This one stings, Emerald City, and there’s no way around it: our Seattle Mariners are officially eliminated from playoff contention. What makes it even tougher to swallow? We lost the division title to a .500 Houston Astros squad, a brutal punch right to the gut that Logan Gilbert felt hard with a -0.86 WPA for that division loss. After all the grinding, it just wasn’t enough.
The Numbers Tell a Painful Story
We all watched it unfold, and the numbers from September scream why this season ended the way it did. Our bullpen, man, it was a rough ride. Ranking 26th out of 26 in both ERA- and FIP- is simply crushing. How are you supposed to hang in there when the relief pitching is struggling like that? And it wasn’t just the arms either. Our Outfield Armament Advantage, OAA, clocked in at -7, also 26th in the league. You can’t win big games when the defense and the bullpen are giving up too much. Rick Rizzs’ Happy Totals and Dan Wilson’s Tough One Tonights are both sitting at 12, a perfect split that pretty much sums up the rollercoaster. Despite all that, our run differential is still a positive +15, and the team’s wRC+ is a stunning 120, good for 3rd in the entire league. That makes the elimination even harder to take. We had the bats, no doubt, but other parts of the game fell short.
Glimmers of Hope and Lingering Questions
Even in a disappointing September, some guys absolutely stepped up. Randy Arozarena led the charge, rocking a 1.5 fWAR. He brought the thunder, walking off the Astros with a +0.98 WPA, smashing 3 “Beef Boy Bombs”, and getting plunked 5 times. That’s a guy playing with heart. Julio Rodríguez showed flashes with 2 homers and 5 stolen bases, keeping his strikeout rate respectable at 19.4%. Dominic Canzone’s hard-hit rate at 45.7% is legit, and Andrés Muñoz’s fastball velo hitting 100.1 mph, 6th among 429 pitchers, is just filthy. And let’s not forget the future: Michael Arroyo’s 168 wRC+ and Lazaro Montes’ 174 ISO+ are getting us hyped. But then there are the head-scratchers. George Kirby’s xwOBA at .364 is the 3rd worst of his career, and Eduard Bazardo’s 57.1% HR/FB% is just brutal, 2nd worst among 429. Even Kade Anderson’s xERA of 4.70, way up from his 3.51 ERA, points to some underlying issues.
This season didn’t end the way any of us wanted, Seattle. Getting eliminated, especially after losing the division to an Astros team that barely scraped by at .500, hurts deep. But the fight Randy Arozarena showed, the raw power from guys like Montes, and the pure heat from Muñoz, give us something to look forward to. We’ll be back, Emerald City. We always are.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Lookout Landing.
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