"You want to get better and you work in the offseason to get better and try to help your team to get better also," Cruz said. "When you accomplish bigger numbers than the year before they are important and they matter. It makes you work harder to be better. That's my goal for next year."
To many, Cruz's uptick this season has come as a surprise, as Safeco Field hasn't been known has a hitter-friendly ballpark. But Cruz has defied that logic, hitting 15 of his 41 home runs -- and each of his last five -- in Seattle.