Red-hot Mariners win ninth straight series. What’s fueling best start in two decades?
Nine straight series wins. The second-best record in the American League and the fourth-most runs scored in baseball.
Now 22-14, it’s the best 36-game start for the Seattle Mariners in over two decades.
They’re still without All-Star pitching duo Logan Gilbert (right elbow flexor strain) and George Kirby (right shoulder inflammation). Spark-plug outfielder Victor Robles won’t return until summer. The roster turnover has been heavy, rotating new faces on a seemingly-weekly basis — yet they’re all contributing.
Wednesday’s five-run comeback over the Athletics was the latest shining example of “chaos ball” returning to the Emerald City: Rowdy Tellez launched a three-run homer, veteran OF Leody Taveras’ single drove home the game-tying run in his Mariners debut, and Dylan Moore’s eighth-inning double pushed Seattle into the win column once again.
“Incredible comeback, again, from this group,” manager Dan Wilson said after the Mariners rallied for Wednesday’s rubber match in Sacramento. “It’s almost like a broken record, just how well these guys keep fighting.”
The starting rotation, considered nationally as the American League’s best? They’re posting pedestrian numbers to date in 2025 without two of their top horses: Seattle ranks 16th in starter ERA (3.97), 15th in strikeouts (180), and 17th in WHIP (1.28). Instead, it’s the offense shouldering the early load, a group that dwelled near the bottom of most hitting categories in 2024.
Two months ago, who would’ve thought the 22-14 Mariners would be (or could be) carried by their bats?
“Some would call that just being a complete team,” Tellez said.
BY THE NUMBERS
A deeper dive into the statistics behind Seattle’s best start in 22 years:
— Seattle’s 22-14 record is their best 36-game start since 2003, when the Mariners equaled that 22-win pace. Here’s a look at Seattle’s 36-game records over the last decade:
2024 — 20-16
2023 — 18-18
2022 — 16-20
2021 — 18-18
2020 — 14-22
2019 — 19-17
2018 — 21-15
2017 — 17-19
2016 — 21-15
2015 — 16-20
— Seattle’s .257 expected batting average (xBA), which measures the likelihood of a hit using its exit velocity and launch angle, ranks 11th in MLB. And they’re finding barrels — their 10.5-percent barrel rate ranks fourth in the sport.
And despite batting just .231 with runners in scoring position (25th in MLB), the Mariners walk more than any team in baseball (156 BB) and deliver runs via the long ball; Seattle’s 51 home runs are fourth-most.
— The Mariners are 8-4 in games decided by one run, a trademark of the 2022 club that punched Seattle’s ticket back to the postseason. They’re taking care of weaker opponents (11-3 vs. teams under .500) and sticking around with fellow contenders (11-11 vs. teams over .500).
“This is an incredible group,” Wilson said Wednesday. “We keep saying it over and over again.
“Everybody’s contributing.”
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
It’s still early — but entering Friday’s series opener with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mariners had an 83.7 percent chance to make the postseason, per FanGraphs.
Could we finally see Seattle’s first division crown since 2001? Projected to win roughly 89 games in 2025, the Mariners have a 62.9 percent chance to win the AL West and a 42.9 percent chance to earn a first-round bye, awarded to the American League’s top two seeds.
FanGraphs gives the Mariners a 7.9 percent chance to win the World Series, second-best in the American League behind only the New York Yankees (10.5 percent). New York’s 90 projected wins top the AL, but Seattle’s 89 places the Mariners within striking distance at the league’s top seed.
The Los Angeles Dodgers own MLB’s best odds to win it all (21.1 percent).
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Mariners at +1800 (18/1) to win the World Series. The Dodgers are +250 (2.5/1).
The looming question for every Mariners fan: Will the good times roll through summer, or will Seattle fade as the finish line nears like in 2024, when the Mariners coughed up a 10-game division lead?
“We don’t give up,” Tellez said. “We fight tooth and nail until the end. I think today showed you — (Bryan) Woo, didn’t have the start he wanted, but he had the start that we needed from him.
“There’s really no panic right now. I think that’s big for us. Everybody’s leaning on each other and trusting each other. Everybody’s putting together good at-bats.”
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
In ESPN’s latest MLB Power Rankings released Thursday, the Mariners (22-14) ranked ninth behind only Detroit (5th, 23-13) and New York (7th, 21-16) in the American League. Two days earlier, The Athletic listed the Mariners at ninth, too.
“There’s so much going right in the Mariners Cinematic Universe that it almost seems spiteful to focus on a negative development, but this one is too big to ignore,” The Athletic’s Grant Bisbee, Chad Jennings, and Levi Weaver wrote. “The whole idea behind the 2025 Mariners was that they had a rotation of the gods, and if they could just find a few hitters, they’d steamroll the league. Now, they have Jorge Polanco doing a Barry Bonds impression, and Cal Raleigh is leading the AL in homers, but their best pitcher is hurt.”
More on Polanco and Raleigh in a moment.
CBS Sports lists the Mariners at sixth in their latest power rankings; MLB.com’s Will Leitch has Seattle seventh on his list.
“Are you believers in the Mariners yet? The ultimate streaky team – a team that looks amazing for stretches and then pedestrian not long afterward – is on a total heater right now, taking two of three from the Rangers over the weekend and soaring into first place in the AL West,” Leitch wrote. “Since April 9, the Mariners have the best record in baseball.”
The national consensus? There’s hesitancy to go all-in, but if the Mariners can avoid their all-too-familiar midseason regression, there’s a true contender in Seattle.
MUNOZ, POLANCO, RALEIGH: A.L. ALL-STARS?
Who’s making an early case for an All-Star nod? Here are the favorites to represent the Mariners at the 95th Midsummer Classic in Atlanta on July 15:
Andres Munoz, closer
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 SV, 7 H, 8 BB, 25 K (18 IP)
He’s been simply untouchable. The reigning All-Star’s triple-digit fastball and wicked slider have proven nightmarish for opposing hitters, and Munoz still hasn’t allowed an earned run in 18 games this season. The April AL Reliever of the Month’s expected ERA (2.00) and expected batting average against (.182) rank in the top three percent of MLB pitchers.
Jorge Polanco, second base/designated hitter
.348/.396/.707, 9 HR, 27 RBI, 1 SB, 7 BB, 11 K (102 PA)
One of the league’s most productive hitters ranks among league leaders in both batting average and slugging. Polanco has posted a career-high 1.103 OPS in the early going, a surprising bright spot in the middle of Seattle’s lineup after a disappointing 2024 campaign. Polanco has struck out in just 10.8 percent of his plate appearances — down from 29.2 percent last year — and continues to crush fastballs (.374 xBA) and offspeed pitches (.361 xBA) alike. The switch-hitter started at second base Tuesday for the first time since April 4, serving mainly as designated hitter while nursing a side injury that affected infield throws and right-handed hitting.
Cal Raleigh, catcher
.246/.365/.567, 12 HR, 25 RBI, 4 SB, 23 BB, 41 K (159 PA)
It’s increasingly clear that ‘Big Dumper’ has evolved into MLB’s best catcher. The 2024 Platinum Glove Winner co-leads MLB with 12 home runs and has compiled 2.0 fWAR (FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement), ninth in MLB among position players. The new, flashy torpedo bat is working wonders — Raleigh’s 21.5-percent barrel rate ranks in the 99th percentile in MLB — and elite pitch framing makes him the early favorite to start this summer’s All-Star Game for the American League.
UP NEXT
The Mariners host the Toronto Blue Jays (May 9-11) and New York Yankees (May 12-14) for a six-game homestand that begins Friday night. Luis Castillo takes the mound in Friday’s opener with the Blue Jays at 6:40 p.m.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Red-hot Mariners win ninth straight series. What’s fueling best start in two decades?."
