Cal Raleigh didn’t mince words on Thursday about the 2026 Mariners season, dropping an unflinching assessment that lays bare the team’s failures. He looked at the whole picture and saw a mess, plain and simple.
No Excuses, Just Bad Baseball
Big Dumper didn’t hold back, pointing to a whole list of problems that plagued the M’s. We’re talking a “lack of focus, a lack of execution, a lack energy at times,” according to Raleigh. Our defense? Not good all year. Controlling the running game? Also not good. And don’t even get him started on playing on the road or hitting with runners in scoring position, both “definitely not good.” Seriously, it sounds like he watched the exact same games we all did from T-Mobile Park.
What’s super important, and something every Seattle fan needs to hear, is that Raleigh shut down any talk about injuries being an excuse. He said it’s “silly to use that as an excuse” because “29 other different ball clubs are dealing with the same thing.” He’s right, too. It all came down to play on the field, and as he put it, “it was not executed.” You gotta respect that honesty, even if it hurts to hear.
A Failure From Top to Bottom
It wasn’t just one thing, though, and it wasn’t just one guy. Raleigh made it clear that this wasn’t about finding a single scapegoat. “I don’t think it was one thing,” he explained. “I don’t think it was one person. I don’t think it was one department that failed this year. I think it was a collective failure, unfortunately.”
He noted that while players are the ones out there for 162 games, this isn’t solely on them. “I think it’s all the way from the top, to all the way to the bottom,” Raleigh said, calling it “a tough pill to swallow.” That hits deep, because it means the problems go way beyond just the guys swinging bats or throwing pitches. It suggests those deficiencies we saw early in the season, especially with the pitching staff suffering a “biggest drop in WAR,” were never really addressed.
This kind of raw honesty from Cal Raleigh tells us everything we need to know about where the M’s stand. Understanding what went wrong, and why, is the first step. Now, the Emerald City is waiting to see how they fix this collective failure and turn things around for next year. What are they going to do? It’s time to find out.
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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