The Mariners won a thrilling game on Wednesday, but it will probably prove to be the last great memory of a frustrating season.
The Seattle Mariners won a thrilling 6-5 game against the Houston Astros on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park, but there's a good chance that that's the last great memory from a frustrating 2026 season.
With the Texas Rangers beating the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon, the Mariners were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Seattle is 74-84 with four games to play, and they will simply do their best to finish out the season on a positive note.
The Mariners made it one day further into the season than the Toronto Blue Jays did, as they were eliminated on Wednesday. It's a shocking turn for two teams that were playing for the American League Championship just 11 months ago. In fact, this is the first time since 1987 that the two ALCS participants from the year prior will finish under .500.
What went wrong for Seattle this year?
There's going to be a lot of time this offseason to study and think about this question, but there are a lot of things that happened to the Mariners to create this.
The M's dealt with an abundance of injuries, as 27 different IL stints hampered this group. Their biggest offseason acquisition, Brendan Donovan, played just 39 games. Their best leverage reliever, Matt Brash, hasn't pitched since June.
Beyond that, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez both never found their 2025 form, and Josh Naylor didn't either.
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor (12) watches play against the Toronto Blue Jays from the dugout rail in the fourth inning at Rogers Centre. Dan Hamilton-Imagn ImagesThe Mariners had no standout traits, either. The starting rotation was good in the first half of the season but cratered after the All-Star break. The bullpen broke in August and September. The offense was never good enough to pick up that regression, and when the pitching was good enough to carry things, the offense couldn't get going.
Defense and baserunning were huge issues for this team also.
At the end of the day, the Mariners simply haven't been a very good team for too much of the year, and this is what happens to teams that aren't very good.
What now?
The Mariners will finish out the season with a four-game series against the Angels at T-Mobile Park. It will be the final weekend of Rick Rizzs's broadcasting career, so there are plenty of reasons to watch and listen.
In addition, you'll get one final look at Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, Kade Anderson and Logan Gilbert on the mound.
And then? It's off to a long offseason that could be made even longer by the probable MLB lockout.
