The New York Mets give them a run for the title, but for my money, the Seattle Mariners are the most disappointing team in baseball this year. The Mets crashed hard last year and I could envision how things could go sideways coming into this season. They were supposed to be one of baseball's very best teams after pushing the Toronto Blue Jays to Game 7 of the ALCS last year.
Instead, the Mariners are on pace for their worst record in a full season since losing 94 games in 2019, and they were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Thursday, thanks to a Rangers win over those very same Mets. A team with a losing record might win the AL West. The third AL wild-card team won't be much better than .500.
Missing the postseason under these circumstances is a colossal failure. The reasons for that colossal failure are numerous. Basically everyone other than Randy Arozarena and Dominic Canzone fell below expectations offensively, if not way below expectations.
A rotation that, on paper, is one of the best in the game was merely middle of the pack. The bullpen was too often shaky. The defense was baseball's worst by Statcast's outs above average.
The foundation of a contending team is in place. The Mariners have what should be a very strong up-the-middle homegrown core (Colt Emerson, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Cole Young) and six quality starters for five rotation spots (Kade Anderson, Logan Gilbert, Emerson Hancock, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo). Building that foundation is the hard part.
Now the Mariners must do what they failed to do in 2026. They have to help those players (particularly the position players) take that next step and level up their games, and improve the roster around them. Other than the Arozarena trade, the attempts to improve the rest of the roster have frankly underwhelmed over the last few years.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
