SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners were unable to salvage a game over the weekend against the San Diego Padres and were swept in a three-game series in front of their home crowd at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
The trio of losses dropped the Mariners to four games below .500 (22-26), third in the American League West (two games behind the Athletics) and out of the final American League wild card spot (one game behind division rivals, the Texas Rangers).
Seattle's current standing in the division, and the AL, isn't where most of the players, coaches or many analysts thought it would be after making the franchise's first American League Championship Series since 2001 back in October.
Injuries have played a factor in the Mariners' slow start. Starting third baseman Brendan Donovan recently went on the injured list for a second time this season due to a left groin strain. Cal Raleigh, who finished second in the American League MVP voting last season, is also on the injured list.
Other key contributors, such as outfielder Victor Robles, right-handed high-leverage reliever Matt Brash and left-handed back-end bullpen arm Gabe Speier are also all currently on the shelf.
Even still, the team has carried out a "next man up" mentality, which has made its struggles all the more frustrating.
Despite the disappointing results 48 games into the season and the frustration, the season is not yet lost for Seattle.
As mentioned before, the Mariners are just two games out of first place in the division and one game out of a wild card spot. Entering Monday, the only teams in the AL more than two games over .500 are the Tampa Bay Rays (30-15), New York Yankees (28-19) and Cleveland Guardians (26-22). The AL is struggling as a collective, and is still open for Seattle to create separation from the pack with one solid stretch.
"(We can) fall into the trap of thinking 'I wish so many things were different,'" Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert said in a postgame interview Saturday. "But at the end of the day, if other teams are kind of going through it, too, it's not (like) you have to win 105 games. Of course, that would be amazing. But other teams are just kind of stalling or doing similar things to what we're doing. It might not be pretty or perfect every time, but you just have to find a way to win a game here or there and take first place if it's open."
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert throws during a game against the Chicago White Sox on May 10 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. | Matt Marton/Imagn Images.
Most of Seattle's key core of players have been in the same clubhouse for several years now, and they're no stranger to going on runs or playing with their backs against the wall.
From 2022-24, the Mariners' postseason fate was decided in the final week of the regular season. In '25, Seattle dropped six-of-seven games from Aug. 29-Sept. 5, which included a sweep at the hands of the Rays. That stretch of losses put Seattle on the precipice of falling out of the playoff standings.
After that point, the Mariners won 17 of their final 21 games to close out the regular season and went into the playoffs with the No. 2 seed in the AL and a first round bye.
Every season is different, and Seattle's coaching staff and players know that. It can't rely on the successes of previous seasons. But, going through those experiences have made the Mariners resilient. And despite the downtrodden emotions currently in T-Mobile Park, there's still more than 30 games until the halfway point of the regular season. And the M's are still in firm control of their own destiny.
"I feel like we got more," Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez said in a postgame interview Saturday. "I think we got more. And that's just kind of the reality of it. … That's what we got to continue to focus on. Getting more out of us and … find a flow. … I feel like every year has something different. But I feel like something I like from this group (is) that it's resilient. A few of us have been together for a good amount of years now and we know what we got."
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Remember to join our MARINERS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Mariners fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
