf cart to a van and through race day traffic to a chopper blocks away from the track. Once he was in the air, however, he received help from air traffic controllers; a pilot who had once wheeled Air Force One; and Wheeler, who not only allowed Andretti to land inside Charlotte Motor Speedway but had a helicopter parked at the end of the runway in Statesville, North Carolina, and had it buzz the grandstand en route to a touchdown on the front straightaway to the roar of the crowd, all just as the national anthem was beginning.
“The good news is that we were smart enough to have IV bags on the plane so that I would be plenty hydrated and I felt great when we got there,” Andretti recalled in 2019, roughly a year before he died of cancer. “The bad news is that I was too hydrated and I had to pee so bad, but there was no time. They ran me to the car. I’ve never been one of those guys who can just pee in his suit during a race, so I was dying. The crankshaft broke halfway through the race and we were out. I was bummed, but I was also really happy because I could finally get to the bathroom!”
Smoke on the Water (he didn’t drink), Tony Stewart: 1999, 2001
Tony Stewart spent the mid-’90s juggling two big league day jobs as a full-time racer in the Indy Racing League and NASCAR’s Busch (now Xfinity) Series, winning the 1997 IRL championship while also making the transition into his first ride with Joe Gibbs Racing. So, when Gibbs gave Stewart permission to run the 1999 Indy 500 for his old IRL crew chief Larry Curry, the transition of getting back into an IndyCar was easy.
Running both races was not.
“Man, I was such an idiot that first year. Nutrition was not really my thing, and I sure proved it,” Stewart recalls, laughing, and reminding how proud he used to be of his three-trips-to-McDonald’s-a-day diet. “The morning of the 500, I think I had a couple of mini bagels. I put an energy bar in my car, but when I dug it out, it was all melted from the heat. On the plane to Charlotte, I drank a Gatorade and maybe ate a hamburger or something. That was it. I swear to you, when we got the final 100 laps of the 600, I was hallucinating. A piece of trash flew by the car and in my mind, it looked like a pink-spotted elephant running down the back straightaway.”
Still, he finished ninth at Indy, although four laps down, and followed that with a fourth-place run in Charlotte over a total of 7 hours, 13 minutes and 41 seconds of racing. When he climbed from his car, Stewart’s legs gave out and he collapsed.
“I said that night there was no way I was doing it again, but two years later I had the chance with Chip Ganassi at Indy. Joe said I could, but this time he was getting me help.”
Gibbs, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, called the Carolina Panthers and recruited a trainer to spend the entire month of May with Stewart, monitoring and coaching up his food and water intake, as well as his sleep habits. The racer responded with sixth- and third-place finishes, becoming the first and still only driver to complete all 1,100 miles.
“That’ll be the biggest challenge for Kyle, and it’s probably the part he’s not yet thought about, not the nutrition or any of that, but the length of the day,” Stewart says of Larson, who he believes could win one or even both races. “And the adrenaline spikes. He’s going to have one after Indy. He’s going to have one during driver introductions before Indy. He’s going to have one when he lands at Charlotte before he even gets in the car … but he’s driving a great race car at Indy [Arrow McLaren Racing] and he’s driving a great race car in Charlotte [Hendrick Motorsports]. He’s got a great group of people around him. You have to have the people to help you manage all of that. Like I did.”
Mr. Five-Time (sort of), Robby Gordon: 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004
Robby Gordon has won in stock cars, open wheels, motorcycles, sports cars and off-road trucks, so it seems only natural that he would be the racer who has attempted Double Duty the most. In fact, he’s the one who officially turned that phrase into racing jargon and even sold “Double Duty” fan packages to ride along with him on his flight from Indiana to North Carolina. Gordon has pulled off more two-race weekends than can be listed, from Indy Racing League/CART double entries that crossed over political divisions to NASCAR-to-Baja 1000 commutes that streaked across the U.S. map from Atlantic to Pacific.
The Californian’s first attempt was the second ever, when he ran both races in 1997, but the 500 was delayed two full days because of rain. In 2000, rain delayed the Indianapolis green flag three hours. Gordon decided to stay at Indy and let backup driver P.J. Jones start the 600. It was the right call, as Gordon finished sixth, then took over his stock car in Charlotte midrace and finished 35th. Rain also foiled his last attempt, in 2004, as Indy was red-flagged with a storm so strong it was assumed the event would be postponed, so Gordon left for Charlotte. However, the 500 was restarted; backup driver Jaques Lazier dropped out with a broken axle while Gordon finished 20th in the 600.
His other two Double Duty runs — the dry ones — were a mixed bag of finishes, although in 2002 he came within one lap of completing the full 1,100 miles.
“Unfortunately, rain is kind of the theme of my Double attempts,” Gordon recalled last month as he raced in the Stadium Super Trucks Series during IndyCar’s Long Beach Grand Prix weekend. “When I watch Larson, that’s the one thing I hope he doesn’t have to deal with. Not even the rain, but the decisions that have to be made because of the rain. For me, the childhood dream was always Indy, but for most of those years, my full-time job was in NASCAR with Richard Childress. So, making that call, of where to go when you can only run one, that’s no fun, man.”
The last Double (until now), Kurt Busch: 2014
After Gordon’s final Double Duty, Indianapolis made sweeping changes to its May schedule, including moving the waving of green flag for the first time since 1963, a full one hour later, from noon to 1 p.m. ET. Andretti, Gordon and Stewart had all cut it close to making it to Charlotte, missing prerace drivers meetings and literally running to their stock cars for the Coca-Cola 600’s 5:30 p.m. ET start. The move was made to grab a bigger West Coast TV audience (full disclosure: ESPN/ABC didn’t fight the idea), but it also eliminated the chances for Double Duty attempts from the likes of Indy 500 winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti or even NASCAR aces Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
“This is dumbest thing I’ve seen the Indianapolis Motor Speedway do,” Stewart said at the time.
When Indy finally did move its start time back to the traditional high noon, it didn’t take long for another Double Duty attempt to go on the books. Kurt Busch, who had tested an open-wheel racer for Bobby Rahal in 2003, drove for Andretti Autosport at Indy in 2014 and wowed the IndyCar regulars as he took his time, picked his spots, and worked his way up to a sixth-place finish and Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors. His trip to Charlotte was flawless, having conferred with John Andretti and his new Cup Series car owner, Stewart. He soaked up a bag and a half of saline IV; drank a 20-ounce concoction of B12 vitamin, liquid oxygen, sugar, potassium and beet juice; scarfed down an energy bar, a bag of beef jerky and a box of raisins; and even sneaked in a 20-minute nap.
Unfortunately, none of that could help his No. 41 Chevy, which blew an engine two-thirds of the way through the 600. The next year he completed another sort of Indianapolis Double Duty, winning the Brickyard 400 for the first time.
“The way the racing business works now, at least the way it has worked as my generation was coming up, they want you to specialize,” Busch says now. “Us racers, we hate that. We want to drive everything before our careers are over. That’s the way that Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt and Cale Yarborough, all those old-school guys, did it.
“Kyle Larson has always been one of those guys. So, to see him do the Double, it will be fine. But it’s been a decade since I did it, and it had been a decade since anyone did it before me. Maybe this will open the door for guys who deserve a shot from being denied in the future.”
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Alden Gonzalez
Max Muncy returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup on Monday, Aaron Judge was back in the New York Yankees‘ batting order on Tuesday, and with that, the two teams that met in last year’s World Series — and had been underperforming to varying degrees in recent weeks — received valuable reinforcements for the stretch run.
They’re far from alone.
Now that the trade deadline has passed and less than two months remain in the regular season, contending teams throughout the sport are counting on key players returning from injury in the days and weeks ahead, hoping they might make the difference between missing out on October and winning it all. And given the landscape, which many consider as wide-open as ever, they just might.
Below is a look at some of the most impactful players on their way back.
Expected return date: The injury to Álvarez’s right hand has featured plenty of drama and required a lot of patience. The Astros initially diagnosed it as a muscle strain in early May and began the process of ramping him up by late June. Then came lingering pain, prompting a visit to a specialist and the revelation that the outfielder was dealing with a fractured bone. Perhaps, though, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Álvarez resumed hitting off a tee and taking soft toss a couple weeks ago and hit on the field at the team’s spring training facility on Tuesday. The Astros are going to be really careful this time around, but there is hope he can help them down the stretch.
What he means to the team: The Astros lost Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker over the offseason and have received just 121 plate appearances from Álvarez — and a paltry slash line of .210/.306/.340 — yet they’re on pace for their eighth American League West title in nine years. You would be hard-pressed to find a more impressive development this season. When healthy, Álvarez is on par with Judge and Shohei Ohtani among the game’s most imposing hitters. Given how well the Astros have pitched, plugging Álvarez back into the middle of their lineup — with an ascending Jeremy Peña, a better-of-late Jose Altuve and what they hope is a rejuvenated Carlos Correa — could put them in the conversation for the best team in the AL, if not all baseball.
Expected return date: Right-hander Assad, out all year with a left oblique injury he reaggravated around late April, made his third rehab start on Wednesday, looking sharp while pitching into the fifth inning. His next step could be joining the rotation. Taillon is right behind him. The 33-year-old right-hander has been dealing with a right calf strain for a little more than a month but pitched three innings in a Triple-A rehab start on Sunday. He gave up seven runs, but he also came out of it feeling healthy. That’s all that matters at this point. Cubs starters not named Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga have combined for a 4.63 ERA this season. And at this point, there is no outside help coming.
What they mean to the team: The Cubs did not land the controllable front-line starter they desired before the trade deadline. The starter they did acquire, Michael Soroka, pitched two innings in his debut on Monday, then landed on the injured list with right shoulder discomfort. Now, the Cubs need to make up for what they lack in their rotation internally. Assad fashioned a 3.73 ERA in 29 starts last year and was effective both out of the rotation and in the bullpen in 2023. Taillon, a proven innings eater who consistently pounds the strike zone, is probably as good a complement to Boyd and Imanaga as the Cubs can get.
Expected return date: Bieber, who had Tommy John surgery, has not taken the mound in a major league game since April 2, 2024, but the former Cy Young Award winner’s return is approaching. The right-hander made his fifth rehab start — and first since being acquired by the Blue Jays — on Sunday, striking out six batters across five innings. He’ll make another start on Saturday, then perhaps one more after that. Then the Blue Jays will see if they can get the front-line starter they envisioned when they unloaded promising pitching prospect Khal Stephen to pry Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians last week.
What he means to the team: The Blue Jays are counting on several offensive contributors returning in the not-too-distant future, including George Springer, Andrés Giménez and, they hope, Anthony Santander. But Bieber is the wild card. If he’s close to what he was even after winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2020 — a guy who put up a 3.13 ERA and struck out 459 batters in 436⅔ innings from 2021 to 2024 — he can join Kevin Gausman and José Berríos to form a really solid rotation trio in October. But the initial returns from Tommy John surgery can be tricky. Just ask Sandy Alcántara.
Expected return date: Bohm took a sinker to his left side on July 12 and later learned he had suffered a fractured rib, but the 29-year-old third baseman has been hitting ground balls and taking batting practice and will now venture out on a rehab assignment. He could return to the Phillies’ lineup this month. Nola went on the injured list for the first time in eight years because of a sprained right ankle in mid-May, then was diagnosed with a stress reaction in one of his ribs a month later. Now, Nola is finally on his way back. He went 3⅔ innings in his second rehab start on Wednesday and will make one or two more before rejoining the rotation.
What they mean to the team: Bohm and Nola have served as catalysts while these Phillies have ascended to near the top of the sport in recent years, and it’s hard not to see them having a massive say — good or bad — in October. The Phillies need them to be healthy, but they also need them to be better. Bohm was slugging just .391 before going down. Nola, meanwhile, carried a 6.16 ERA through his first nine starts — one year after receiving Cy Young votes. The Phillies’ rotation has been one of the game’s best this season, and it can handle an ineffective Nola if it absolutely has to. But the offense needs Bohm’s production.
Expected return date: Burger is navigating his second stint on the IL this season, this time because of a left quad strain, but he has played in a couple of rehab games and could return before the end of the Rangers’ current homestand. Carter, an outfielder, was shut down with back spasms on Saturday, and though there’s currently no reason to believe it’s a serious injury, it’s worrisome when you consider how back issues plagued him in 2024.
What they mean to the team: The 2025 Rangers do everything well except the one thing they felt they could do best: hit. And while the offense has been a lot better lately, the Rangers could use more production from Burger and Carter in hopes of grabbing a playoff spot in a wide-open AL. Burger has slashed just .228/.259/.401 in his first year in Texas, but could at the very least platoon with fellow first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who has been a godsend since signing a minor league deal in early July. Carter, a rookie sensation during the stretch run of the team’s championship season in 2023, was slashing just .238/.323/.381.
Expected return date: Gasser, the 26-year-old left-hander who excelled in his first five major league starts last year, is in the late stages of his recovery from Tommy John surgery. His fourth rehab start came Sunday, during which he threw 16 pitches in the game and 19 in the bullpen. The Brewers are building him back up as a starter, so he still needs to increase his pitch count. But he’s on track to join a loaded Brewers pitching staff before the end of August. So is rookie All-Star Jacob Misiorowski, who suffered a bruised left shin last week but isn’t expected to miss much more than the minimum amount of time. Outfielder Jackson Chourio, who landed on the IL with a hamstring strain last week, could be back by the end of the month, too.
What he means to the team: The Brewers acquired Gasser as part of the package that sent former closer Josh Hader to San Diego in summer 2022 and watched him shine as a rookie in 2024, putting up a 2.57 ERA with one walk in 28 innings. But then his ulnar collateral ligament gave out, triggering a long rehab that is finally reaching its conclusion. The Brewers see him as a starter long term, but there might not be room for him in the 2025 rotation. If that’s the case, he can be an impact lefty out of the bullpen. The Brewers acquired only one traditional reliever in Shelby Miller before the trade deadline, largely because they believe starters like Gasser, Chad Patrick and Tobias Myers can help them out of the bullpen when it matters most.
Expected return date: It has been a long, slow climb back for Greene and the right groin strain he suffered, for a second time, on June 3. The right-hander seemed to be approaching a return in July, but he experienced lingering pain and had to shut it down once more. Now, though, his return seems imminent. Greene navigated a third rehab start on Sunday, during which he struck out seven batters in 3⅓ innings, and is scheduled to ramp up to 80 pitches on Friday. After that, he could rejoin the rotation. With Nick Lodolo shut down with a blister that materialized on his left index finger in his Monday start, the Reds need Greene now more than ever.
What he means to the team: Here’s what Greene has done since the start of last July: 1.92 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 133 strikeouts, 30 walks, 112⅔ innings. Those are the numbers of not just a traditional front-line starter, but of one of the best pitchers in the game. The Reds have hung around all year, getting better starting pitching than they probably anticipated, but less offense than they hoped. They’ve underperformed their projections, but they still sit just three games back of a playoff spot. Greene — and Lodolo, who might require only a minimum stint on the injured list — could make the difference.
Expected return date: For the better part of two months, questions swirled around the state of King’s health and whether he would pitch at all this season. The 30-year-old right-hander was dealing with a thoracic nerve issue in his right shoulder, an exceedingly rare injury for a pitcher. He simply had to wait for the pain to subside, with no idea when it would. Now, though, he is on the doorstep of returning to the major leagues. King threw 61 pitches in 3⅓ innings in a rehab start on Sunday, allowing six runs but also striking out five batters. His next start is expected to come this weekend against the Boston Red Sox.
What he means to the team: Padres general manager A.J. Preller put together an epic trade deadline, upgrading at catcher, adding two competent bats to the lineup and, most notably, landing another impact arm for the bullpen. His starting-pitching additions, though, were depth players; JP Sears and Nestor Cortes are not expected to make playoff starts. What the Padres need is for King — their Game 1 starter in last year’s postseason, their Opening Day starter this year and owner of a 2.59 ERA in his first 10 starts — to join Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish and Nick Pivetta in the rotation to truly make this one of the most well-rounded teams in the sport. It seems that will happen.
Expected return date: Kopech, nursing a right knee injury, has been throwing bullpen sessions and is expected to be activated once he’s eligible to come off the 60-day injured list in late August. Left-hander Scott, dealing with elbow inflammation, has also been throwing off a mound and doesn’t seem far off, either. Yates’ situation, though, is a little hazier. The 38-year-old right-hander had been dealing with lower back pain for a couple weeks before landing on the IL at the start of August. There is no timetable for his return, though it seems possible that he, too, can be back before the end of the month.
What they mean to the team: The Dodgers have once again absorbed a slew of injuries throughout their staff, having already deployed 38 pitchers — one year after setting a franchise record by using 40. Their bullpen has led the majors in innings for most of this season. At the deadline, though, the front office acted conservatively, adding just one bullpen arm, right-hander Brock Stewart, along with reserve outfielder Alex Call. The approach showed confidence in the arms the Dodgers have coming back, especially in the bullpen. But Scott and Yates, their two big offseason signings, have combined for a 4.21 ERA this season. Right-hander Kopech, meanwhile, has appeared in just eight games. They’ll have a lot to prove.
Expected return date: Optimism around Meadows emerged on Monday, with some light running in the outfield — a subtle sign he is progressing once again toward a rehab assignment. Meadows, 25, missed the first two months of the season with inflammation in his upper right arm that he later learned was a product of issues with his musculocutaneous nerve. He spent most of June and July in the lineup, then landed on the injured list once more, this time because of a right quad strain. The hope is that he can be back playing center field before the end of August.
What he means to the team: Meadows accumulated 11 outs above average in center field from 2023 to 2024 despite playing in only 119 games. In that stretch, he also stole 17 bases, provided a .729 OPS — with fairly even splits against lefties and righties — and accumulated 3.1 FanGraphs wins above replacement. As the Tigers march toward their first division title in 11 years and vie for a first-round bye, they find themselves longing for Meadows in several ways. The hope is that he’ll be a much better hitter than he showed earlier this season, when he slashed .200/.270/.296 in 137 plate appearances.
Expected return date: Megill has been absent from the Mets’ rotation since the middle of June because of a right elbow sprain but threw 20 pitches in a simulated game at Citi Field on Sunday. He is expected to extend to two innings in another session on Thursday. A rehab assignment will follow shortly thereafter, putting Megill on track to potentially rejoin the Mets’ rotation later this month. Megill was solid before going down, posting a 3.95 ERA in 14 starts, and the Mets’ rotation could really use some of that right now.
What he means to the team: When Megill got hurt on June 14, the Mets’ rotation easily led the majors with a 2.82 ERA. Since then, the group has posted a 5.12 ERA, ranked 26th. Lately, it has only gotten worse. The Mets have lost eight of their past nine games, and in that stretch, the starters have allowed 34 runs (32 earned) in 43⅔ innings. Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga have all had their struggles, to varying degrees, of late. And though Megill certainly can’t fix that alone, another capable starter would certainly be welcomed.
Expected return date: Miller, limited to just 10 starts this season, cruised through his first rehab start on Friday, tossing four scoreless innings, and is scheduled to stretch to five innings on Thursday. Given that he has gone on the IL because of right elbow inflammation twice this year, requiring a cortisone shot and a platelet-rich plasma injection, the Mariners will play it safe — Miller will make two more rehab starts before being activated. Robles dislocated his left shoulder while making an incredible catch in San Francisco on April 6 and is way ahead of schedule. He’s expected to begin a rehab assignment next week and could return before the end of August.
What they mean to the team: Robles is the Mariners’ leadoff hitter and spark plug. Over a 77-game stretch after Seattle signed him as a free agent last summer, he slashed .328/.393/.467. And if he can produce something close to that, a Mariners offense that added Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez before the trade deadline and has received a dominant season from Cal Raleigh will be as deep as it has been since Jerry Dipoto took over baseball operations 10 years ago. The Mariners haven’t received as much from their rotation as they would have expected this year, but a staff of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Miller — 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA while healthy last year — still rivals the best in the game.
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