In 1965 Bruce Tuckman put together the Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing model of team building and development that is still taught in business classes today. 

If we follow this model, the Seattle Mariners spent all of Spring Training and April in the “forming” stage, which makes perfect sense because the team featured a lot of new faces, the bullpen didn’t have any defined roles and there was never any sense of team identity.

I think it’s safe to say that they have entered the “storming” stage.  Manager John McLaren let the frustration get to him in New York and he aired out his team behind closed doors and tonight Richie Sexson lead the Mariners into a small skirmish after taking a pitch up around his head.  The frustration is finally bubbling over and hopefully Seattle can finally move on to Tuckman’s final stages of team development.

The norming stage would be where the Mariners begin to calm down a bit, accept their roles and begin to develop a group dynamic.  Once that is established Seattle can move into the performing stage.  Tonight’s bench clearing cannot hurt this team and hopefully it will help to put this ugly start behind them.