The 2025 Seattle Mariners made it as far as any team in franchise history, getting to Game 7 of the ALCS before blowing a late lead and getting sent home by the Toronto Blue Jays. But as poorly as that season ended, the Mariners, with the same core still in place plus top prospects on the way, appeared poised to go even further in 2026. They had the third-best World Series odds entering the season, after all.
Instead, after losing their fifth straight game on Monday, Seattle is now 64-74 on the year. Yes, this team that once had legitimate World Series aspirations now needs to go 17-7 the rest of the way just to get back to .500. They'll probably need to be even better than that to make the playoffs, but in all likelihood, they'll fall short of both. The Mariners are the only active franchise to never appear in a World Series, so this fan base is used to disappointing clubs. With that being said, it's hard to believe any team has been more disappointing in Seattle baseball history than the 2026 squad.
Why the 2026 Mariners are the most disappointing in franchise history
Expectations were through the roof, and the Mariners haven't come close to sniffing them
As mentioned above, expectations were sky-high for this Mariners team, and rightfully so. They essentially were running back a team that had made it further than any other in franchise history, even adding a dynamic left-handed reliever in Jose A. Ferrer over the offseason. There's a reason their World Series odds were as high as they were.
It's one thing to have lofty expectations and come up just shy of meeting them. If the Mariners were to lose in the ALDS, for example, that'd have been disappointing, but at least they'd have made the playoffs. It's one thing to have low expectations and not play well; it stinks, sure, but it doesn't hurt as much when you don't expect to win many games. The Mariners, instead, had lofty expectations and are not good. That is disastrous.
Stars simply did not show up
A big reason why the Mariners have underperformed is that their stars have simply underperformed. I mean, Randy Arozarena might be the only position player who has lived up to his billing. Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez, in particular, have had nightmarish seasons.
Player | 2026 wRC+ | Career wRC+ |
|---|---|---|
Cal Raleigh | 90 | 120 |
Julio Rodriguez | 104 | 125 |
Josh Naylor | 102 | 113 |
J.P. Crawford | 100 | 106 |
The position players aren't the only ones to blame. Seattle's pitching has not held up to its end of the bargain either, with George Kirby and Bryan Woo front and center in that regard.
Player | 2026 ERA | Career ERA |
|---|---|---|
Bryan Woo | 4.36 | 3.51 |
George Kirby | 4.19 | 3.70 |
Bryce Miller | 4.12 | 4.03 |
Andres Munoz | 4.35 | 2.74 |
It feels like Emerson Hancock and Logan Gilbert are Seattle's only pitchers performing as expected or better, which is unacceptable for a team that's supposed to be built around its arms. At the end of the day, it's hard to win games if your best players don't play well, and unfortunately, that's been the case for much of the year.
Raleigh was the AL MVP runner-up in 2025. Rodriguez was considered one of the best all-around outfielders in the game. Naylor just signed a contract that pays him north of $90 million. Woo finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2025. Munoz was one of the best closers in the game. I mean, the list goes on. All of these players haven't come close to meeting expectations. It's just unacceptable and adds to the disappointment.
Injuries have not been not a major factor
I'm not here to say the Mariners have been fully healthy, because that's not true. Brendan Donovan has missed much of the year, Matt Brash has been out for a while, and even Raleigh and Rodriguez have missed a bit of time. With that being said, every team deals with at least some injuries. Seattle has been mostly healthy relative to most of the league, yet they still find themselves in the position that they're in.
How is that possible? I mean, a team like the Mets, for example, has at least been without superstars like Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor for much of the year. Lindor, Soto and Bo Bichette have played only 31 games together this season, roughly 23 percent of the team's season. What's the Mariners' excuse? Their stars have been mostly healthy, yet it hasn't mattered.
The American League is a mess
Adding to the frustration, it feels like the American League has never been more wide open than it is right now. Does anyone believe the Rays are some juggernaut that's incapable of being beaten in October? Will the Yankees ever get a fully healthy version of Aaron Judge? Are the White Sox really ready to win in October? Do the Red Sox have enough firepower offensively?
The AL West, in particular, is an absolute joke. The Astros lead the way, and they're just 2.0 games over .500. The Rangers are only 2.0 games back, but they're two games under .500. The 2025 Mariners won 90 games. They would probably need 85 at most to win this year's division, and that feels entiely unrealistic at this point.
Other disappointing Mariners teams in the discussion
I believe the 2026 Mariners are the most disappointing in franchise history, but there are definitely others worth talking about.
2010 Mariners
The 2009 Mariners won 85 games, and Seattle followed that up by signing stars like Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee that offseason to try and get to October. Instead, Figgins turned in the worst season of his career by far, Lee was traded prior to the All-Star break and the Mariners had one of the worst offensive seasons in MLB history.
Ichiro Suzuki was still a superstar and Felix Hernandez won the AL Cy Young award that year, but the Mariners still went 61-101. The 2026 team won't be quite that bad, but expectations for that year weren't nearly as high as this one.
2024 Mariners
The 2024 Mariners seemed poised to win their first AL West title since 2001, as they held a 10-game lead on June 18. Unfortunately, that lead had completely evaporated by July 20, and by late August, the Mariners had seen enough and fired manager Scott Servais. Yes, they went from a team fresh off back-to-back 88+-win campaigns and with a 10-game division lead to one that fired its manager a couple of months later.
They played fairly well down the stretch that year under Dan Wilson, but still finished with an 85-77 record. That wasn't good enough for them to make the playoffs. They went from looking like true contenders to missing the playoffs in a matter of months. Still, as bad as that collapse was, at least they were in it and finished eight games over .500, right? That record would almost surely get Seattle to October in some capacity in 2026.
2004 Mariners
The Mariners were consistent contenders in the early 2000s. They made back-to-back ALCS appearances in 2000 and 2001, and while they failed to make the playoffs in 2002 or 2003, they won 93 games in both years. Going from four straight seasons of 90+ wins to a 63-99 campaign in 2004 was quite jarring.
What's especially crazy about that year is that Ichiro had 262 hits that year, setting a single-season record. He was great, and the Mariners had other players have decent years like Raul Ibanez, Randy Winn and Bret Boone. Knowing this was Edgar Martinez's final season only rubs salt in the still-fresh wound.
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