The Seattle Mariners got to the midpoint of their 2026 season with a record that says almost everything about the year so far: 48 wins, 49 losses, and a whole lot of frustration packed into that gap. They still hold the American League’s third wild card, which is the one clean positive in a stretch that has turned sharply sour.
Not long ago, the mood looked a little less grim. In late June, when Chris Landers of FanSided handed out first-half grades for all 30 teams through 81 games, Seattle came away with a B-.
Since then, the bottom has dropped out. The Mariners lost five of six on the road to finish the first half, gave up the AL West lead, and enter July at 4-6 with the possibility of a second straight losing month hanging over them.
There’s no single answer to why things have gone sideways, but the easiest way to sort through the mess is to grade the major pieces.
The offense gets an F, and that’s being kind. Seattle is third from the bottom in MLB in runs scored, and the lineup has been bad in just about every way that matters.
The Mariners sit in the bottom five with a .230 batting average and a .380 slugging percentage. FanGraphs has them in the bottom 10 in baserunning value.
Their .219 average with runners in scoring position is the worst in baseball, and it’s still falling.
Injuries have played a part, but the bigger issue is that the production never matched the expectation. Randy Arozarena, Dominic Canzone, Cole Young and, when healthy, Julio Rodríguez are the only hitters who haven’t dragged the unit down. The deepest disappointment is Cal Raleigh, who has fallen all the way to a .169 average and a .581 OPS.
The defense hasn’t been much prettier. Seattle ranks 25th in Defensive Runs Saved and last in Outs Above Average, even though the club is only in the middle of the pack in errors.
That tells the story: the problem is range, not just mistakes. Balls hit to Arozarena in left field or to Crawford at shortstop or third base can make everybody in the ballpark hold their breath.
Right field has been shaky too, and Josh Naylor’s struggles at first base have been just as hard to explain as his offensive slide.
There have been a few bright spots. Rodríguez had a strange start in center field before going on the seven-day concussion IL before the break.
Young and Colt Emerson may already be the best double-play combination in the majors. Young, with a +11 DRS, looks like a real candidate to become Seattle’s first Gold Glove second baseman since Bret Boone in 2004.
The one area that has actually carried its weight is the starting rotation, which earns an A. Seattle’s starters rank sixth in MLB with a 3.64 ERA and first with 11.2 fWAR. The group has not been perfectly smooth - the piggyback setup and the six-man rotation haven’t solved the surplus problem, and Bryan Woo’s road numbers, Luis Castillo’s decline and Logan Gilbert’s uneven start have kept the staff from feeling fully settled - but the overall body of work is strong.
Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Emerson Hancock all had All-Star cases. George Kirby has been a workhorse, piling up 110.0 innings in 18 starts. Woo has been dominant at T-Mobile Park with a 2.10 ERA there, and Castillo has looked better lately, posting a 3.65 ERA over his last 10 outings.
The bullpen lands at a C+. On paper, a 3.56 ERA ranks fourth in the league, but that number doesn’t tell the whole story for relievers.
Seattle’s bullpen is closer to average in WHIP and K/BB ratio, and it sits 20th in Win Probability Added. The group also spent much of the first half short-handed after Miller returned from an oblique injury in May.
Carlos Vargas has been hurt all year, and Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell landed on the IL on the same day in June. That forced the Mariners to lean on minor league replacements, and the results were often rough.
The saving grace has been the top end of the unit. Gabe Speier, Jose A.
Ferrer and Eduard Bazardo have combined for a 2.56 ERA and a 0.88 WPA, while the bullpen as a whole sits at 0.08 WPA. Andrés Muñoz started the season looking oddly hittable, then settled in with 10 straight scoreless appearances to close the first half.
Dan Wilson gets the harshest grade of all: an F. Seattle’s expected record is 50-47, better than its actual mark, and that gap has not happened by accident.
Wilson’s in-game decisions have too often helped turn close games into losses. The bigger concern may be the tone around the club.
The Mariners have been sloppy in the field and on the bases, and if there’s accountability happening behind the scenes, it hasn’t shown up publicly. Wilson’s postgame refrain has been the same after too many defeats: “tough.”
He has not even been in the job for two full years, but the frustration is already loud enough to fuel a “Fire Dan Wilson” movement among the fanbase. It may not fix everything. At this point, though, it’s getting harder to see how it wouldn’t help.
In Other News...
Mariners Fans May Need To Revisit One Prospect After This Stage
Kade Anderson got a much cleaner showcase in the MLB Futures Game, working one inning on just ten pitches and giving Seattle fans a fresh reminder of why he remains one of the more interesting arms in the system. The performance came in a setting built for prospects to flash their best stuff, and Anderson did exactly that while the draft buzz swirled around him and the rest of the young talent on display.
For Mariners followers, the outing also fits a bigger picture that has been developing at Double-A, where Anderson has been missing bats and trimming the walks that once clouded the evaluation. After some outside chatter had pushed other names into the ace conversation, his latest look offered a useful counterpoint, even if the Futures Game is only one stage and not the final word on where he stands. [Read more 🡒]
Tacoma Just Made The Mariners Next Wave Feel Very Real
The Mariners upper-minors pipeline kept flashing over the past week, and Tacoma was right in the middle of it. The Rainiers split their games, but the bigger takeaway was how much talent is starting to stack up around that roster, with Ryan Bliss putting together a loud week built on extra-base hits and stolen bases while the organizations other affiliates kept feeding the system with more encouraging signs.
Everett added to the optimism with strong offensive stretches from Luke Stevenson and Jonny Farmelo, even as the pitching results came and went, and Arkansas managed a split despite being without Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan while they were away at the Futures Game. The broader picture is what matters for Seattle: the next wave does not just look deep, it is beginning to look close, and Tacomas latest run only sharpened the question of how soon some of those names will force the issue. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Just Added An Outfield Athlete With Intriguing Upside
The Mariners added a little more speed to the organization with the signing of Kyle Boylston, a former Florida Atlantic outfielder who landed in Seattle as an undrafted free agent after the 2026 MLB Draft. Boylston spent the 2025-26 academic year focused solely on baseball, and the move gives the Mariners another athletic outfield option to evaluate after a season in which he hit .289 with three home runs and kept pressure on defenses every time he reached base.
What makes Boylston interesting is the way his game has been shaped by his athletic background and his running ability. He stole 14 bases without being caught for FAU, and that kind of efficiency tends to stand out for an organization that values speed and versatility in the outfield. The next question is how Seattle plans to develop that upside, because the raw tools are obvious enough to merit a closer look. [Read more 🡒]