How to watch the Mariners spring training opener today and where to talk about it (here. It’s here.)

We made it, everybody. In what feels like the shortest off-season I can remember, today spring training games start for the Mariners. We’ve been busy working all off-season to keep you updated on what the Mariners have been up to this winter, but in case you’re checking in for the first time after taking some time off (welcome back!), here’s a speedrun recap of the off-season content, with links, to help bring you up to speed fast:

• 40 in 40 series: Where we preview every member of the 40-man roster, from the fringiest reliever to the biggest stars.
• This year’s NRIs: Non-Roster Invites are players who get invited to big-league camp despite not being on the 40-man roster. If you’re wondering who the player on your screen wearing a number in the 80s is, the answer is probably here.
• The off-season tracker: This includes not only a list of the moves the Mariners made this off-season, from major to minor, but also links to the stories we wrote about them, where applicable.
• Top prospects countdown: We’re only about halfway through our top 20, but you can keep checking back.
• Spring training broadcast schedule: Bookmark this one, because it will give you a handy list of all the games and whether they’re on TV or not, as well as how to watch them.

Starting next week, we’ll also have a preview series of all the teams in the AL West that will carry us straight through to Opening Day, if you’ve been using the 40 in 40 series as a way to count down to the start of spring training.

But today is all about the opening of spring training. The Mariners open spring as they always do, playing their complex-mates the Padres. The game starts at 12:10 PT and you can watch it on Mariners.TV for free, provided you make an account. If you have Xfinity, you can tune in on the old ROOT Sports channel, 629, at least according to the channel guide I checked.

Check in here at LL (most) every day this spring around 11 AM PT (12 when we move to daylight savings time) for a game thread that will give you important information like start times and broadcast information, as well as starting pitching matchups, which minor-league players are being brought over from minor league camp, or other things of note. If you can’t watch the game because your “boss” insists you “work” during the day and you have to do things like “feed your family” when you get home at night, we’ve got you covered with a daily recap that will run down the important bullet points of the game.

No matter how you consume spring baseball, we hope that you’ll come and talk about it with us, whether in the game threads or later in the recap comments. Our goal here is to provide authentic conversation around the team we all love, to learn with each other and from each other, and to be in communion with people who understand why “that’ll never hit” is the most cursed string of words in the English language. In a time where it feels like human conversation and community mean more than ever – and are vanishingly rare – our community is what makes us who we are.

If you’ve been a LLurker in the past, I hope this is the year you take the leap from “future commenter” into “active commenter.” If you’re brand-new here, welcome! Please sign up and join us. Before you jump into the conversation, do take the time to read over the site guidelines. Basically, they boil down to this:

• No politics, no religion, treat each other with respect. Part of that respect is understanding not everyone shares your same viewpoints. We are an inclusive staff and an inclusive community, and comments that insult someone’s identity, directly or indirectly, will not be tolerated. We think that’s one of the things that will make this community a place you want to come back to again and again. That, and all the volcano facts.
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Okay, that’s enough of that. Really, it’s a fun place to come and chat baseball provided you follow the most important rule: Be A Person. So sign up and join us today! One of us…one of us…