Why Mariners’ offense can withstand having less power in ’26

The Seattle Mariners are returning most of the roster that helped them go on their deepest playoff run in franchise history last season, but the offense could have a different look this year.

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Last year’s Mariners relied heavily on home runs to get runs across the plate. Their 238 homers were the third-best in baseball, which helped them score the ninth-most runs despite having the fifth-worst batting average with runners in scoring position.

But some of that power production left with Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez signing with new teams during the offseason. Those two combined for 39 home runs in a Mariners uniform last year, roughly 16.4% of the team’s long balls.

There’s also some expected power regression from star catcher Cal Raleigh after he set MLB records for catchers and switch-hitters with 60 home runs last season. He had never hit more than 34 in his previous four seasons in the majors.

How can the M’s replace that power production? They might not need to. Co-host Bob Stelton and producer Mike Lefko discussed why the offense could be better this year despite an expectation that their power numbers will dip in 2026 during Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Wednesday.

“I don’t know that they necessarily replace (production) in that sense of home runs, but it feels like this is going to be a team that’s going to be more of an on-base team, maybe a more gap-to-gap team where one through five (in the order), on paper, looks really good, really good,” Stelton said. “You like the way that looks. And maybe they’re gonna manufacture more runs.”

More contact

One way the Mariners are hoping to replace some of what they lost is the addition of expected opening day third baseman and leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan, who was acquired in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals on Feb. 2.

A first-time All-Star last season, the 29-year-old Donovan hit .287 with a .353 on-base percentage, .775 OPS, 10 home runs and 32 doubles. His 13.0% strikeout rate was the 14th-lowest among qualified hitters. He also had the 26th-best walks per strikeout rate (0.63), which would have led the Mariners.

In 2025, Mariners third basemen – which included two months of Suárez – had the sixth-highest strikeout rate (26.2%) and ninth-worst walks per strikeout rate (0.27). They were also 18th with a .299 on-base percentage.

In addition to Donovan, the M’s will have a full season of Josh Naylor at first base. After arriving in Seattle following a July 24 trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Naylor batted .299 with a .341 on-base percentage, .831 OPS, nine homers and 10 doubles. He struck out just 16.9% of the time.

Before Naylor was traded to the M’s, their first baseman had produced MLB’s fifth-highest strikeout rate (25.9%), eighth-worst batting average (.234) and seventh-worst on-base percentage (.297).

Lefko pointed to the more contact-oriented lineups of the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays as evidence that it can be a winning formula.

“If the Mariners are some version of those teams, that’s fine,” Lefko said. “That’s proven that can win because the Brewers had the best regular season in the National League and the Blue Jays, we know what they did. So that works. That formula works, especially when you have good pitching.”

RF consistency

One area both Stelton and Lefko expect the M’s to get better production from is right field.

Things got derailed in the corner outfield spot early for the M’s last season when opening day starter Victor Robles suffered a fractured shoulder during the first road trip of the campaign and missed nearly five months.

The situation was complicated further when Luke Raley suffered an oblique strain in late April and missed nearly two months.

The M’s eventually got some solid production there from Dominic Canzone, but that came after a month of Leody Tavares filling in and struggling mightily at the plate.

“You had a revolving door in right field. So offensively, you just weren’t good there. … Stability at that position helps raise this offensive floor,” Lefko said.

Stelton hopes to see a bounce-back season from Raley. After being one of the Mariners’ best hitters during a 22-homer season in 2024, injuries helped contribute to a down 2025 where he hit just .202 with four homers in 73 games. In addition to the oblique strain, Raley missed about two weeks in August with back spasms.

“We’ll see how Raley bounces back because that was a lost season for him, too,” Stelton said. “He’s a guy that showed some promise. You’re not relying on him, but he certainly can do a lot more damage than what he did last season where it was just kind of lost to injury.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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