Logan Gilbert has already started sorting through what went wrong for the Mariners in 2026, and he did not wait for the season to officially end to do it.
Seattle’s longest-tenured starter took the ball Tuesday night knowing the finish line was getting close, even if the math still left a sliver of hope. That hope got thinner after a 7-0 loss to the Astros in the opener of the club’s final homestand, a game that fit the season’s larger theme far too well.
The Mariners are still technically alive in the American League West because the Rangers lost to the Mets earlier in the night. But Seattle, now 73-84, was already knocked out of the AL Wild Card race on Sunday, and one more loss - or one more win by Texas and/or Houston, both sitting at 78-79 - would end the division race too. There’s even a chance the AL West is decided by a team with a losing record, which would be a first for a division crowned under the current system.
That kind of collapse is what has made this year so hard to digest in Seattle. On paper, this was supposed to be a strong group, one that kept almost its entire core after reaching Game 7 of last year’s AL Championship Series. The expectations that followed in spring were loud, and Gilbert said the players embraced them.
“Coming into this year, it's a good spot to be,” Gilbert said. “But by no means can you just expect to show up in the ALCS again.
I don't think anybody just threw their gloves out there and expected that to happen. But it is just a reminder that, while it's great to have the high expectations, when the first game of the season comes around, every single day we have to go out and prove it.
That's on us, and unfortunately, sometimes you learn the hard way.”
Tuesday’s loss offered a snapshot of why the season slipped away. Gilbert was knocked around for four earned runs in four innings, and the pitching staff’s issues have been building for months. Since the All-Star break, Seattle’s rotation owns a 4.70 ERA, sixth highest in baseball.
The bullpen has been worn down too, and it showed again against Houston. José A. Ferrer allowed a solo homer to Isaac Paredes, and Carlos Vargas gave up a two-run blast to Yordan Alvarez, his 41st of the year and another blow for a relief corps that has surrendered more home runs than any team since the break, with 39.
The offense has been just as uneven. Seattle managed only four hits Tuesday and was shut out for the 15th time, tied for second most in MLB. The result left the Mariners with a .691 OPS for the season, second worst in the majors.
Gilbert said the group has spent the year trying to work through it, but the answers have not come easily.
“Last year, we earned the right to have those conversations and expectations,” Gilbert said. “But with that, there's obviously a high bar that -- every week, every game -- you have to uphold.
And it's not a lack of trying. It's not guys not putting in the effort.
We have those conversations throughout the year and in meetings and whatever, trying to figure things out as we're going to get better.
“But at the end of the day, people don't really care if you put in the work. Because everybody in the league hopefully is putting in the work. It's about going out there and performing and winning.”
Even with the season teetering toward its end, Gilbert’s comments made clear the reflection has already begun. The Mariners are still playing, still technically in it, but the reality around them is closing in fast.
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