M’s surging even though there’s been an issue – which is a good sign

Apr 22, 2025, 9:48 AM | Updated: 9:59 am

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners enter their series in Boston on Tuesday with a 12-10 record, four straight series victories, and eight wins in their last 10 games.

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The M’s are always capable of pulling off runs like this, a result of their elite pitching staff featuring three All-Stars and two more players certainly capable of earning an invite to the midsummer classic.

Except that incredible starting rotation isn’t the reason the M’s have been on a roll. In fact, the starting rotation hasn’t been incredible in the least so far this season.

Uh-oh?

Well, maybe not, as Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith explained in a conversation Monday with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“One of the things that’s encouraging to me as somebody watching every night is that the Mariners are now winning fairly consistently – granted just four series – without their outlier strength being exactly that,” Goldsmith said. “I mean, we have not seen this rotation become – maybe it’s fair to say – even close to what I think we all believe it can. And we have reason for that belief.”

Entering Tuesday, Mariners starters ranked 24th in baseball with 113 1/3 innings, 18th in ERA at 4.13, 22nd in WHIP at 1.35, and 27th in pitches per inning (17.1). That’s way off the paces from last year when M’s starters led MLB in innings pitched (942 2/3), ERA (3.38), WHIP (1.03), and lowest pitches per inning (15.31).

George Kirby starting the year on the injured list with shoulder inflammation – with no known timetable for his return – doesn’t help. But neither does the fact that Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller have a combined two starts of at least six innings pitched (though to be fair, Bryan Woo has made it through the sixth inning in each of his four outings).

“The Mariners’ starters have been really inefficient,” Goldsmith said. “Logan Gilbert comes to mind. Castillo obviously comes to mind. Woo’s kind of been an outlier in that regard in a good way. Bryce has had to grind through starts.

“Don’t confuse the innings pitched with the workload. The workload has been there. You look at the pitches that the Mariners starters have thrown, and it’s pretty regularly… been 90, 95, 100 pitches. The difference is it hasn’t been six or seven innings.”

Picking up the slack

Goldsmith pointed out that the baseball season is still in the first month, so there’s plenty of time for the starters to right the ship. And in the meantime, it’s nice that Seattle’s seeing improvements from the bullpen (seventh in MLB with a 3.30 ERA) and the offense (fifth with 32 homers, 13th in on-base at .320, 14th in slugging in) thus far.

“They need to find a way for their rotation to get deeper into games. And again, I think we all have a realistic belief that that can and will happen,” he said. “But for the Mariners to get some really clutch bullpen performances from a bullpen that is still kind of changing – in terms of personnel and in roles – and to get the offense that they have (is important).

“I mean, this is an offense that is slugging more than last year while striking out drastically less. That’s a nearly impossible combination to find in the game, and the Mariners are doing that. So it has been very encouraging on those fronts in particular.”

Hear the full Bump and Stacy conversation with Seattle Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Bump and Stacy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.