The sliding Mariners’ problem is that there’s many of them

Jun 11, 2025, 3:54 PM | Updated: 3:55 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

This is not where the Seattle Mariners want to be. And if you’re looking for any silver linings right now, well, good luck with that.

What ESPN’s Passan says has ‘hindered’ Mariners’ major league offense

It wasn’t that long ago where it seemed like the AL West was the Mariners’ to lose. They were up 3 1/2 games after back-to-back road series wins over the Padres and White Sox, going to Houston with a chance to establish themselves as the big dog in the division.

Instead, they’ve run into a brick wall.

They lost three of four to the Astros. Then two of three to the Nationals. And while they next won a series over the Twins by the skin of their teeth, they were then swept by the Orioles, lost two of three to the Angels, and were swept again in Arizona.

Math-wise, we’re talking about a 5-14 record since the M’s went to Houston on May 21. And now Seattle is 33-34 on the season and 3 1/2 games back in the division, sitting under .500 for the first time since April 12 when it played its 15th game of the season.

Basically nothing is working right now.

The team’s usual strength, the starting rotation, has been hammered by injuries and continues to struggle with inconsistency. Even Bryan Woo, who looked like a sure first-time All-Star when June began, has run into trouble in recent outings, part of why he hasn’t earned a win in any of his last four starts.

But the real reason, of course, is that the offense has been abysmal. If you want to win games without much run support, you need gems like George Kirby threw last Sunday. And those don’t grow on trees.

Oddly, the Mariners have been getting hits. For example, they had 32 hits in the three games in Arizona, and somehow scored just nine runs. What they’re lacking is the big hit with runners on base. Sure, there have been solo homers here or there, or the occasional double. But they just can’t seem to string things together.

You can at least partially blame a power outage at the plate for that. Seattle tied for the MLB lead in home runs in April with 39, then tied for 11th in May with 33 and now is tied for 14th in June with nine. When those are your numbers and you have the MLB leader in homers on your team, that’s not a good sign for anybody not named Cal Raleigh.

The most concerning numbers have to do with when the Mariners have runners in scoring position, something they actually have quite often. They’re 11th out of the 30 MLB teams with 686 plate appearances with runners in scoring position this year, yet they’re 18th in RBIs in those spots with 186. And that’s because their slash line with runners on second and/or third base is .222/.313/.352 for a .665 OPS. In terms of rankings, they’re 27th in batting average, 25th in on-base percentage, and 24th in both slugging and OPS with runners in scoring position.

So, yeah, that’s a problem. It’s one thing to know it but another to fix it, and if you’re going to the plate with a runner in scoring position knowing your team struggles to turn those opportunities into runs, it probably doesn’t make things easier.

Ah, but if those were the only issues the Mariners were trying to correct.

There’s also the fact that the bullpen is taxed, and it’s showing. M’s relievers have thrown the 10th-most innings in the game, and it’s likely a big factor in Seattle’s bullpen ranking 17th in ERA (3.99), 24th in WHIP (1.41), and 27th in opponent average (.262).

Last year, Seattle’s bullpen pitched the least amount of innings in the league because its starting rotation topped the leaderboard in innings. The starters not being able to lead the way so far in 2025 has clearly caught up to the M’s.

If any one of these things was the lone problem, the M’s might be fine right now. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Seattle needs to figure out where it can stop the bleeding first, and go from there. At least it’s still June, but it could get too late really soon if things keep trending like they have been.