Where Mariners stand as season nears quarter point

With expectations as high as they’ve ever been, the Seattle Mariners haven’t gotten off to the start many hoped for.

Surging Julio Rodríguez’s career-best start shouldn’t come as surprise

But at 18-20 as the MLB season nears being 25% of the way complete, their goals for 2026 are still very much attainable.

Here’s a look at where things stand with the Mariners roughly one-quarter of the way through the season.

AL West race

Unfortunately for the Mariners, they’ve wasted an opportunity to create some early separation between themselves and the rest of the American League West. But the good news is that they’re only a good series or two from finding themselves at the top of the standings.

Seattle entered Friday in second place in the AL West trailing the 19-18 Athletics by 1 1/2 games. And despite a losing record, its the only team in the division with a positive run differential (plus-4).

One-half game behind the M’s are the 17-20 Texas Rangers, followed by the Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros, who are each three games behind the M’s at 15-23.

Seattle will have a chance to further separate itself from the Astros when the clubs meet for a four-game series in Houston starting Monday. The M’s will also get their second crack at the A’s during a three-game series in West Sacramento, Calif., beginning on Monday, May 25.

Stock up

• Emerson Hancock

Once an afterthought in the Mariners’ talented starting rotation, Hancock has been the team’s best starter so far this season. In seven outings, the right-hander has a 2.59 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with a team-high 46 strikeouts to just six walks over 41 2/3 innings of work.

Hancock’s emergence isn’t just a good thing for the 2026 Mariners. It also gives the team more options for how to build its roster moving forward.

• Cole Young

Young has made the kind of jump the Mariners were hoping for in his second year in the majors. The 22-year-old second baseman is slashing .276/.342/.403 with a .745 OPS, three homers, six doubles and one triple in 38 games. He leads qualified M’s hitters in batting average and also has a team-best 20 RBIs. Young has shined defensively as well, leading all MLB infielders with eight defensive runs saved.

Second base has been a revolving door for the Mariners since trading Robinson Canó after the 2018 season. They finally seem to have their long-term answer at the position in Young.

• Jose A. Ferrer

The decision to trade catching prospect Harry Ford for Ferrer over the offseason has paid off in a major way so far. Ferrer, who’s posted a 1.89 ERA, leads Mariners bullpen arms with 20 appearances and 19 innings pitched. He’s proven he can be called upon often, which was evident when he tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings while making three appearances in three days in Seattle’s recent series win over Atlanta.

With Matt Brash, Gabe Speier and Carlos Vargas on the injured list, Ferrer’s importance to this bullpen has only grown since the start of the year.

Stock down

• Cal Raleigh

After his magical 2025 season, Raleigh has struggled out of the gates this year. The switch-hitting slugger is batting just .175 with a .616 OPS, both the lowest marks among qualified Mariners hitters. He’s provided more pop lately with five of his seven home runs this year coming in his past 12 games. But overall, Raleigh’s hard-hit rate (30.4%) is down nearly 8% from where it was last season.

It was never fair to expect Raleigh to repeat the historic 60-homer season he had a year ago, but the Mariners need more from their star catcher.

• Andrés Muñoz

Muñoz is one of baseball’s most unhittable closers when he’s at this best, but that just hasn’t been the case this year. The right-hander has 6.00 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 15 innings over 16 appearances. He’s also already allowed more home runs this year (three) than he did over 62 1/3 innings last year (two). He’s particularly had trouble getting hitters out with his fastballs, with batters hitting a combined .500 (8 for 16) off his four-seamer and sinker.

The bullpen injuries the M’s are dealing with make Muñoz’s struggles even more concerning. The good news is that some of the underlying numbers suggest Muñoz is due for some positive regression.

• Luis Castillo

After a stellar first outing, it’s been a rough go for Castillo. He’s surrendered four or more runs in five of his past six starts, including giving up seven runs twice. It’s led to a 6.29 ERA, the seventh-highest mark among AL pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched.

It would be a difficult decision to make, but it’s hard to see Castillo being a member of the starting rotation much longer if things don’t turn around quickly.

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