Mariners Release Opening Day Roster; Crawford, Miller Notably Absent with Injury
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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

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Assessing Three March Mariner Concerns Ahead of 2026 Regular Season
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Assessing Three March Mariner Concerns Ahead of 2026 Regular Season

If the Seattle Mariners started the 2026 regular season 6-16-1 (ignore the tie), things would probably be nearing panic mode in T-Mobile Park. But given that it’s Spring Training, the record isn’t all that concerning as Opening Day begins. But from injury concerns to slow starts for stars, there are some points of worry for the M’s as the season comes into view. Just how worrying are these signs, however? Is there any meaning to be derived from them?

Concern 1: Injury questions for players up and down the roster.

Concern level: 4/10

The most-discussed injury question for the upcoming season has been Bryce Miller, and it seems likely by this point that he won’t be ready to start the regular season. The Mariners have Emerson Hancock and Cooper Criswell both available to fill in the fifth starter role - and I personally expect they’ll start with Hancock, with Criswell in the tank if Hancock again struggles as a starter - but they at least have some good indications due to both players’ performance in Spring Training. That doesn’t necessarily mean much for the regular season, especially in the top-line stats such as ERA and FIP, but the M’s have to be impressed with Hancock’s feel for the ball.

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Mariners Drop Saturday Spring Game 10-5; Hancock Appears Solid in Start
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Mariners Drop Saturday Spring Game 10-5; Hancock Appears Solid in Start

The beating Arizona sun took quite its share of victims for the second day in a row as the San Francisco Giants made the trip over from Scottsdale to Peoria for some Cactus League action against the Seattle Mariners. Chief among those victims this time was Emerson Hancock’s Spring Training ERA as the M’s let a five-run lead become a five-run loss.

But since the score doesn’t matter in February, let’s take a look at some of the few things that might give us the faintest echo of an idea for how the Mariners look going into 2026.

Emerson Hancock shows some life in his first outing of the spring.

Seattle’s pitching lab has seen a lot of success in recent years, with Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby turning into key pieces of the Mariners’ arsenal. But so far, that success has not been flowing in Emerson Hancock’s direction. Hancock, who has a career 4.81 ERA, 5.23 FIP, and 1.359 WHIP across 37 appearances (31 starts), enters 2026 with one more shot to become a major league starter.

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