NEW YORK -- When I went to Seattle Mariners spring training in Feb. of 2025, one of the very first things I remember hearing about was the importance of the "little things" from manager Dan Wilson.

I specifically recall Wilson talking a lot about the "next 90 feet," meaning he wanted his team to be aggressive in trying to get the 'next 90 feet' offensively and he wanted his team to be able to prevent the 'next 90 feet' defensively.

I remember Wilson praising things like sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't know that that one week sample really matters much, but the memories are baked into my mind.

How far we've come since then.

At 56-65, this entire season has been frustrating for the Mariners, and part of the reason why seems to be the inability to do the little things that often times serve as the difference between winning and losing games.

Take Tuesday night for example, as the Mariners lost 10-5 against the New York Yankees.

1) The Mariners led 3-0 in the top of the second inning after finally generating some offense. They had an opportunity to add-on after Brendan Donovan doubled and Cal Raleigh walked with nobody out, but were unable to. Why?

Well, Colt Emerson, mired in a dreadful slump, failed to get a bunt down on 0-0. He didn't try again and ultimately struck out, which led to Taylor Ward hitting into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

If Emerson gets the bunt down, maybe the M's are able to play add-on earlier and get the game out of reach. Instead, the Yankees were able to start whittling away.

2) In the bottom of the second inning, Bryce Miller got the first two outs before Jazz Chisholm hit an infield single and Ryan McMahon ripped a double into the right field corner. Dominic Canzone came up firing and missed the cutoff man for a potential play at the plate. While Chisholm was likely to be safe, it was another example of a little thing not being done.

However, Canzone's throw went to first baseman Josh Naylor, who threw McMahon out at third.

3) In the bottom of the third inning with the Mariners leading 4-1, Miller gave up a leadoff double and then got two outs before walking Ben Rice.

With two on and two out Spencer Jones hit a double to left field. Randy Arozarena overshot his cutoff man, which easily allowed the second run to score. Had he hit the cutoff man, there would have been a clear play at the plate, and the second run may never have scored.

“Those things do come back to get you and they do hurt. Sometimes we had those situations and weren't able to capitalize. You look at games like this and you see where you could have made improvements, and that’s certainly one of the areas.”

The Mariners and Yankees will play again on Thursday at 10:35 a.m. PT. Seattle is 5.5 games back in the American League West.

The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, featuring ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney. You can listen to the episode here, or you can watch it in the YouTube player below: