The Mariners are surging despite being without AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh and All-Star Brendan Donovan due to injuries.
The Seattle Mariners have had several stars forced to be sidelined due to injuries as the club has struggled through the first two months of their 2026 campaign. But for a team just one season removed from a Game 7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, it was only a matter of time – so they hoped – that they would figure things out. They’ve clearly hit their stride, most recently capped off by a six-game winning streak and a rotation that the best in baseball must boast. It’s turned a stumbling spring into some real momentum as they look to successfully chase the AL West title this time around.
Now sitting 31-29 with a 2.5 game lead in the AL West and a recent sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Mariners have found their rhythm, something that seemed less likely back through April and May, where at one point they sat 10-15 and dropped below .500 twice. Righty Bryce Miller, who at a point was sidelined with a left oblique injury, felt the team was playing below their standard. Riding their longest winning streak of the 2026 season, that seems to have changed and sometimes runs are as psychological as they are due to talent.
A contending rotation certainly helps as well, and Seattle’s has only allowed 12 runs throughout this win streak with only one contest seeing them allow more than two runs as manager Dan Wilson has intriguingly added an option to a six-man rotation. It now ranks seventh in baseball with a 3.72 ERA.
To read more about the turnaround and the hot hand Seattle is riding, here is the full story from Mariners Roundtable writer Teren Kowatsch.
Rather than knocking a man out of the rotation, Wilson has “piggybacked” veteran righty Luis Castillo to slot in in relief of Miller, and the highest-paid Mariner has embraced that role in the rotation. Buy-in is another crucial component to success, and Seattle firmly has it.
