The Mariners finally closed out a mercifully short 2026 season with a 7-3 victory over the Angels at T-Mobile Park today, sending off radio legend Rick Rizzs on his last broadcast. But let’s be real, Emerald City, that win can’t sugarcoat what was a brutal, brutal year. We finished up 76-86, ten games under .500 with a -58 run differential, a truly gut-wrenching follow-up to being just eight outs away from the World Series not so long ago. It hurts to even type that.
This Season Was a Total Gut Punch
Honestly, where do you even start to unpack this season? It felt like everything that could go wrong, did. We literally had more concussions as a team than we had All-Stars, which is just an insane statistic and speaks volumes about the rough ride this squad endured. Our superstar Julio Rodriguez even got hit with one, sidelining him when we needed him most. Cal Raleigh, our rock behind the plate, had his own extended injury battles, too. It was a season where things broke, both literally and figuratively, leaving us reeling. The vibe was just… bleak.
“Everything Is Empty, Everything Is a Deception”
Yeah, it felt like that a lot. As Rick Rizzs was out there signing autographs before his last game, you couldn’t help but feel the weight of what we’d just watched unfold. The Astros snagged the division title at a paltry .500 this year, making it one of the most winnable races in league history. And we couldn’t even capitalize! It’s enough to make you feel like Prince Andrei from War & Peace, lying there after battle and thinking, “everything is empty, everything is a deception, except this infinite sky. There is nothing, nothing except that.” Being a Mariners fan sometimes feels exactly like that; a deep, existential sigh. Nothing matters, you think. And sometimes, you gotta embrace that.
Finding Joy in the Wreckage
But here’s the kicker, Seattle. Even in that kind of despair, there’s always something. That same book, War & Peace, also gives us Pierre, who found redemption in suffering. He said, “To love life is to love God. The hardest and most blissful thing is to love this life in one’s suffering, in the guiltlessness of suffering.” That hits different when you bleed green and blue, right? It’s hard as heck to love this team after a season like 2026. But there *is* joy hidden in the wreckage. You have to look for it; we saw flashes, we saw grit.
So, the books are closed on 2026, officially. The final score was Mariners 7, Angels 3, good news for Rick Rizzs’s send-off, but the 76-86 record is the real story of the year. It’s a long, dark offseason in front of us, but we’ll find our way through. We always do. We’ll cling to that victory and look forward to fighting another day. That’s the Mariners way.
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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