With a third of the season left, Mariners send out SOS signal
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners seem to be sending out a message to all hands on deck these days: SOS.
Save our ship.
Help!
After last year’s trip to the American League Championship Series and within a game of reaching the World Series, the Mariners were supposed to make Year 50 in franchise history an historic one.
The only team to have never made it to the World Series seemed destined to get there this season. MLB.com picked them to win it all.
So more than two-thirds of the way through the 2026 MLB campaign, what are the Mariners doing stumbling around with a losing record and in danger of not making the playoffs at all?
“We are at a spot where we don’t want to be, didn’t think we would be,” pitcher George Kirby told me Saturday before Seattle’s 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins at T-Mobile Park. “Everybody knows we are capable of doing better.”
Saturday’s win — on a walk-off fielder’s choice ground-out by Cal Raleigh in the bottom of the ninth inning — gave Seattle temporary relief and reason to celebrate. Sunday’s series finale offers the Mariners a chance to win a series and get back on the path to success.
“Every win now has greater importance,” manager Dan Wilson said after Saturday’s game.
In 2025, the Mariners won 90 games and the AL West, then knocked off Detroit before falling to Toronto in seven games in the ALCS.
Heading into Sunday’s series finale with Minnesota, Seattle (54-58) has lost eight of its last 11 games and stands seventh among 10 teams vying for the three wild-card spots in the AL playoff picture.
All is not lost. Seattle is only three games behind division leader Houston, and the eight teams in contention for the final AL wild-card berth are bunched up within three games of each other. The M’s are two games out of getting the final wild-card nod.
But it is nut-cutting time. They need to turn things around immediately, if not sooner. A sense of urgency is required. Desperation, even.
“We have talked about that,” second-year manager Dan Wilson said on Saturday. “(The Seattle players) know (a division title or playoff berth) is still out there. Now it’s a matter of us putting it all together.
“We have to get after it. We know there is a lot (of season) in front of us yet. It’s time to get started.”
The M’s are in the midst of a nine-game homestand, with series against Detroit and Tampa Bay ahead. It should provide some comfort for a team that has gone 31-24 at home — fourth best in the AL — but only 23-34 on the road, third worst in the league. They have gone 0-8-1 in their last nine series away from the friendly confines of T-Mobile.
“Everyone felt so good about this team coming into the season, but they have not shown the ability to win series consistently like the good teams do,” Mariners broadcaster Brad Adam said. “That is why they are where they are. You don’t have to win every game or win 10 in a row. You just have to be consistent — take two of three, split a four-gamer, go 6-4 over 10. You have to have good results over the long haul. They haven’t done that yet.”
There have been signs in the last week that things might turn around. Last Monday at Dodger Stadium, the M’s blasted five home runs in a 7-6 win. It was a mirage. Then they lost three in a row, scoring a total of seven runs.
In the first inning of Friday’s series opener against the Twins, Raleigh stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. After taking a pair of strikes, he fouled off three pitches, worked the count to 3-2 and drilled a two-run, ground-rule double to right. That was about it for the Seattle offense, which managed four hits in a 5-3 loss. The M’s struck out 13 times, 10 through the first five innings against Minnesota starter Zebby Matthews, who came in 4-8 with a 5.21 ERA. More than a few boos rang out in the T-Mobile stands as the game ended.
Offense has been the biggest issue. The M’s are tied for last in the majors in batting average (.229), 28th in runs scored (4.0 per game) and slugging percentage (.378) and 27th in on-base percentage (.308) and on-base/slugging percentage (.686). They are tied for 13th in home runs (131), but that can’t camouflage the offensive woes. Last week, assistant hitting coach Bobby Magallanes was let go. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to cure all the ills.
“Their offense has been substandard, no other way to put it,” says Bill Krueger, the Seattle-based broadcaster who pitched 13 major-league seasons, including two with the M’s.
Central to that has been the faceplant by Raleigh, who had a season for the ages in 2025, finishing a close runner-up to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge in AL MVP balloting. Raleigh swatted a franchise-record 60 homers with a league-best 125 RBIs. He was the straw that stirred the drink for the M’s.
This season, “Big Dumper” has been a big dud, with 11 homers, 39 RBIs and an unconscionable .164 batting average through 78 games. Injuries have played a part. He pulled an oblique muscle in the World Baseball Classic before the MLB season, then tried to play through it. Raleigh missed 32 games and has never found a rhythm since his return.
A year ago, Cal had 35 multi-hit games. This season, he has had six. On Saturday, he left five runners on base in two of his at-bats, striking out both times. He has fanned 107 times in 332 plate appearances.
“Cal has never had his timing right,” Adams said. “It is especially difficult for a switch-hitter, because you have to do that on both sides. Nobody expected him to hit 60 (round-trippers) again, but I expected 30 or 35, and I don’t know that he will be able to get there.
“You see how much he meant to the team last year. What an incredible, historic season he had, and he carried the team on offense. With him not doing that and not slugging, it is a huge hole. There are not guys picking up the slack for him, somebody having a career year. It’s been a struggle all season.”
Krueger questions whether Raleigh is truly healthy even now.
“Cal looks lost,” says the former McMinnville High and University of Portland basketball/baseball star. “He is not a polished hitter, anyway. He is swinging the bat like he has given up on his average. He is cheating on the fastball and trying to slug.
“I feel for him. He is a great kid. He comes to play. He plays hurt. He is everything you could ever dream of — a switch-hitting catcher who can catch a little bit with some power. But he is not an MVP candidate. It is remarkable that he hit 60 homers, but unfair to measure him on that.”
A few Mariners are hitting well. Outfielder Randy Arozarena, Seattle’s only All-Star this season, is having a career year, batting .280 with 13 homers and 20 stolen bases. Outfielder Dominic Calzone (.261, 18 homers) hit .314 in June, though he has cooled off since then. Second-year second baseman Cole Young (.261, 14 homers), who turned 23 on Wednesday, is a keeper as a hitter and defender. First baseman Josh Naylor (.261, eight homers, 21 stolen bases) brings a league-best 23-game on-base streak into Sunday’s game. But overall, there is far too little pop at the offensive end.
Injuries have played a role, and not just to Raleigh. Utility pickup Brendan Donovan, the opening-day leadoff hitter, is close to a return after being on the injured list since May 16 with a groin strain.
“Brendan would have fit into the top of the lineup and been the kind of player who infuses grit and energy into a game,” Krueger said. “You saw a little bit of it before he got hurt. They have missed him.”
Centerfielder Julio Rodriguez, who sat out 15 games in concussion protocol, has been OK but not superstar material (.251 with 16 homers) like the team envisions him (and pays him). He is historically better offensively in the second of half of a season, but doesn’t like the stereotype.
“I don’t know if I am a second-half guy,” he told me. “Things just play out the way they do. I can’t control that. I wish I could be an all-season guy. Offensively, I show more the second half, but throughout the whole season I do a lot of little things to help the team win.”
Krueger believes the M’s have to get more from Rodriguez.
“Julio needs to get better,” Krueger said. “Does he want to be great? I wonder. We are not seeing him getting better.”
On the shelf with injuries now are shortstop J.P. Crawford (wrist) and outfielder Luke Raley (elbow). Standout reliever Matt Brash (3-0, 0.54 ERA in 20 appearances) is not expected back until late August with a lat strain.
The pitching, especially from the starters, has been mostly good. The M’s are ninth in the league in ERA (3.75), with Gilbert (8-6, 3.44) and Emerson Hancock (6-5, 3.26) leading the way. Closer Anthony Munoz (3-4, 3.99 with 19 saves) hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 appearances.
A year ago, Seattle added Naylor and Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline with great results.This year’s deadline is Monday, but the M’s beat that Saturday by sending veteran starter Luis Castillo to the White Sox for closer Seranthony Dominguez, who is 4-3 with a 4.10 ERA and 12 saves this season. He will likely work as a set-up guy for Munoz.
The M’s desperately need more firepower at the offensive end, but ironically, any trade might include Arozarena, who becomes a free agent at season’s end. Rumors have flown that starters George Kirby and Emerson Hancock might be on the block, too, though the Castillo deal may have taken care of that.
Even with help coming from trades, Raleigh said this week, “it’s going to be up to this core group here to decide, ultimately, where this team ends up going.”
On July 27 a year ago, the M’s were 2 1/2 games back from the AL West lead. Then they won 16 of 17 in September to win the division. Though 16 of 17 is an unreasonable goal, that kind of strong finish is a blueprint for what they would like to do this season. And a second straight AL West championship would make the playoff path a little easier.
“Winning the division would be huge,” Rodriguez said. “That has always what we try to do, since I’ve been here. That has always the mentality, to have that banner and win the division.”
Added Kirby: “I would say that is the goal first, then we will worry about the playoffs after. Being able to do it last year, we know that is important. We haven’t been playing well but we are not far back. No one is discouraged in that sense. We are super capable of coming back and getting back to first place.”
The August schedule is difficult. After the homestand, Seattle hits the road for series against the Yankees, Astros and Brewers. If the M’s can get through that alive, September’s slate is much softer, with seven games each against the Athletics and Angels and three at Colorado.
“The (AL) West is wide open,” Gilbert said after pitching seven innings of three-run ball Saturday. “We are not doing what we want to do at this point, but throw everything that has happened before now out the window. We are here today, and may the best team win over the next two months.”
The Mariners have good young arms, a budding star in Cole Young and a farm system ranked eight in the MLB, featuring such prospects as pitcher Kade Anderson and outfielders Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo, both 21.
“This team looks bright for the future,” Krueger said. “But that doesn’t satisfy us now, because we thought this team was ready to go to the World Series. And two-thirds of the way in, you can say, ‘They don’t look like it.’ I don’t think it is going to change. This is who they are.”
Wilson isn’t buying that idea.
“The division is up for grabs,” he said. “We have the team to get it. There is an urgency to find the consistency that we want. Once we get to that point, we’ll be where we want to be. That is what this time of year is all about.”
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