The Seattle Mariners have gone 71-82 this season, making them one of the most disappointing teams, if not the most disappointing team, in baseball.

After getting to the American League Championship Series a year ago, the Mariners were a trendy World Series pick this season, but instead, they won't even make the playoffs for the third time in the last four years.

In order to be as disappointing as they've been, a lot of things have to go wrong, and a lot have. The M's have seen major roster attrition, with Cal Raleigh, Luke Raley, Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arozarena, Gabe Speier, Colt Emerson, Cooper Criswell and Carlos Vargas all spending time on the injured list.

Matt Brash, Brendan Donovan, and JP Crawford have all been on the injured list more than once. Vargas, Brash, Donovan, Raley and Criswell all had long-term injuries that caused them to miss significant time. Emerson hasn't played since mid-August because of wrist surgery.

But in addition to the injuries, several key Mariners players have taken a significant step back in 2026 from where they were in 2025 and further beyond that.

Raleigh, Rodriguez, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Miller all fit that bill, as does Josh Naylor. Taylor Ward and Rob Refsnyder were significantly worse in Seattle than they were in previous stops.

So, when you have that much regression, who gets the blame? Is it the manager? The coaching staff? Or, do you throw your hands up and say 'that's baseball?"

We caught up with ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast to ask him that same question:

"No, I don't think it's just 'that's baseball.' I think you have to do what you can. Otherwise, you just shake your head and go 'oh well, bad luck. We're coming back next year.' And I don't think that's going to happen one way or the other.

Whether Jerry (Dipoto) stays or Jerry goes, you would imagine that they're going to be doing a lot of quality control. Look, you compared the Mariner situation to the Orioles. They just let go of Matt Blood, who has been so instrumental in player development in the Orioles organization, because the Orioles are asking the question, 'why haven't our players developed? Why aren't we getting better?'

Those are similar questions now that are going to be asked within the Mariners organization, and they're going to have to decide for themselves where to go with that.

I guess the first question, though, is, you know, and to this point, we've heard nothing from Mariners ownership that would indicate that Jerry is going to be let go.

I think that if they're going to do that, then they should do that sooner rather than later. And if they're not going to do it, then I think it would be good for John (Stanton, Mariners owner) to come out, make a statement and say 'it's been a disappointing year. And as we move forward, I'm going to trust in Jerry Dipoto to build this team for 2027."

To Olney's point, there has been no indication that Dipoto will be let go, though it's widely expected that manager Dan Wilson will be let go at season's end. Wilson has been with the Mariners since taking over for Scott Servais in the final 34 games of the 2024 season. He helped lead the M's to the American League West title in 2025, the first for the organization since 2001.

Even with this disappointing year, he's currently 182-167 as a Mariners manager. That's a 52 percent winning percentage.

The Mariners will begin their final nine games of the season on Friday night when they take on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. PT as Bryan Woo pitches for the M's.

In addition to Olney, we spoke to former Mariners infielder (and current broadcaster) Ryon Healy on another edition of the podcast. You can listen to that here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.