The Mariners walked into Toronto with a real opening in front of them. They were only 3.0 games out in the AL West and 3.5 back of the final wild card spot, fresh off winning series against the Cubs and Phillies, and staring at a September slate that still looked favorable on paper. Instead, they left with three losses, a sweep, and a much tighter path back into the race.
That collapse in Canada pushed Seattle to 5.0 games behind both the division lead and an AL wild card position. The schedule ahead still includes 17 combined games against the Angels, Athletics and Rockies, but the margin for error just shrank fast. Here are the biggest reasons the series turned so sour.
Emerson Hancock’s Friday start unraveled in more ways than one. The Blue Jays had been one of the weakest offenses in baseball, ranking second-worst in runs per game and 28th in both OPS and wRC+.
Seattle had every reason to think that was a matchup it could control. Instead, Toronto put up 12 hits, drew two walks and rolled to an 8-1 win, its second 8-run game since July 8.
Hancock took the hit for most of it. He allowed eight hits and five earned runs over 5.0 innings and struck out only one batter.
Even then, there was some grit in the outing, because he appeared to get hurt on a sliding tag of Nathan Lukes in the first inning and still stayed in the game. The injury concern proved real.
On Sunday, Hancock was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left adductor strain, retroactive to Friday.
That’s a rough turn for a pitcher who had been one of Seattle’s few real bright spots this season. Bryce Miller is set to move back into the rotation from the bullpen, and Ryan Sloan would have been a name worth calling if the Mariners had wanted to give a young arm some experience.
Saturday’s game felt like the one Seattle had to have. The Mariners led 3-0 in the middle innings and were in position to square the series.
Then the inning spun apart. Kade Anderson had been solid through 4.0 innings before things got messy with one out and two runners on, forcing Eduard Bazardo into the game.
Bazardo got one out, then walked a batter to fill the bases. George Springer stepped in next, and while this wasn’t the same ending as last season’s Game 7 of the ALCS, it still stung.
A missed pitch brought Myles Straw home. Then Bazardo rushed toward the plate for Cal Raleigh’s throw, didn’t realize he still needed to tag Brett Bateman, and watched Bateman slide in after reading the play well enough to score from second.
It was a sequence Seattle could not afford. The inning should have ended with a 3-1 lead; instead it finished 3-2, and Toronto came back to win 4-3. Anderson’s line took the hit too, since those two earned runs were charged to him after Bazardo couldn’t finish the job.
The defensive sloppiness didn’t stop there. In Sunday’s finale, J.P.
Crawford made an unnecessary error in the bottom of the fifth with Seattle down only 2-0, letting a routine grounder slip under his glove. What should have been a potential inning-ending double play instead turned into another Blue Jays run and a 3-0 deficit.
Then came the final insult: Max Scherzer. The Mariners had every reason to hope Sunday would be the game their lineup finally woke up against a pitcher carrying the worst numbers of his 19-year career.
Scherzer came in with a 7.02 ERA, 6.32 FIP and 1.54 WHIP, all career worsts, plus a negative bWAR. Instead, he looked like a different pitcher entirely.
The 42-year-old threw 7.0 innings, allowed one hit, issued one walk and did not give up a run. He struck out 10, which was a season high by a wide margin, and turned in his best outing in a Blue Jays uniform.
The 10th strikeout was also a milestone, giving him his 3,535th career strikeout and moving him past Gaylord Perry into ninth on the all-time list. He now sits 19 strikeouts behind Justin Verlander for eighth, with Verlander on the injured list.
For Seattle, the bigger problem is hard to miss. The Mariners couldn’t do anything against a 42-year-old starter with shaky season numbers, and after the sweep they sit last in the majors in batting average, OPS and runs per game. That’s the kind of offensive profile that leaves no room for the kind of mistakes they made all weekend.
In Other News...
Mariners Just Closed Off The Rotation Chance Fans Wanted Most
Emerson Hancocks move to the 15-day injured list with a left adductor strain has reopened the Mariners rotation picture, and Bryce Miller is back in the mix after missing time with a lat issue. On paper, the timing gives Seattle a familiar name to plug in, but the bigger context is less comforting: Miller has battled both health and results, and his last eight starts have done little to settle the conversation around the fifth spot.
Ryan Sloan has been the arm many fans had begun to circle, especially after the 2024 second-round pick showed real improvement and a growing ceiling. His rise has created exactly the kind of opening Seattle could use, but with Hancock sidelined and Miller returning, the immediate route seems to be pointing elsewhere for now, leaving the rotation debate very much alive. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Head To Boston With A Prospect Looming And Rotation Questions
Swept out of Toronto over the weekend, the Mariners are heading straight into a three-game set at Fenway Park carrying both momentum issues and roster uncertainty. The trip to Boston comes with a little extra intrigue, too, because Seattle is set to bring up top prospect Lzaro Montes when rosters expand, giving the club a jolt of youth at a time when the lineup could use one.
The bigger immediate question, though, is on the pitching side after Emerson Hancock landed on the injured list with an adductor strain and Nick Davila was recalled in his place. Boston is getting healthier of its own with Roman Anthony and Trevor Story back from the injured list, so Seattle walks into a series where the margins already look thin and the rotation picture is suddenly a little less settled. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Are Finally Giving Their Offense A Prospect Worth Watching
The Mariners are set to get a late-season look at one of the most intriguing bats in their system, with outfield prospect Lazaro Montes expected to join the major league roster when it expands on Sept. 1. Montes has split this season between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Tacoma, building a case with the kind of offensive production that has kept him on the radar as Seattle searches for help on the lineup side.
Montes arrived in the organization as an international free agent from Cuba in January 2022, and his rise has given the Mariners something they have not had enough of this year: a prospect worth watching for his bat first. The move will not solve everything overnight, but it does give Seattle a chance to see how his approach plays against big league pitching, which is the next step that matters now. [Read more 🡒]