Andrés Muñoz’s 2026 season has become a study in how overwhelming stuff can still run headfirst into ugly results.
Seattle fans got the whole package this past weekend. On Friday, Dan Wilson drew heat for not using his closer for a third straight day. On Sunday, Muñoz paid it off by leaving a 101 mph fastball in the middle of the zone and watching Lawrence Butler launch a walk-off homer.
The velocity is still there, and then some. Muñoz’s four-seamer was averaging 98.3 mph in April, but since July began he’s been sitting above 100 mph.
The radar gun is doing its job. The problem is everything that follows.
For a closer, the numbers tell the story, and Muñoz’s are brutal: a 4.75 ERA, eight home runs allowed, and 10 blown saves, which is the most by any reliever in MLB. Each of those marks is a career worst.
A Reddit user noted that nine of those blown saves have come in one-run games, including Sunday’s loss. That was also the fifth time one of his blown saves came on a home run. And as the chart shows, all but one of the homers he’s allowed have come in the strike zone.
So what is this - bad execution, or a built-in problem with how he’s being used?
The answer can be both. Ryan Rowland-Smith pointed out to a user on X that Cal Raleigh usually sets up Muñoz in the middle of the zone, with the goal of making it easier for him to “let it eat” with the fastball, slider and changeup.
It works when Muñoz is on point. But when the target is the middle of the plate, misses tend to stay right there.
At this point, hitters seem to have the scouting report memorized. Muñoz’s in-zone contact percentage sits at 80.8 percent, the highest it’s been over a full season.
None of that lets the rest of Seattle’s bullpen off the hook. The relief corps has been a mess beyond Muñoz, and Eduard Bazardo has “gone full Brad Lidge since George Springer’s homer in last year’s ALCS.” That’s part of why Muñoz was even needed Sunday after the Mariners blew a four-run lead.
Still, the damage is real. Ten blown saves is ten blown saves, and the math hurts. If those finishes had turned into wins instead, the Mariners would be 80-70 and in first place in the AL West, not 70-80 and sitting third.
So even if the Mariners don’t end up shopping for a new closer this winter, this weekend made one thing clear: late-inning relief help has to be a priority. The bridge to Muñoz needs to get sturdier, and there should be a real backup plan if he can’t put this season behind him.
There’s at least some reason not to give up on him entirely. Muñoz still ranks in the 99th percentile in strikeout rate and the 100th percentile in whiff rate, and that’s not nothing. But if he makes it a point to work on actually hitting spots next spring, everyone around the Mariners will probably breathe a lot easier heading toward 2027.
In Other News...
White Sox Just Took On A Rotation Risk Fans Can't Ignore
Luis Castillo was supposed to give the White Sox a stabilizing presence after Seattle dealt him before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but the early returns have been rough enough to keep the move under a microscope. Chicago took on the remaining commitment with the idea that a proven right-hander could help steady the rotation, yet the results since the deal have gone the other way, creating an uneasy contrast with what he had already done in Seattle.
For Mariners fans, the trade always carried some long-term significance because Castillo still has $21.6 million owed in 2027, and the White Sox are now living with that ledger as well as the on-field uncertainty. He had posted a 5.06 ERA in 99.2 innings with Seattle before the deal, so the underlying concern was already there, and the jump to a 7.76 ERA in 29 innings since joining Chicago has only sharpened the question of how much trust this arm can command over the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Risk Wasting Emerson Hancocks Breakout At The Worst Time
Emerson Hancocks 2026 season has given the Mariners something they badly needed: stability in the rotation. After making 25 starts and turning in solid numbers, the right-hander looked like one of the quieter success stories on a staff that has had to manage plenty of moving parts. Then a left adductor strain on Aug. 28 sent him to the injured list, and with the season running short, Seattle no longer has the luxury of a normal starters rehab path.
That is why the conversation has shifted toward a possible relief role for Hancock the rest of the way, even as the Mariners weigh how his return fits alongside Bryce Miller and the rest of the rotation picture. Manager Dan Wilson has made clear that Hancocks health comes first, but the team still has to decide whether there is enough time for the kind of buildup a starter usually needs. For a club trying to maximize every inning in September, the choice could shape more than just this years finish. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Suddenly Have A Real Andrs Muoz Problem In The Ninth
Andrs Muoz has still piled up enough save chances to give the Mariners confidence that the ninth inning belongs to him for now, but the year has not come nearly as smoothly as the raw totals might suggest. He has turned in a 4.25 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP across 55 innings, and while his fastball has played up and the strikeouts are there, the contact he has allowed has been louder than Seattle would like from its closer.
The result is a bullpen conversation that feels bigger than one rough stretch. Muoz has already blown 10 saves, the most in the majors, and the Mariners now have to sort through what that means for the back end of games even as his $8 million club option looks likely to be picked up. For a team trying to lean on its relief corps in the stretch run, the question is no longer whether Muoz has the stuff to close, but whether Seattle can keep treating the ninth inning as his alone. [Read more 🡒]