The 2026 Seattle Mariners enter the season with big expectations on the heels of advancing to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in 2025.

Through seven games, the M's are 3-4. It's certainly too early to draw real conclusions, but there are some notable observations thus far.

On the positive side of things, Brendan Donovan has been as advertised at the top of the order. Cole Young looks excellent at the bottom and Luke Raley has had a solid start, hitting three home runs.

However, on the flip side, the M's "big three" of Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and Josh Naylor is out to a dreadful start. Raleigh (4-for-25) leads baseball in strikeouts with 15. Rodriguez is just 2-for-26 with 10 strikeouts and Naylor is just 1-for-27. None of them have a home run.

The common thread between all three is that they played in the World Baseball Classic. While the WBC is a great event, it offers sporadic playing time and a sporadic playing schedule.

How much can we blame their participations for their struggles? As ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney noted on Thursday's 'Refuse to Lose' podcast, it's certainly part of the story.

"At least some. And I know that that is a conversation among evaluators with teams, because we have enough sample size to this point where a lot of guys coming out of the WBC—and we're not only talking about 2026, but going back in history—they have struggled. More pitchers than hitters, but the hitters as well. And look, Cal's experience is a classic example of what could happen with the WBC. What did he have, nine at-bats, or 11 at-bats in the WBC?

At a time when he was in regular spring training, he would have gotten, and I'm just making the number up, you know, 25 to 30 at-bats. And that's the process of building your timing that he just didn't have an opportunity to have this year. So I do think it's a factor. I think we've seen it enough to understand that that's a possibility. And early in the year, I'm getting text messages from folks on coaching staffs saying, 'yeah, watch this guy, watch this guy. He might struggle. He didn't get a lot of at-bats when he was at the WBC.'

It should be noted that Dominic Canzone (5-for-15) and Randy Arozarena (6-for-24) also played in the WBC and are out to fine starts. So this is not a "one-size-fits-all" theory, but it certainly does have some merit.

The Mariners will open up a new series against the Angels on Friday night at 6:38 p.m. PT. Bryan Woo will be on the mound for the second time.

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