Mariners officially eliminated from playoff contention
A win by Texas on Thursday afternoon ended Seattle's slim postseason hopes.
Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson and catcher Cal Raleigh during the third inning on Sept. 22, 2026, in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
After being unable to capitalize on a soft September schedule, the Seattle Mariners have officially been eliminated from playoff contention.
Mariners put rookie on injured list, recall infielder Leo Rivas
The M’s saw their miniscule playoff hopes dashed Thursday afternoon when the Texas Rangers defeated the New York Mets 3-1.
Seattle entered the day needing to win its final four games and have Texas and Houston each lose their final four games to reach the playoffs. That would have resulted in a three-way tie atop the American League West that the Mariners hold the tiebreaker for.
Despite being five games back entering Sept. 3, the M’s appeared to have a viable path to winning a second straight AL West title for the first time in team history as they entered a stretch of 22 games that featured three against the Rangers, two against the Astros and a combined 17 against the Athletics, Angels and Rockies – the three worst teams in baseball this season. But they’ve gone just 8-10 through the first 18 games en route to elimination.
After winning their first AL West title in 24 years and reaching Game 7 of the AL Championships Series last season, the M’s entered this year as the heavy favorite to win the division and one of the favorites to represent the AL in the World Series. They started the year with a 59.9% chance to win the AL West, an 80.9% chance to make the playoffs and a 9.5% chance to win the World Series, per FanGraphs. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the only team with higher odds in any of three categories.
But after a year that ominously started with the unveiling of an Ichiro Suzuki statue that had a broken bat, the Mariners will spend their October watching from home for the third time in the past four seasons. The club was seeking its first run of consecutive postseason appearances since 2000-01.
With a 73-85 record, Seattle is set to finish the season with a below .500 record for the first time in a full season since 2019, ending a franchise-best run of five straight winning seasons.
Seattle Mariners news and more
• Mariners’ Cal Raleigh reveals special Rick Rizzs chest protector he will wear
• Seattle Mariners Injury Report: Donovan, Brash, Emerson, more
• Has J.P. Crawford made the case for a Seattle Mariners return in ’27?
Related
Mariners put rookie on injured list, recall infielder Leo Rivas
All the ways to celebrate Rick Rizzs in his final series as voice of the Mariners
The Mariners are still alive, with one slim path to playoffs remaining
M’s fend off elimination with 6-5 walkoff over Astros in 10 innings
Mariners’ Cal Raleigh reveals special Rick Rizzs chest protector he will wear
Inspired by lowly AL West, the weakest teams to make MLB playoffs
Comments
1 Comments
How does a team fall this hard this fast unless it was all smoke and mirrors to begin with?
The collapse of the hitting from the heart of the order is phenomenal. But even more surprising is the collapse of the defense and fielding ability. Basic mistakes and mishandling routine defensive plays. Oh, and the bullpen is as shallow as a tide pool at low tide. Not quite an epic collapse but it will do until one comes along.