Maybe it’s bad luck, maybe it’s an old seaman’s curse, but one thing’s for sure. The Seattle Mariners just can’t get it done.
Such is the franchise’s life story (Jon Bois’ Mariners docuseries on Secret Base covers it perfectly). Not even the most talented and electrifying of prospects can get Seattle over the hump and into a World Series. The Mariners are the only team in Major League Baseball to have never reached a fall classic, always falling short in some manner.
Ken Griffey Jr. scores the winning run to upset the mighty Yankees and send the Mariners to the ALCS in 1995. The powerful Cleveland then-Indians won the AL Pennant in six before losing the World Series to the Braves. Griffey remained great, but was traded to the Reds in 2000 while Seattle still fell short.
New Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki debuted in 2001 and won the AL batting title, Rookie of the Year, and MVP all at once. The Mariners also won an MLB-record 116 games in the regular season and looked unbeatable. The Yankees made short work of them in the ALCS, wrapping it up in five games as the Bronx crowd chanted “Overrated.”
It was two decades before the Mariners made the playoffs again, and nothing’s changed. The team was in first place as late as Aug. 11 of last year, only to collapse from there and miss the playoffs. Manager Scott Servais was fired on Aug. 23 and replaced with former M’s catcher Dan Wilson.
Wilson, for what it’s worth, went 21-13 to finish the season and already has a great pitching staff. He just needs his lineup to come through if the Mariners are to win an open AL West.
Greatest Addition: Kevin Seitzer. How do you help a lineup that hasn’t hit .250 as a team since 2018? Hire one of the best hitting coaches in the game, of course. Seitzer spent the last ten years as the Braves’ hitting coach and won a World Series ring in 2021. He has also coached with Arizona, Kansas City, and Toronto since 2007, and Seitzer was also a two-time All-Star third baseman over a 12-year career.
The man simply knows hitting and how to teach it. Winning a World Series without an injured Ronald Acuña Jr. says it all. The Mariners already have the talent in the lineup, so Seitzer is the perfect man to help them take that next step.
Greatest Loss: Justin Turner. He wasn’t a Mariner for a long time, but Turner’s made the most of his short stint in Seattle. He was acquired from Toronto at the deadline for minor league outfielder RJ Schreck. Turner then proceeded to hit .264 with a .766 OPS for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately for the Mariners, Turner alone couldn’t prevent the whole team collapsing. He signed a one-year deal with the Cubs and will platoon first base with Michael Busch. The man is simply a natural leader, something the Mariners could use in the clubhouse now.
Greatest Strength: Open division. We’ve gone through the entire AL West at this point and it’s crystal clear. This is a three-team race between the Mariners, Rangers, and Astros. Texas is probably the favorite based on lineup alone, but the Astros are also full of surprises.
It all goes back to how this Mariners team—the same team whose pitching staff tied with Atlanta last year for best in the majors—can win the West if the lineup performs. From Cal Raleigh to Julio Rodriguez, Seattle is in a position to right last year’s collapse and get back to the postseason.
Greatest Weakness: Lifeless lineup. Look for why the Mariners collapsed last season, and look no further than team batting average. Seattle was second-to-last in baseball with a .224 team batting average, only beating out the 121-loss Chicago White Sox. Oddly enough, they ranked 12th with 185 home runs.
The power is what helped Seattle’s lineup finish with a 104 wRC+ on the season, but the team fell too hard too late. JP Crawford dealt with both injuries and his bat falling off a cliff. Julio Rodriguez’s power didn’t show up until July and he managed only 20 home runs instead of his expected 25-plus.
Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby are great rotation anchors. But their MLB-best potential means nothing if they don’t have the run support.
Set sail, Seattle Mariners? Again, that’s up to the lineup. We know this Mariners team can pitch. But JP Crawford also needs to stay healthy and start hitting again. Julio Rodriguez needs a career season, maybe his first-ever 40-homer season? Randy Arozarena is an absolute spark plug regardless of if he’s moved in July.
The AL West is practically up for grabs unless either Houston or Texas bursts out of the starting gate and builds a big lead early. The Mariners have just as much of a chance as their Texan counterparts to finish in first place. It all. Depends. On. The hitters.
Period.
