After a miserable 2026 season, the Mariners can at least point to one thing working in their favor: their place in the 2027 MLB draft lottery.
Seattle finished 76-86, which left the club with the eighth-worst record in the majors and, in turn, the eighth-best odds to land the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. That comes with a 3.13% chance, hardly a comforting number on its face, but it is still a whole lot better than the position the Mariners were in last December.
Back then, Seattle was sitting on the second-lowest odds at 0.53% and still pulled off a huge jump in the 2025 MLB draft lottery, climbing 12 spots to land the No. 3 overall pick. The Mariners used that pick on Kade Anderson, who was viewed as the top pitcher in the 2025 class and maybe the best player in the entire draft. Anderson then added another layer to the pick by being named Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2026.
That outcome is why Seattle’s current lottery spot matters, even if the odds are long. The Mariners do not necessarily have to win the No. 1 selection for this to pay off.
Jonathan Mayo’s way-too-early 2027 mock draft for MLB.com, published in July, already gives Seattle some appealing options if the lottery breaks well. At No.
3, Mayo has Tomas Valincius of Mississippi State, a left-handed pitcher with a three-pitch mix and a fastball that sits around 95 mph. At No. 4, he has Landon Hairston, the son of former Major League player Scott Hairston.
Hairston is already standing out as a 2026 Golden Spikes Award finalist after one of the strongest seasons by any college hitter.
Either way, there’s something for the Mariners to like if the lottery goes their direction.
There is, of course, one obvious complication: the draft lottery is scheduled to take place during the Winter Meetings in December, and the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1. A lockout appears likely, which puts some uncertainty around when the lottery itself will happen.
So the first thing to watch is the labor situation. After that, Mariners fans can at least keep one eye on the lottery and hope for another wild bounce in their favor, this time with slightly better odds.
In Other News...
Mariners Lineup Debate Comes Down To One Dangerous Imbalance
Bleacher Reports projected Opening Day lineup for Seattle paints an intriguing early shape to the Mariners outfield, with Trent Grisham penciled in to start in left field next to Julio Rodrguez in center. It is the kind of arrangement that looks clean on paper and gives the lineup some athleticism, but it also starts to reveal a larger issue for the club as it continues sorting out the roster around Rodrguez.
The concern is balance, or the lack of it, because a heavily left-handed order can become easier to manage for opposing clubs, especially when left-handed pitching shows up on the schedule. Seattle also appears to be in danger of losing some right-handed punch, with Randy Arozarena and Taylor Ward among the bats that could disappear from the mix, leaving the Mariners even more dependent on finding reliable production from the other side of the plate. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Could Target 4 Bounce-Back Names To Fix A Frustrating Roster
A frustrating Mariners season that finished 76-86 has naturally pushed the conversation toward how the club can find more reliability around a core that too often came up short. Injuries were part of the problem, but so were underperforming regulars, leaving Seattle to sift through the market for players who still carry upside even if their recent results have been uneven. Four names have surfaced as possible bounce-back fits, including Anthony Volpe, Kristian Campbell and Mark Vientos, the kind of talent swings that could give the roster a different look if the Mariners decide to be aggressive.
What makes the exercise interesting is that these are not simple, clean acquisitions. Each player comes with questions attached, and one of the biggest hurdles in the group is tied to Campbell's deal, which makes any pursuit far more complicated than a normal fit-and-fill move. Seattle could use more impact and more certainty, but getting there may mean threading the needle on value, risk and timing while one of the options in the mix remains a mystery for now. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners May Not Be Done Reshaping Their Coaching Staff
The Arizona Fall League has long been a useful proving ground for players, but it can also be a window into the coaching pipeline, and the Mariners have their hands in it through Jordan Cowan and Dylan Gargas. Cowan is serving as the Javelinas hitting coach, while Gargas is working on the pitching side, giving Seattle another look at how its own instructors stack up in an environment built around development and evaluation.
The broader takeaway for the Mariners is that they do not seem content to treat the current staff structure as fixed. The piece points to outside names such as Billy Facteau and Jeff Livesey as coaches worth keeping on the radar, which fits a larger pattern of Seattle exploring talent both inside and beyond the organization as it considers where its next staff upgrades might come from. [Read more 🡒]