The Marlins and Mariners started late on Sunday at Safeco Field in Seattle due to a conflict with Major League Soccer. The first pitch was set for 7:10 p.m. local time. No Sunday game in Seattle had started later than 5:05 p.m. since Safeco opened in 1999. The late start was caused by the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer having a 1 p.m. match against New England, a game scheduled before the Marlins-Mariners series was shifted from Miami to Seattle.

The Mariners benched Chone Figgins in favor of Adam Kennedy at third base on Friday, a trend that will likely continue. "Adam is going to get more time at third, as we've seen," manager Eric Wedge said. "Figgy just has to hang tough and keep doing the work when he's not playing. When he does get in there to play, it's an opportunity for him to move forward. "Figgy and I have had multiple meetings. It is what it is right now. He can control the outcome in the end by, when he does get the opportunity to play, to go out and play like we know he's capable. It's tough because he's not playing every day now, but that's where we are."

The Opsera is a statistic RealGM's Chris Reina created in order to objectively rank teams by how well they hit (OPS) and pitch (ERA). In order to determine a team's Opsera, we take their OPS, multiply that number by 10 to move the decimal point over one place to the right and then subtract the team's ERA from that number. Below are the final rankings through Wednesday, June 22nd’s games: Last week’s ranking is in parenthesizes 1. (1) New York Yankees – 4.31 The Yankees have lost eight of nine to the Red Sox this season, but they were briefly in first place (by percentage points) on Wednesday afternoon following Boston’s loss and prior to their loss in Cincinnati. T2. (2) Philadelphia Phillies – 4.03 The Phillies are still in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories, but they have the third-best run differential in baseball. Thank you, pitching. -- (3) Boston Red Sox – 4.03 Boston is 8-1 against New York, but just 36-29 against the rest of baseball. Can they schedule the Yankees more often in 2012? 4. (4) Atlanta Braves – 3.90 5. (8) Texas Rangers – 3.59 The Rangers have lost six of their last 10 games. It’s a good thing that the Mariners, Angels and Athletics haven’t been consistent this season. T6. (6) St. Louis Cardinals – 3.51 -- (7) Arizona Diamondbacks – 3.51 How much of a shock would it be if the Diamondbacks edged the Giants and Rockies in the National League West? 8. (5) Milwaukee Brewers – 3.50 The Brewers need Shaun Marcum’s hip to be a non-issue and it’s just not cooperating. 9. (9) Los Angeles Angels – 3.46 10. (13) Tampa Bay Rays – 3.37 11. (T10) Colorado Rockies – 3.36 T12. (T10) San Francisco Giants – 3.30 -- (12) Detroit Tigers – 3.30 14. (19) Oakland Athletics – 3.29 T15. (T15) Washington Nationals – 3.25 -- (22) Cleveland Indians – 3.25 17. (14) Cincinnati Reds – 3.24 Chris Heisley hit three home runs against the Yankees on Wednesday night. He entered the game with 11 homers in his previous 161 major league games. 18. (18) Chicago White Sox – 3.19 19. (T15) Toronto Blue Jays – 3.13 20. (20) New York Mets – 3.11 Am I the only one that doesn’t buy the belief that the Mets can contend for the Wild Card? They entered Thursday’s action six games back of the Braves with a number of better teams in-between. 21. (24) Seattle Mariners – 3.10 22. (T15) Pittsburgh Pirates – 3.07 23. (21) San Diego Padres – 3.03 24. (23) Florida Marlins – 2.99 It’s almost July and Hanley Ramirez is still playing like a below-average shortstop. It’s just about to the point that it’s no longer just a slump. 25. (25) Baltimore Orioles – 2.88 26. (26) Los Angeles Dodgers – 2.84 What could Mark Cuban do for this franchise? At the very least he’d be able to pay the bills without help. 27. (27) Kansas City Royals – 2.62 28. (29) Houston Astros – 2.45 29. (30) Minnesota Twins – 2.44 A recent tear has the Twins out of the last spot in our rankings for the first time this season. Next week? Jumping ahead of the Astros is a very real possibility. 30. (28) Chicago Cubs – 2.38

Ryan Ludwick could be traded at the deadline again this year. The Padres have already heard from the Phillies, Mariners and Reds about the outfielder's availability, according to sources. Ludwick, 32, is eligible for free agency at the end of the season and San Diego is believed to be open to dealing him.

Dustin Ackley, the second overall pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, made his debut for the Mariners on Friday night against the Phillies. Facing Roy Halladay, Ackley recorded his first major league hit in his first at-bat. He singled through Halladay's legs in the second inning. It;s the first time a Mariners player had a hit in his first career plate appearance since Wladimir Balentien on Sept. 4, 2007.

Mariners prospect Dustin Ackley will make his Major League debut with the team on Friday. Seattle plans to recall the 2009 first-round Draft choice from Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday. The Mariners are off on Thursday, so the second baseman will debut on Friday against the Phillies at Safeco Field. "We just felt it was time," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "We'd talked about some time in June we thought he'd be ready. In discussion with the coaches down there, they all felt this is the time. He's been swinging the bat well. So here it is. He'll be here Friday and we'll look forward to his contributions."

It's possible that the Mariners could call-up top prospect Dustin Ackley as soon as next week. Seattle is trying to avoid starting Ackley's arbitration clock too early, but it is a guess as far as how long they'd have to hold him out to do so. Teams used to consider mid-May the cutoff, but now it's mid-June at the earliest.

Major League Baseball will hold its First-Year Player Draft on Monday night, with the Pirates, Mariners and Diamondbacks holding the first three selections. The Nationals held the first overall pick in back-to-back years, drafting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (2009) and hitter Bryce Harper (2010) to fortify their future. Stay tuned to RealGM.com throughout the night (and week) as we track the results of the 2011 MLB Draft, which is taking place in Secaucus, New Jersey. First Round 1. Pittsburgh Pirates - Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA
2. Seattle Mariners - Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia
3. Arizona Diamondbacks - Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA
4. Baltimore Orioles - Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso HS (Okla.)
5. Kansas City Royals - Bubba Starling, OF, Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.)
6. Washington Nationals - Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice
7. Arizona Diamondbacks (for unsigned 2010 first-round pick Barret Loux) - Archie Bradley, RHP, Muskogee HS (Okla.)
8. Cleveland Indians - Francisco Lindor, SS, Montverde Academy (Fla.)
9. Chicago Cubs - Javier Baez, SS, Arlington Country Day HS (Fla.)
10. San Diego Padres (for failure to sign 2010 first-round pick Karsten Whitson) Cory Spangenberg, 3B, Indian State College (Fla.)
11. Houston Astros - George Springer, OF, Connecticut
12. Milwaukee Brewers - Taylor Jungmann, RHP, Texas
13. New York Mets - Brandon Nimmo, OF, Cheyenne East HS (Wyo.)
14. Florida Marlins - Jose Fernandez, RHP, Braulio Alonso HS (Fla.)
15. Milwaukee Brewers (for failure to sign 2010 first-round pick Dylan Covey) - Jed Bradley, RHP, Georgia Tech
16. Los Angeles Dodgers - Chris Reed, LHP, Stanford
17. Los Angeles Angels - C.J. Cron, 1B, Utah
18. Oakland Athletics - Sonny Gray, RHP, Vanderbilt
19. Boston Red Sox (from Detroit Tigers for Type A free agent Victor Martinez) - Matt Barnes, RHP, Connecticut
20. Colorado Rockies - Tyler Anderson, LHP, Oregon
21. Toronto Blue Jays - Tyler Beede, RHP, Lawrence Academy
22. St. Louis Cardinals - Kolten Wong, 2B, Hawaii
23. Washington Nationals (from Chicago White Sox for Type A free agent Adam Dunn) - Alex Meyer, RHP, Kentucky
24. Tampa Bay Rays (from Boston Red Sox for Type A free agent Carl Crawford) - Taylor Guerrieri, RHP, Spring Valley HS (S.C.)
25. San Diego Padres - Joe Ross, RHP, Bishop O'Dowd HS (Calif.)
26. Boston Red Sox (from Texas Rangers for Type A free agent Adrian Beltre) - Blake Swihart, C, V. Sue Cleveland HS (N.M.)
27. Cincinnati Reds - Robert Stephenson, RHP, Alhambra HS (Calif.)
28. Atlanta Braves - Sean Gilmartin, LHP, Florida State
29. San Francisco Giants - Joe Panik, SS, St. John's
30. Minnesota Twins - Levi Michael, SS, North Carolina
31. Tampa Bay Rays (from New York Yankees for Type A free agent Rafael Soriano) - Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU
32. Tampa Bay Rays - Jake Hager, SS, Sierra Vista HS (Nevada)
33. Texas Rangers (from Philadelphia Phillies for Type A free agent Cliff Lee) - Kevin Matthews, LHP, Richmond Hills HS (Georgia)
Compensation Round A 34. Washington (Adam Dunn, Chicago White Sox) - Brian Goodwin, OF, Miami Dade College
35. Toronto (Scott Downs, L.A. Angels) - Jacob Anderson, OF, Chino HS (California)
36. Boston (Victor Martinez, Detroit) - Henry Owens, LHP, Edison HS (Calif.)
37. Texas (Cliff Lee, Philadelphia) - Zach Cone, OF, Georgia
38. Tampa Bay (Rafael Soriano, N.Y. Yankees) - Brandon Martin, SS, Santiago HS (Calif.)
39. Philadelphia (Jayson Werth, Washington) - Larry Greene, OF, Berrien County HS (Georgia)
40. Boston (Andre Beltre, Texas) - Jackie Bradley, OF, South Carolina
41. Tampa Bay (Carl Crawford, Boston) - Tyler Goeddel, 3B, St. Francis HS (Calif.)
42. Tampa Bay (Grant Balfour, Oakland) - Jeff Ames, RHP, Lower Columbia College
43. Arizona (Adam LaRoche, Washington) - Andrew Chafin, LHP, Kent State
44. N.Y. Mets (Pedro Feliciano, N.Y. Yankees) - Michael Fulmer, RHP, Deer Creek HS (Okla.)
45. Colorado (Octavio Dotel, Toronto) - Trevor Story, SS, Irving HS (Texas)
46. Toronto (John Buck, Florida) - Joe Musgrove, RHP, Grossmont HS (Calif.)
47. Chicago White Sox (J.J. Putz, Arizona) - Keenyn Walker, OF, Central Arizona College
48. San Diego (Jon Garland, L.A. Dodgers) - Michael Kelly, RHP, West Boca Raton Community HS (Fla.)
49. San Francisco (Juan Uribe, L.A. Dodgers) - Kyle Crick, RHP, Sherman HS (Texas)
50. Minnesota (Orlando Hudson, San Diego) - Travis Harrison, 3B, Tustin HS (Calif.)
51. N.Y. Yankees (Javier Vazquez, Florida) - Dante Bichette, Jr., Orangewood Christian HS (Fla.)
52. Tampa Bay (Brad Hawpe, San Diego) - Blake Snell, LHP, Shorewood HS (Wa.)
53. Toronto (Kevin Gregg, Baltimore) - Dwight Smith, OF, McIntosh HS (Georgia)
54. San Diego (Yorvit Torrealba, Texas) - Brett Austin, C, Providence Senior HS (NC)
55. Minnesota (Jesse Crain, Chicago White Sox) - Hudson Boyd, RHP, Bishop Verot HS (Fla.)
56. Tampa Bay (Joaquin Benoit, Detroit) - Kes Carter, OF, Western Kentucky
57. Toronto (Miguel Olivo, Seattle) - Kevin Comer, RHP, Seneca HS (NJ)
58. San Diego (Kevin Correia, Pittsburgh) - Jace Peterson, SS, McNeese State
59. Tampa Bay (Randy Choate, Florida) - Grayson Garvin, LHP, Vanderbilt
60. Tampa Bay (Chad Qualls, San Diego) - James Harris Jr., OF, Oakland Tech HS (Calif.)

The Mariners, who hold the second overall pick in this week's MLB Draft, could select Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon. His Rice Owls are in the NCAA regionals this weekend. Rendon began the season as the consensus No. 1 draft pick before injuries and diminished numbers clouded his status. "I'm pretty anxious," Rendon said. "I want the process to be over with so I can go on with my personal career. It's been pretty bad lately, with everyone asking where they think I'll go. There's a lot of anxiety."