The Seattle Mariners lost 6-4 against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night, continuing a downward spiral that has been ongoing since mid-June.

With their fourth loss in the last five games, the Mariners dropped to 70-81 on the campaign. They are 5.5 games back in the American League West with 11 games to play, their playoff chances existing in name only. 

At this point, Mariners fans are counting down the days until the offseason, and when it finally comes, it will likely be a relief for many in the organization as well.

But Monday's loss did something more than spike this season's playoff chances into the ground, it also ended the best streak in franchise history.

The Mariners finished over .500 for five consecutive years from 2021-2025, something that hadn't ever been done before, and something that won't be done this year. The Mariners need to go 11-0 just to finish .500 this season, and as we've all watched, that's not going to happen.

*Made playoffs

The 2026 Mariners feel like a case study that's going to need to be studied for a long time to figure out exactly what happened, but you can take your pick at any number of issues they've had.

--Entering play on Tuesday, the Mariners are 29th in batting average (.232) and 28th in slugging (.380). They are 28th in OPS (.692). They are 28th in runs scored.

--Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor and Julio Rodriguez have all taken massive nosedives from where they were a year ago when the team went to the American League Championship Series.

--Rodriguez, Raleigh, Randy Arozarena, Carlos Vargas, Colt Emerson, Luke Raley, Cooper Criswell, Bryce Miller, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash (2x), JP Crawford (3x) and Brendan Donovan (3x) all spent time on the injured list, hurting the consistency of the lineup, rotation and bullpen.

--The bullpen has been the worst in baseball since Aug. 1.

--Closer Andres Munoz has 10 blown saves this season, the most in baseball. Eduard Bazardo has cratered in the second half.

--Seattle has gone 22-32 in the second half of the season. They've gone 23-24 in one-run games, they have a losing record in extra-innings (7-8), and they have just winning month (a 15-13 May).

Add it all up, and it's arguably the most frustrating year in team history.

The Mariners and Angels will play again on Tuesday at 6:38 p.m. PT. Logan Gilbert is on the mound. Our own Teren Kowatsch has live coverage.

The latest episode of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.