Here's a long-winded, but still mostly accurate way to describe the first half of the Seattle Mariners 2017 season.
Take the opening line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," add in words of encourage from Tupac Shakur's "Keep Ya Head Up" and sprinkle in the closing scene from "Romeo and Juliet" as a means of forecasting what the second half of the year may look like.
Translation: The Mariners have had ups, downs, streaks, skids, excitement and disaster...all before the All-Star break.
The midway point of the season has brought us power rankings from national media, and the consensus seems to be that Seattle (43-47) is a middle-of-the-pack team.