Why Morosi says Mariners have a leg up on last year’s team

The Seattle Mariners enter play this week with a 47-44 record, and even though that gives them a 1 1/2-game lead in the AL West, it hasn’t felt like they’ve played up to their true potential.

Compared to this point last season, though, the Mariners are actually in pretty good shape.

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Through 91 games in 2025, the Mariners owned a 48-43 record – one win better than where they stand now. But the M’s trailed the Houston Astros by 6 1/2 games in the division and were clinging onto a one-game lead for the American League’s final wild card, whereas now they’re much more safely in playoff position. And don’t forget that Seattle erased that sizable deficit in the AL West last year, going 42-29 the rest of the way to clinch its first division title in 24 years.

There’s another reason the Mariners are in a better spot now than they were a year ago, as MLB Network insider Jon Morosi pointed out Monday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

Whereas an otherworldly season by catcher Cal Raleigh kept the Mariners’ offense going in the first half of 2025, he has struggled to this point in 2026. But the depth of the Seattle lineup now is different than it was before the trade deadline last year.

“Last year, this team was really in some ways ‘The Cal Show,’ and then everyone else was kind of the co-stars,” Morosi said. “Now it’s a lineup and a roster where batting in the ninth spot (Sunday), (Victor) Robles had a hit. (Colt) Emerson had a two-hit game down near the bottom of the order on Saturday.

“They’re a team, the Mariners, that they’re not going to have an MVP this year. Cal is not going to win the MVP, clearly. (Randy) Arozorena is having an All-Star-caliber year. Obviously, J-Rod (Julio Rodríguez) recently going on the IL is a concern. But this is a team that has the look of a ball club that is balanced one through nine.”

As for Raleigh, who got off to a slow start then had to miss a month with an oblique injury that seemed to hit just as he was finding his stroke at the plate, Morosi saw signs of the switch-hitting slugger getting back on track during the Mariners’ recent 5-1 homestand. Though Raleigh (.164/.264/.309 slash line, .573 OPS in 59 games) went just 3 for 20 on the six-game homestand, he had a home run, two walks, and most importantly seven RBIs.

“It’s true to the humbling nature of the game that the guy that seemed like he had figured it out in a way that very few catchers, really anybody, ever has last year, is almost back to square one,” Morosi said. “… It was a slightly better homestand. And I think that while he’s still not fully on time, he at least had some RBIs and is driving in runs. And that’s I think where it starts – if he can start banking an RBI, if it’s not every game at least every other game, just to kind of build some momentum back.”

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with MLB Network insider Jon Morosi in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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