The Mariners are sitting at a gut-wrenching 60-68, a full four games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West and three back of the Minnesota Twins for that last wild-card spot. After a magical 2025 season where we were one game shy of reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history, this 2026 squad is staring down the barrel of being MLB’s biggest disappointment, and man, that hurts to say.
Our October Dreams Are Fading Fast
Remember how things were set up for an encore this year? We brought the whole team back. The AL West looked winnable, the American League overall was mediocre at best. There was no reason for the M’s not to be one of the favorites to reach the Fall Classic. Yet, nothing, absolutely nothing, has been easy. With only six weeks left on the calendar, we’re on the outside looking in for a postseason berth. These deficits aren’t mountains, but gaining ground at this point is seriously challenging.
The worst part? This team isn’t even playing like they’re motivated to get back to October. We just fell to a dismal 12-19 since the All-Star break after losing 4-7 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. Seriously? That’s not a team fighting for anything. Few signs anything’s gonna change, and the frustration radiating from T-Mobile Park is palpable.
Our Engines Are Sputtering, Big Time
If you’re looking for where to place the blame, a huge chunk of it has to go to the lack of impact from our supposed stars. All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh? He’s having one of the biggest year-to-year drop-offs in MLB history. Last season, our 2025 AL MVP runner-up was unstoppable, crushing 60 homers with a ridiculous .948 OPS, carrying us to a top-10 offense. Now? Raleigh is hitting a shocking .156 with only 13 homers, and his .569 OPS has plummeted 379 points from last year. The dude doesn’t even have 60 hits in 2026. He looks like a shell of himself, heartbreaking to watch.
And then there’s our star center fielder, Julio Rodríguez. His slash line is .253/.317/.416 with 19 homers and a .733 OPS in 117 games. The source says he’s been “fine,” and that’s the biggest problem! For the Mariners to be the team we expect, Julio has to be way more than ‘fine.’ Dominic Canzone, our outfielder and designated hitter, is actually having a breakout year, which is great, but he cannot be our best offensive player. Yet, he has been. Raleigh and Rodríguez have to be the engines of this lineup. When they’re not, well, you get what we’ve got.
Dead Last In Runs Scored? Seriously?
What we’ve got is a lineup ranked dead last in runs scored. Dead last! Little hope to do any real damage nightly. It’s like the M’s have mastered the art of being incredibly inconsistent over the years. One year we have a great offense, another a great rotation, another a great bullpen, and somehow, the results are always just… this. You have to wonder if 2025, that magical season that had us dreaming of the Fall Classic, was an outlier, a flash of lightning in a bottle. With only six weeks left in the season, our M’s have to find something, anything, to turn this around. Scoring runs, getting our stars back to form, it all needs to happen now if we want to claw our way back into the postseason and avoid becoming the biggest letdown in baseball.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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