The Seattle Mariners moved to 32-29 on Monday night with a 3-2 win over the New York Mets at T-Mobile Park. The M's have now won seven consecutive games to pull to 2.5 games up in the American League West, and they've won three of their last four games in walk-off fashion in extra-innings.

Now, winning in extras is not necessarily a sustainable way to win, but Mariners fans will certainly take it after the frustration of the first two months-ish of the season.

One of the things that has helped the M's elevate their game recently? The home run ball.

The following statements are facts:

1) The Mariners tied for the MLB lead in home runs in May with 42

2) The Mariners have 18 homers in their last seven games, all wins

3) The Mariners are now sixth in baseball in total home runs

4) In May, the Mariners were one of the most home run dependent teams in the league, deriving more than 50 percent of their total runs via the home run

So, it begs the question: Are the Mariners too home run dependent? It's something we talked about on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.

"I like topics that have good answers to them or logical answers to them, and this one just doesn't.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that the Mariners are scoring runs. Like, that is literally it. All that matters is that they score. Gotta score to win. The Mariners are doing it.

It doesn't really matter how you're doing it. It is proven that hitting home runs wins baseball games. It is proven.

I would love for the Mariners to string four doubles together in an inning. I would love for them to hit six singles in an inning. That's really hard to do, and it doesn't really work that way anymore. The pitching is too good to put together five- and six-hit innings.

Four of the top five home run teams right now, as I record this, are in a playoff spot. Four of the top five. The Yankees, the Braves, the Dodgers, and there's one more in there, okay?..

The Yankees are leading the AL East. They lead baseball in homers. The Braves have the best record in baseball. They're second in the major leagues in homers. They lead the National League in home runs.

Good teams hit home runs. Home runs win in the playoffs. Because again, you are not getting eight hits off Tarik Skubal. You're not getting nine hits off Paul Skenes. You're just not. You have to maximize the ones that you do get, and home runs are the way that you do that.

So, but look, I'm with a lot of you on this. We all know that home runs dry up at some point. Maybe they dry up for a day, maybe they dry up for a series, maybe they dry up for a week, but they do dry up.

I would love to see the Mariners not rely on the home run so much. But again, it is a fact: good teams hit home runs."

As the discussion continued, I landed here. It's OK for the Mariners to be home run dependent, but they have to remain disciplined enough to draw their walks. They aren't a team built on average (23rd in baseball), so they aren't built to string those hits together. They are 13th in walks entering play on Tuesday. If they can continue to draw their walks and maximize the impact of those home runs into more than solo shots, then they have a chance to still throw some crooked numbers up on the scoreboard.

The Mariners and Mets will play again on Tuesday night at 6:40 p.m. PT.

You can listen to the latest 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast here, or you can watch the episode on YouTube.

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