First-place Seattle Mariners better off than other AL rivals

Two months into the 2026 Seattle Mariners season, it finally feels like they’ve started to click.

Two good signs, one bad from Mariners’ winning road trip

Despite coming into Sacramento having lost six games in a nine-game stretch, including two straight to drop a series last weekend in Kansas City, the Mariners looked like they’re supposed to look in an impressive three-game sweep against the Athletics.

It was a great time to right the ship, too. Even though Seattle still is a game under .500 with a 28-29 record, the three straight wins erased the Athletics’ lead in the AL West, which was at 2 1/2 games entering Monday. Just like that, the M’s are on top of the division by a half-game.

This is where we need to point out why things are actually much better for the Mariners than you’d think after a frustrating first 57 games of the season that has featured inconsistent play and injuries to several key players, including Cal Raleigh and Brendan Donovan.

The Mariners are not the only team in the American League that went into 2026 with big expectations and struggled through April and May. In fact, three teams they’re very familiar with have actually been much worse off.

The obvious of those teams is the Houston Astros, who are stuck in fourth place in the AL West at 25-32 a season after the Mariners finally ended their reign atop of the division. Like Seattle, Houston has struggled to keep some key players healthy. Unlike Seattle, which is fifth in MLB in ERA (3.54) and seventh in WHIP (1.22), Houston has a huge issue on the pitching mound.

The Astros are 29th out of MLB’s 30 teams with a 5.12 ERA, and they’re just barely ahead of Colorado for dead last with a 1.47 WHIP. Houston is a strong hitting team, ranking fifth with a .734 OPS, but that doesn’t really matter if you can’t stop opponents from scoring over five runs per game against you.

Next on the list is the team the Mariners needed five games to put away in the 2025 ALDS: the Detroit Tigers (22-34), who are currently battling the Los Angeles Angels in a series between two of the three worst teams in the AL. Didn’t expect that to happen in 2026, did you?

The Tigers have been pretty uninspiring on the mound, some of which can be attributed to an elbow injury to two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Just as concerning in the Motor City is their problems at the plate, as the Tigers are 22nd with a .689 OPS (the Mariners are 16th at .700).

Detroit’s offense has had its share of injuries, too, with Kerry Carpenter, Gleyber Torres and Javier Báez all currently out of action.

And then we land on the team that knocked the Mariners out of the playoffs in the ALCS last year: the Toronto Blue Jays.

You don’t want to be the Toronto Blue Jays right now.

To be fair, their record (27-29) is only a little worse than Seattle’s. But the Jays play in the AL East, home of the top two teams in the AL: the Tampa Bay Rays (34-19) and New York Yankees (34-22). They seem to be looking at a wild card at best this year.

The really tough reality for the Blue Jays is that they are severely banged up. Here are some names they currently have on the IL: Alejandro Kirk. Shane Bieber. Dylan Cease. Addison Barger. Max Scherzer. Anthony Santander. Yimi García.

And that list goes on.

So yeah, it’s been a struggle for the Mariners to get on track this season, and it’s yet to be seen if their series in Sacramento did just that. But you have to feel good about them stealing first place by walking into their rival’s ballpark and outclassing them in three straight games. And you have to feel good about their position in the AL when you know other teams expected to be tough competition in the playoff race have been worse off than them.

Out of all of these teams, the one you’d want to be right now is clearly the Mariners. And a parting stat can help emphasize the direction the Mariners seem to be going.

Entering Thursday, the Astros have a minus-41 run differential, meaning they’ve allowed 41 more runs than they’ve scored. The Tigers are at minus-25. The Blue Jays are minus-4.

The Mariners, meanwhile, are at plus-24, which is tied for second in the AL… with the Rays, who have the best record in the league.

Not a bad place to be just over a third of the way into the season, especially when it seems like your best baseball of the season is ahead of you.

Seattle Mariners news and more

• Mariners Roster Move: Gabe Speier returns, reliever sent down
• Passan on Mariners: ‘Everyone needs to be on board’ with piggyback
• ‘Redundant roster’ could push Seattle Mariners into a trade

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