3 Takeaways from the Mariners first series of the year
By Jeffrey Nooney, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Welcome back, baseball. The Seattle Mariners season has begun with a series split against the Athletics, two wins and two losses for Seattle’s MLB ballclub as they began with a four-game series. The Mariners won the bookends of the series, with the A’s winning the two middle games. The Mariners were thrown out on the basepaths quite a bit, and the offense struggled as well in an unsurprising development, which is obviously not a good combination to win ballgames. Mariners fans all across social media have shown their displeasure, and at first glance I would agree with the frustration. Seattle came back from behind to win 4-2 on Opening Day, but too late to credit Logan Gilbert with the win. They lost embarrassingly by a final score of 7-0 on Friday, and 4-2 on Saturday. Thanks to a Julio Rodríguez two-run home run, the Mariners squeaked out a 2-1 win on Sunday to split the series. Through the first four games, Seattle, as a team, is hitting just .175/.291/.253/.554. They are striking out at just under 36%, and the offense has just seven runs batted in so far. But is this all doom and gloom? I don’t think so, at least not yet.
Sights from the player introductions for the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Opening Day, prior to beginning their season with a four-game series against the Athletics. (Photos by Kevin Ng for Circling Seattle Sports)
The Mariners ran into a sneaky-good Athletics team who got a whole lot better in the offseason. They added two veteran starting pitchers who dazzled in their Athletics debut, including Opening Day starter Luis Severino as he tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits, four walks and six strikeouts. Other newcomer Jeffrey Springs threw six shutout innings, allowing just three hits, walked only one and struck out nine. Springs, formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays, came back last season from Tommy John surgery and made seven starts before going back on the injured list with elbow fatigue. His last start came against the Mariners, where he dominated the M’s on August 27th. Since the start of 2022, when Springs has been healthy, he has been dominant. He owns a 2.36 ERA (3.01 FIP) over 190.1 innings, so it should come as no surprise that he lit up the Mariners offense.
The Athletics can also hit, with the top five players in their lineup bringing some thump to the plate and a few interesting younger players towards the bottom of their lineup. Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langiliers all had big impacts in this series for the team formerly (and should still be) rooted in Oakland, California. Butler is an emerging star in the league, while Rooker has shown to be one of the league’s best power hitters and both teams signed deals to stay with the club recently. Soderstrom homered three times in the series, while Rooker, Langeliers and rookie Max Muncy also hit one home run each. The Athletics are not the basement dwellers we have been used to in previous seasons. Are they the New York Yankees? No, but they are absolutely not a bottom five team in the American League anymore, it seems.
3 Takeaways from the first series of the year
My first takeaway from the Mariners offense is that they are showing a willingness to take their walks. Yes, the batting average is low (.175 is quite BAD), but even with the terrible average, they still have a .291 on-base percentage. They walked 16 times over the four-game series, something this team just did not do last year. Julio, Cal Raleigh, Randy Arozarena, J.P. Crawford and Ryan Bliss all have walked at least twice. If they can keep up the pressure on opposing pitchers, the hits will come and the traffic generated by drawing the walks will only have their offense bounce back from an atrocious performance across 2024. Limiting swinging at pitches outside of the zone is critical for this team, and if they can do that, watch that average spike from .175.
From Mariners PR: Seattle's offense has drawn 16 walks through 4 games, tied for the most walks in the American League...Seattle ranks T-5th in MLB, trailing the Pirates (25 BB in 4 games), Cubs (23 BB in 6 games), Dodgers (21 walks in 5 games) and Phillies (18 walks in 3 games).
Seattle Mariners infielder Jorge Polanco homered on Opening Day late, helping his team comeback to take the win against the Athletics at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Kevin Ng for Circling Seattle Sports)
My second takeaway for the Mariners is that Jorge Polanco looks good… at the plate. Polanco hit what would be the game winning home run on Opening Day, and is slashing .500/.500/.800/1.300 with an OPS+ of 266 through the first series of the season. None of those stats are sustainable for the season, but he does look like Jorge Polanco from his Minnesota Twins days that Seattle coveted so much when they traded for him prior to the 2024 campaign. Sure, he only had ten at bats, but this is the kind of start that could translate to a good season. Unfortunately, I am not sure how long he will stick at third base. His fielding has been good, no issues there. His arm strength came into question on a play on Saturday. Brent Rooker hit a ball that was a tough grab for Polanco, who handled the ball well, but he attempted to bounce the ball to first baseman Dylan Moore, and the throw barely made it to first with little strength behind it. It was a tough play to make, but it highlighted some serious questions for Polanco at third base moving forward. There was always question marks with the move to third, but this play didn’t help Polanco’s case.
From Mariners PR: Third baseman Jorge Polanco has hit safely in each of his first 3 games to begin the season, batting .500 (5x10) with 1 home run, 3 RBI and a sacrifice bunt...on Thursday night, "Polo" supplied the go-ahead and eventual game-winning 2-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, his first career Opening Day home run in his seventh Opening Day game.
The last takeaway I got from the weekend series was the speed on the basepaths. Ryan Bliss is going to be a nightmare for opposing teams as they try to defend Seattle’s run game, which has been showcased early on. On Opening Day, he went from second to home on a wild pitch. Sure, he ended up being out at the plate, but his speed during that play was exceptional. He also stole a base and ended up on third thanks to a throwing error from A’s catcher Shea Langeliers. Looking on past the baserunning aspect for Ryan, Bliss was great in the field at second base as well and it’s not much of a surprise given how he earned the second base role for Seattle through his play in Spring Training. Julio Rodríguez stole second and third base in the same inning, and Cal Raleigh even stole a base during this first series of the year. If they could stop being thrown out at the plate (occurred three times against the Athletics in this series), the Mariners will be a fun team to watch on the basepaths.
The first series of the year had a lot of good, and a lot of bad for the Mariners. Keep in mind, while every game does count towards the end of the season and hopefully an eventual playoff push, this is still March. There are 158 more games yet to be played, and the Mariners were still able to come away with a 4-game split against a tough divisional opponent before either team has really shown the ability to start clicking.
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Check out our previous Seattle Mariners articles here.
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