Mariners’ series vs A’s suddenly ‘really big,’ says MLB Network’s Morosi

Leading into August, the final two months of the Seattle Mariners’ regular season schedule had plenty of series worth circling.

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It started with a home set against the AL West rival Texas Rangers. Then there were the back-to-back stops on the East Coast against the Mets and Phillies. San Diego is coming to town soon. And in two of the last three series of the year, the M’s will see their division nemesis, the Houston Astros, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Nobody was really circling their three-game series against the lowly Athletics that opens a homestand Friday night. But MLB Network’s Jon Morosi is now.

The reason: the 68-60 Mariners return home licking their wounds after a 2-7 road trip and looking to end a four-game losing skid. While Seattle was lucky the swoon didn’t hurt them too much in the playoff race, it was nonetheless troubling, especially since after the first game of that trip, the M’s had won eight straight and 10 of their last 11 games.

The Mariners enter Friday two games back of Houston for first place in the AL West, and up two games on the Kansas City Royals for the last of the American League’s three wild cards. That’s not a lot of wiggle room, especially if the M’s can’t stop their skid quickly.

“That needs to change this weekend. You’re playing a non-competitive – at least in terms of making the playoffs – A’s team,” Morosi told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Thursday. “They’ve got a legitimate dude right now in (first baseman Nick) Kurtz, who’s probably gonna win the American League Rookie of the Year. You’ve got to face now two lefties in (Athletics starting pitchers Jeffrey) Springs and (Jacob) Lopez. Obviously the Mariners’ recent struggles against lefties are well known now, so you have to correct things there.”

Taking care of business against the 59-70 A’s is especially important knowing the 72-56 Padres, who have surged into a tooth-and-nail fight with the Dodgers for the NL West lead, will come to Seattle for three games starting Monday. San Diego just won three straight against San Francisco and is 17-7 since July 26.

“That Padres series is going to be tough, (so) this weekend all of a sudden has become a really big series. This is how you stop a bad trip from becoming a bad three weeks,” Morosi continued.

While the Mariners reached the playoffs in 2022, they have just fallen short in each of the past two seasons. And in the back of Morosi’s mind is what happened last year, when Seattle stumbled in August and early September before finishing just a game out of a postseason berth.

“If the 2025 Mariners are going to be different than the 2024 Mariners, it’s gonna have to happen right now – this weekend. Because this is right about the time where things really kind of took a turn for the worse a year ago,” Morosi said.

“I’m not gonna overreact to losing three straight to the Phillies because that’s a really good team, and the Mets are a good team that I think was bound to to bounce back a little bit. … That’s all forgivable, but you can’t lose a series against the A’s this weekend because I just saw what’s coming from San Diego.”

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

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