Naylor Bombs, Kirby Strikes Finish Mariners’ Four-Game Sweep against Astros
How quickly things can turn around for a baseball club. Just four days prior, the Mariners took a badly-needed rest day as they came off a five-game skid to round out an opening baker’s dozen contests where each series had been worse than the last: a four-game split, a three-game series loss to a good team (the Yankees), a three-game series loss to a bad one (the Angels), and a three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers.
And then an odd thing happened: the M’s got handed a get-right series by the Houston Astros of all teams. The same Astros that had tyrannized the division for a decade, with a philosophy of a never-ending window and an organization that seemed to churn out All-Stars like butter. But early in April, Houston’s arms have been either banged-up, straight-up bad, or both.
With that and a bit of mental fortitude, a Mariners offense who had scored 40 runs in their first 13 games finished up a 29-run four-game set with a 6-2 victory over their rivals on Monday, completing as big a sweep as an April series can offer.
Josh Naylor finally broke through his early-season slump, mashing two homers and knocking in five.
For much of the beginning of the year, even during the sparse games when the offense put up strong numbers, the bulk of the production had been coming from the bottom of the lineup. Even in the turnaround game on Friday and the thunderous comeback on Saturday, it was Randy Arozarena and bottom of the order that got the party started.
Crawford Completes Comeback with Walk-Off Single, Mariners Best Astros 8-7
“J.P.! J.P.! J.P.!” rang out the chorus of 43,294 happy, exhausted spectators on Saturday night. Perhaps some of the Central Washington students among them (who had a special discount for the game and got some CWU-themed jerseys) were planning on continuing the night on Lower Queen Anne or Capitol Hill; the older and wiser CWU alums in the crowd were probably set to take their modes of transportation home so as to get some shuteye. All of them shared in the electricity of the evening’s end.
Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford hadn’t been part of much of the first two weeks of the season for Seattle, nursing a shoulder injury sustained in Spring Training, and the first five games of his season saw him hit a paltry .118 over 26 plate appearances.
“I was going crazy not being able to play,” Crawford told Mariners TV’s Ryan Rowland-Smith after the game.
The Mariners shortstop had put together a 1-3 game with two walks during Seattle’s skid-breaking win on Friday, hitting leadoff with Brendan Donovan out of the lineup with an illness. But Saturday night saw him punch through a pair of massive bases-loaded singles to bookend the team’s biggest comeback of the young year.
Randy Arozarena’s Mammoth Fifth Inning Homer Reverses Hitting Woes, M’s Beat Stros 9-6
The look on Andrés Muñoz’ face told it all as Leo Rivas stepped on third to complete the final out: exhaustion and catharsis.
It was a feeling that reverberated around Mariners country as the team won its first game and nearly a week, put more than two runs on the board for the first time in a few days, and had a solid defensive showing after scores of innings full of botched glovework.
The Astros’ struggling pitching and the Mariners’ struggling offense both showed early on Friday.
Ichiro’s statue unveiling outside T-Mobile Park on Friday night encountered an unusual mishap: the bat cracked and bent at the handle as the tarp was taken off to unveil it.
It was the proverbial picture that said a thousand words about the Mariners offense. Over the first 13 games, the Mariners had failed to score before extras in four of them. The whole batting crew had looked about as lost as three Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest.
Mariners Waste Lucky Breaks that Angels Take, Drop Series with 8-7 Loss in Extras
There’s always a strange air around games between the Angels and Mariners. Any divisional rivalry series will have an edge to it, but for the Halos and M’s, it just feels a bit different.
It probably has something to do with this: the modern Perry Minasian Angels are a mirror of the Jack Zduriencik-era Mariners: both teams stuck in the doldrums of mediocrity, wasting the career of two generational players (one Japanese superstar each), but each doing it in the opposite way.
Where the 2010s M’s caromed between 95-loss disasters and missing the playoffs by a game or two, the 2020s Angels hover around 70-75 wins year-in and year-out. The Zduriencik Mariners failed to shore up generational pitcher Felix Hernández, while the Minasian Angels have left future Hall of Fame center fielder Mike Trout out to dry. Ichiro was the first Japanese position player to light up the MLB (doing so with an old-school Wee Willie Keeler-style approach), but was nearing the last few years of his career by the time Zduriencik sent him to the Yankees. Shohei Ohtani, a much more homer-focused modern great (who, by the way, can also pitch) was a few years into his pro career before going to Anaheim.
Cal Raleigh Walks Off Yankees, Mariners Take One-Run Win Despite Missed Chances
The Mariners exited the weekend four-game set against the Guardians having scored nine more runs than their opponents but with just as many losses as wins. One-run games on Thursday and Saturday both went against the hosts, with the team seemingly figuring out how to deploy its roster in close matchups.
Seattle faced another one-run game against a 3-0 Yankees team on Monday night, and although the pitching was filthy, both the defense and offense seemed to have a bad case of the Mondays, letting several opportunities slip past at the dish and serving up a key non-out to New York in the seventh. But all’s well that ends well, and none other than Cal Raleigh knocked the winning run home in the bottom of the ninth to put all the night’s adversity behind them.
Luis Castillo notches his 1500th strikeout against Aaron Judge to cap off six shutout innings.
Mariners starter Luis Castillo isn’t the ace he once was. His once-elite grounder rate from his time with the Reds fell to around league average in his last few years with the Mariners, and his above average ratio of homers to fly balls in 2025 suggested he got on the good side of the Seattle marine layer. Still, his decline into his 30s has thus far been a graceful one, with a 3.54 ERA and 3.88 FIP last year.
Mariners Turn Three Hits into Five Runs, Tie Opening Guardians Series
The Seattle Mariners still haven’t hit a single through the first two games of the season. That didn’t matter on Friday night.
Cleveland Guardians starter Gavin Williams may have spun good enough stuff to punch out seven Mariners, but he also walked six, and timely round-trippers from Cole Young and Luke Raley put the M’s far ahead of the visitors and brought the team to its first win of the year.
“Furious George” deals with early homer and puts together a quality start to begin his 2026.
Chase DeLauter’s prospect stock is about as high as can be right now. After mashing two home runs in his regular season debut on Opening Day, day two hurler George Kirby became the third Mariner to foolishly leave a pitch on the lower inside part of the plate, exactly where the 24-year-old rookie likes it.
Mariners Release Opening Day Roster; Crawford, Miller Notably Absent with Injury
With opening day right around the corner for the Seattle Mariners - at 7:10 p.m. Pacific on Thursday against the Guardians - the team has released its first 26-man roster for the 2026 season. The top of the depth chart, of course, is very much all over the M’s roster, from returning superstars in Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez to new additions like Brendan Donovan and Jose A. Ferrer.
But of course it is not all sunshine and roses for the defending AL West champions. Longtime shortstop J.P. Crawford is out for the beginning of the year with a shoulder injury while Bryce Miller is working through an injury of his own, leaving holes in the middle infield and the back of the rotation. Leo Rivas is going to get some playing time at short in the meantime (and perhaps Cole Young might swivel
Mariners Repeat or Astros Return; Who is AL West’s Deadliest Warrior? Analyzing Division as 2026 Season Approaches
Ever since the Mariners’ dramatic September sweep on Houston’s home ground that all but sealed the division, 2026 has shaped up to be a close rematch between the two teams. Which team, if any, has the edge going into the season?
Mariners’ King from Kingston: What Made Matt Brash So Special in 2025?
Coming off Tommy John surgery that took him out of the 2024 season completely, Seattle Mariners setup man Matt Brash blew down batters with satisfying frequency in 2025. What made him one of the best arms in the M’s bullpen?
Mariners Potentially Shifting Bullpen Strategy Priorities as Collin Snider Leaves for Cubs
Collin Snider’s minor league deal with the Cubs closes his two-year chapter with the Mariners after a season of uneasy form and untimely injury. The fact that the M’s didn’t pick him back up, however, offers a window into a strategic shift within the organization.
Three Errors, Three Double Plays, Third Jays Win: Mariners Drop Game 6 in Toronto
The Mariners had a chance to punch a ticket to the World Series in Game 6 of the ALCS, but due to a whole host of preventable mistakes, they will face elimination for the second time this season. How did Seattle drop the ball on Sunday night?
Geno Breaks Out Rye Bread and Mustard in Game 5 Thriller; M’s One Win Away from Fall Classic
With their backs to the wall for what seemed like the 100th time in 2025, the Seattle Mariners came up big in a Game 5 for the history books. How did the M’s rise again from the grave on Friday afternoon?
WATCH: How Mariners Stymied Blue Jays’ Bats to Build 2-0 ALCS Lead
Bucking the odds after a 15-inning win in Game 5 of the ALDS to beat the Tigers, the Mariners came to Toronto off of short rest and shut down Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS. How has the pitching staff gotten it done for Seattle?
Rapid Reaction: M’s Arms Excel Again; Raleigh, Polanco Produce Enough for 3-1 ALCS Game 1 Win
Few expected that a Blue Jays team coming off an offensive firestorm would be all but shut down, but that’s what Bryce Miller and the Mariners did on Sunday night’s opener. How did Seattle strike ahead in Game 1?
Three Massive Managerial Moments that Decided ALDS Game 5
Many of the memorable moments of ALDS Game 5 came from the players on the field, but some of the biggest keys of the game resulted from the battle of wits between A. J. Hinch and Dan Wilson. How did Wilson and the Mariners triumph on the managing front?
Final Thoughts: Mariners Found Long Path to Victory During Instant Classic Game 5
A 15-inning epic, a long-awaited return, an instant classic. The Mariners’ marathon win over the Detroit Tigers defied logic and expectations, but perhaps that was the only way such a victory could occur.
WATCH: Can Seattle Mariners Beat Tarik Skubal-led Tigers in ALDS Game 5?
The Detroit Tigers went to town on the Mariners bullpen on Wednesday afternoon, forcing a winner-take-all ALDS Game 5 in Seattle. Can the M’s defeat the best pitcher in the AL and punch their ticket to the ALCS?
Julio Rodríguez, Mariners Defy Murphy’s Law, Take Game 2 to Tie ALDS
Like almost everything involving the 2025 Mariners, it went down to the wire. Yet due to the success of some of their greatest heroes—and despite the errors of another—the M’s pulled through on Sunday night.
Five Key Moments from Mariners’ Demoralizing Game 1 Defeat to Detroit
The M’s dropped a very winnable ALDS Game 1 on Saturday night, giving the team an uphill climb as they face the best pitcher in the AL in a must-win Game 2. What were the five key moments that produced Seattle’s defeat?
SWEEP: Seattle Mariners Bash Big Second Inning, Take Game Three 7-3 in Statement Series
The surreal has become real with one week left in the season, as the Seattle Mariners have swept the Houston Astros in the biggest series of the season. What led to Seattle’s sweep-clinching Sunday victory?
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