The Mariners starting hurlers have been elite to begin the season
The Seattle Mariners were on the wrong end of a five-run ninth inning in a 7-6 loss against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday at Petco Park in San Diego.
One thing that will went overlooked due to the nature of loss for the Mariners (8-11) was another quality start from Seattle's starting rotation.
Mariners starting rotation Emerson Hancock struck out six batters, walked one batter and allowed two earned runs on four hits (one home run) in six innings pitched.
Hancock's quality start was his third in four outings this season, and also placed Seattle's starting rotation at the top of the major leagues in an incredible statistic.
According to pregame notes from Mariners PR, the M's' starting rotation leads the majors with 12 quality starts in 19 games this year.
That number of quality starts also matches a franchise record through this point in the respective season.
This is the third time Seattle's rotation has had 12 quality starts through the first 19 games of the season. The other two times were in 1994 and 2010.
In addition to Hancock's trio of quality starts, George Kirby has three (in four outings), Bryan Woo has three (in four appearances), Logan Gilbert has two (in four appearances) and Luis Castillo has one (in three outings).
This year's start to the season has been great for the Mariners' starters, especially coming off last season.
Seattle entered 2025 with a legitimate argument as having the best rotation in baseball. The M's' were the only team in 2024 that had at least four pitchers start 30 or more games.
The Mariners were unable to have the same success in health last season. Only Woo and Castillo started at least 30 games. Woo missed his final two regular season starts and most of the playoffs due to pec inflammation. Gilbert, Miller and Kirby had four respective stints on the injured list between the three of them.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert pitches during a game against the Houston Astros on April 13 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. | Steven Bisig/Imagn Images.Coming off last season in which the rotation was unable to truly hit its stride, the group as a whole approached this spring focused — even more than normal.
Both Gilbert and Woo declined invites to compete for Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Based on the group's franchise-best start and league-leading metric, that focus has paid off. The rotation is also among the best in baseball in several other categories, as well.
Seattle is eighth in the majors and fifth in the American League in starting pitcher ERA (3.42). It's also fifth in the majors and third in the AL in strikeouts (106).
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