When we remember the 2026 Seattle Mariners, we are ultimately going to remember the failures of the offense.

While Randy Arozarena and Dominic Canzone have had nice seasons, and Cole Young has shown he can be a regular contributor, the offense was too anemic for too long to keep the Mariners in contention. 

Entering play on Saturday, the Mariners are a disappointing 66-76 with 20 games to play. They are 29th in the league in batting average (.229), 24th in on-base percentage (.311), 28th in slugging (.376) and 28th in OPS (.687). 

And the offense is going to take another hit this offseason when Arozarena and J.P. Crawford hit free agency. While Crawford could be back, Arozarena figures not to be.

While the offense remains a perpetual question mark for this franchise, there is another question brewing under the surface.

Is the pitching staff, which the Mariners have built around for the last half-decade, truly capable of carrying the organization forward?

The Mariners pitching staff as a whole now has an ERA of 4.22, which is 19th in baseball. Opponents are hitting .252 against Mariners pitching, which is 23rd. You can blame some of these numbers on the bullpen's woes, but Mariners starters have an ERA of 4.09, which is 13th, barely in the top half of the league. Opponents are hitting .246 off them, tied for 16th.

And everyone has been worse lately, with the M's posting a 5.55 ERA since the All-Star break, the second-worst mark in baseball.

So, the question remains, is this pitching staff still something that can be counted on? Is this something that is just a blip, another frustrating outlier in a frustrating season? Or, is this the new normal for this group?

After all, Logan Gilbert is 29 years old and has now thrown more than 1,000 innings in his Mariners career. He's also headed into the final year of his contract. Will the Mariners sign him to a long-term deal and risk the further deteriorating health that comes with age? Will they trade him in an effort to plug other roster holes? Or, will they just ride out the 2027 season and hope that he stays healthy and effective?

George Kirby is 28 and has seen a frustratingly inconsistent season. He has an ERA of 4.19 and despite premium stuff, he's only struck out 128 batters in 152.2 innings, so something clearly needs to be addressed there. Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller have also experienced setbacks.

Emerson Hancock deserves credit for out performing his expectations, and while Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan provide plenty of optimism, Anderson has already learned that things are different in the majors than they are in the minors.

As for the bullpen? Andres Munoz has righted things, mostly, since a troublesome first two months of the season. Gabe Speier has been solid, but is going to be 32 years old next season. Jose Ferrer has had frustrating bouts of inconstancy as well. 

Matt Brash will be coming off a serious lat issue, Eduard Bazardo has seen a massive downturn in the second half and Carlos Vargas is more of a depth piece than a front line stopper. So, the 2027 bullpen has major questions around it as well.

So, it all leads back to the same overarching question: Are you counting on this group moving forward? Are you still building around pitching, but making significant changes to the group or the coaching staff that works with it? Or, are you running this group back and hoping it rights itself, but also changing your roster to an offensive-based club because you just aren't sure it will?

These are all uncomfortable questions that need to be answered over the course of the offseason.

The Mariners and Athletics will play on Saturday at 6:40 p.m. PT.

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