The Seattle Mariners starting manager and pitcher were honest about their thoughts after the team lost its 82nd game of 2026.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — On the first day of full team practice (Feb. 17) at spring training this year, Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson spoke about how there's no shortcuts to the World Series.
This season, the road to what would be the first World Series appearance in franchise history has had a new stretch of pavement every step of the way for the Mariners. More tar was laid down after the team suffered its 82nd loss of the campaign, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
That loss guaranteed that, for the first time since 2019, Seattle will finish the season with a losing record. That year was the first in a years-long rebuild for the Mariners and a far cry from the legitimate World Series aspirations the team, and many outside analysts and reporters, had going into 2026.
"It's really disappointing, everybody knows that," Seattle starting pitcher Logan Gilbert said in a postgame interview Tuesday. "I think the most frustrating part is that — we've kind of been saying it all year — everybody thought it would turn. Play (162) games, things were gonna turn around because we know we have a good team. Just never really turned around. And that's on us. Got to play better, got to execute and got to do what we need to do. It's pretty surprising that we're at this point. I don't think anybody thought we'd be here. But that's the situation we're in."
The Mariners weren't officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss, but any playoff chances will require a monumental amount of circumstance that is heavily improbable, at best.
"That's what we were hoping for (was that turn)," Wilson said after the game Tuesday. "And that's what we expected at some point, was to hit the stride and to do the things we've done in the past. We had a streak early in the year, we rattled off eight (in a row), got ourselves into a really good spot and then, just haven't been able to do that since. It's tough as you look back. It's just been frustrating, I don't know what else to say about it other than that and it's not where we wanted to be."
There's a compounding amount of factors that led to Seattle's downturn this season, but nothing the club hasn't dealt with in the past. There have been a series of injuries, both minor and long-term; four starting pitchers missed time last year.
Bullpen issues have arisen; those concerns were with the team a season ago. Catcher Cal Raleigh dealt with injuries and poor performance for most of the season, but has looked closer to his MVP finalist form over the last 30 games. Offseason free agent signings didn't pan out, but neither did some of the ones from last offseason.
Whatever the specifics are of the series of unfortunate events that led the Mariners to this point, as Gilbert said, "it's the situation (they're) in."
This offseason will bring a lot of questions Seattle will need to address if it hopes to get back where it ended 2025. And with Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations still ongoing, and a potential lockout, it will likely be a long offseason of reflection for the Mariners.
"I think everybody at this point has been thinking about it," Gilbert said. "I think there will be some reflection and conversations that need to be had, with players, with coaches, just everybody getting on the same page and assessing what happened. This is the kind of thing that can't happen and you can't let happen again."
The Mariners will finish out their series with the Angels on Wednesday at 6:38 p.m. PT.
