Torpedo bats for the Mariners? This season already feels like a voyage to mediocrity
I’m hoping for one of two things to happen with the Mariners this season:
1) They’re terrific, winning the AL West and advancing at least to the American League Championship Series, even toying with the idea of making it to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
2) They’re terrible, going 70-92 and finishing last in the division, finally forcing ownership to fire team president Jerry Dipoto and give in to the consensus that the organization needs to spend more money to improve the team.
Unfortunately, the in-between scenario of flirting with the playoffs down the stretch or barely making it in before losing to a superior team is more likely. That’s what we’ve seen of late - they’re better than so-so but not good enough to stop the nonsense of being the only MLB team to have never been in a World Series.
As you know, they did nothing in the offseason to think this year will somehow be spectacular. Raise your hand if you think Donovan Solano will be a difference-maker. Or that Jorge Polanco will win a Gold Glove at third base. Or that Rowdy Tellez becomes an oversized cult hero in Seattle.
Can’t you picture it? If the Mariners end up being that in-between team again, while we’re watching other teams in the playoffs, Dipoto will hold a season-ending news conference, concocting another word salad explaining why he should remain for his 11th season. He’ll say the Mariners are right on the cusp of greatness, particularly with highly touted prospects ready to play for the big league team in 2026.
Ownership will buy his babble and ask for seconds, knowing that he’s actually done pretty well considering the dollar-store budget they’ve given him to work with. So they’ll give him one more chance, which means we’ll get one more offseason filled with trash acquisitions who are either old, fat or both, but, man, if they can hit like they did in 2019, we’ll really have something!
Off to a 2-3 start featuring a lackluster offense in a predictable development, the Mariners have managed to turn otherwise upbeat fans into skeptical, cynical downers like me. I especially enjoy the comments section at the end of Mariners stories such as Tuesday’s about the team getting torpedo bats to add some life to their offense.
Torpedo bats have a longer and thicker barrel compared to a conventional bat while still meeting MLB specifications. The Yankees use them and clobbered nine home runs in one game over the weekend. Could these new revolutionary bats help the Mariners?
Right on cue, the converted downers checked in at the end of Adam Jude’s Seattle Times story with some wonderfully crafted replies.
* The bat will only help if you make contact. It won’t matter with all the strikeouts.”
* Why don’t they try to experiment with players who can hit the ball?”
And my favorite…
* Torpedoes won’t help if your ship is already sunk.”
This slow start with the regular old bats wasn’t supposed to happen. We were led to believe by those in charge who think we’re dummies who will buy anything they’re selling that the offense was dramatically improved in the final 34 games of the 2024 season after Dan Wilson replaced Scott Servais as manager.
I know they have statistical proof behind their claims. I still call B.S. on all of it, and in the courtroom of bad baseball, I’d like to present the first four games of the 2025 season. Before the hitters turn into who they really are, say in June sometime, you’d like to think this new hitting approach from Edgar Martinez would be evident early on, that there’d be a carry-over from 2024.
On top of that, it’s not like the season’s first opponent, the A’s, were throwing one Cy Young candidate after another at the Mariners.
Yet the lineup outside of Polanco, who went 5-for-10, and Dylan Moore, who went 2-for-6, combined to go 11-for-97, a robust batting average of .113.
Of their 20 hits, 16 were singles. They scored eight runs total in the series. They struck out 41 times, putting them on yet another pace for more than 1,600 in a season.
Yes, they did show signs of breaking out of it Monday night in a 9-6 loss to the Tigers, but with their lineup, you’re more apt to get feeble than fireworks.
Again, with their rotation and moderate run support, the Mariners could reasonably win 90 to 95 games and turn into legitimate playoff contenders. But if that doesn’t happen - even with torpedo bats - I’ll root for a crash-and-burn season that will cause overdue changes to be made.
Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM with the headline "Torpedo bats for the Mariners? This season already feels like a voyage to mediocrity."