After holding a comfortable 10-game lead in the AL West less than three weeks ago, the Mariners’ division lead has narrowed to a decidedly uncomfortable two games.
The Mariners have seemingly blown a tire as the Astros are fast approaching with a full tank of gas. Yes, the Astros are starting to play more like the team that has reached the ALCS the last seven years. But the Mariners are struggling mightily, and it has led to their worst stretch of baseball this season.
After one of the more frustrating games of the year Sunday — a 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays — the Mariners have dropped six straight series and just wrapped up a 3-9 homestand.
The struggles have been almost entirely at the plate, where the Mariners have been one of the worst hitting teams in baseball. Seattle’s 3.8 runs per game ranks No. 27 in baseball, ahead of only the Oakland A’s, Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox. And as Mariners blogger Luke Arkins pointed out on Twitter, the Mariners are on pace to have the highest strikeout rate in baseball history at 28.2%.
“We just didn’t do anything,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh told The Times’ Ryan Divish after the loss. “There’s nothing really to say at this point. We didn’t come through. You’ve got to find a way. It falls on us, nobody else but the players. When we’re in the box, it’s on us. We have to make adjustments and we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
The good news for the Mariners? They’re still in first place and have some key players returning as soon as this week as they face the Padres and the Angels in California ahead of next week’s All-Star break.
Here’s a look at where the Mariners rank in the latest MLB power rankings.
Julio Rodríguez’s quad injury that kept him out of Sunday’s game doesn’t seem to be that serious, and for the Mariners’ sake, it better not be. That 10-game division lead they had on June 18 — not very long ago! — is now down all the way to two games, and, as you might have noticed … our voters have now dropped them below those blasted Astros.
The Mariners’ loss on Sunday was a microcosm of their now three-week slide: George Kirby fired six solid innings of one-run ball, the bullpen blew a three-run lead in the seventh, and the offense left the bases loaded in the eighth, ninth, and 10th innings in a 5-4 loss. Earlier in the week, they held the high-powered Orioles offense to just nine runs in three games but walked away with just one win in the series. Things just aren’t going their way right now, and they’re really feeling the effects of their razor thin margins.
Victor Robles’ homer on Sunday was his first since Sept. 27, 2022. He’s actually swung the bat well in his limited time with the Mariners since coming over from the Nats.
The Mariners have suffered six straight series losses, and their lead atop the AL West standings has shrunk from 8.5 games to just two games over a hard-charging Houston Astros team. With a starting rotation that ranks third in the majors with a 3.45 ERA, they had a number of All-Star worthy arms, but Logan Gilbert (18 GS, 2.91 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 108 K, 117.2 IP) has been the best of the bunch.
As division lead goes up in flames, J.P. Crawford tries burning some sage.
It turns out pitching can only take you so far. The Mariners’ once-firm grip on first place in the AL West has shrunk to two games as they continue to field one of the worst offenses in the league. Since the beginning of July, Seattle has slashed .195/.286/.328 with an 83 wRC+ and minus-0.5 offensive rating. Jorge Polanco has been particularly bad, posting a .298 OPS with a 57.1 K% this month.