Mariners Survive Brewers, Gain Ground in Wild Card Race
Seattle came limping into Milwaukee after getting pummeled 22-0 the night before, looking to exorcise some demons against the Brewers on Wednesday night. Facing former top prospect Dustin May, the Mariners got the bats going early, plating four runs in the first inning before ultimately winning 7-5.
Current Cy Young candidate Logan Gilbert, emboldened by an early lead, battled through five innings before being pulled in the sixth. Likely two batters too late.
As has been the case all season, Dan Wilson made another questionable decision that nearly cost his team the game. But his players persevered, allowing Seattle to gain considerable ground in the wild-card race.
Did Seattle have a great offensive performance? Absolutely. Were they simultaneously incredibly lucky? Unequivocally. That’s a luxury not often enjoyed by this team as it tries to turn its season around.
Mariners’ Gutsy Series Win Offers Team Last Lifeline for 2026 Season
When Andrés Muñoz got Taylor Trammell to chase a changeup for strike three on Sunday, he yelled with a ferocity rarely seen even from a man called “Señor Smoke”.
It was an angry, happy catharsis. Had he made slightly better pitches to Jose Altuve or Daulton Varsho two days prior, the Mariners would have swept the Astros and put some real heat on the once and future AL West champions; they would have been two games back of their rivals with the tiebreaker long since clinched.
Instead, the M’s are four games back with 37 left to play. But there’s no use crying over spilt milk, and Muñoz made sure to redeem himself in the bottom of the ninth in the Houston rubber match.
“To be honest with you, that - especially here - hurts a lot when those things happen, because you feel like you let the team down,” Muñoz said. “But I’ve been through these situations a lot, and I’m able to just flush those things easier, especially with the outing that I had.”
Getting to that one-run lead wasn’t as simple as it might have been based on the way the M’s offense had been playing earlier in the series. Unlike the first two contests, when the team got it done with runners on, it was a return to regular programming on Sunday night as they went 1-11 with runners in scoring position.
The M’s, regardless, logged a badly-needed 3-2 win.
Cal Raleigh recorded the mother of all Crawford Box jobs in the sixth, a much-needed stroke of luck.
The winning run on Sunday was a 327-foot fly ball that left the bat at a 45-degree angle. Since the beginning of the StatCast era in 2015, there have been 57 such batted balls - and Raleigh’s was just the second to become a hit (the first was this Yandy Díaz deep fly in a minor league stadium).
Mariners Offense Continues Slumber, Wastes Strong Logan Gilbert Start against Rays
The cathartic excitement of 45 seconds prior meant nothing as a 39,468-strong crowd saw Josh Naylor take the final pitch of the game for strike three, capping off a 2-1 loss and the Mariners’ 11th defeat in their past 16 games. Those fans booed relentlessly, their patience broken by the continued ineptitude of the offense.
Logan Gilbert had hurled well for Seattle, going deep into the seventh inning, but thanks to the lack of batting, it didn’t matter. The M’s barely avoided the third shutout in four games, and though they managed a run at the very end, it was still just the fifth run since the trade deadline: a stark reminder that the struggles the team had were due to the shortcomings of the stars.
Seattle went scoreless for most of the game, helpless against Rays pitching.
Where Gilbert was effective, Rays starter Drew Rasmussen was brilliant. Or perhaps the Mariners offense was once again lethargic; in truth, it was probably both.
Looking for any way to wake up the sluggish bats, Mariners manager Dan Wilson shook up the lineup. Taylor Ward led off the game with Cole Young batting second and Julio Rodríguez batting fifth. It didn’t work. Ward - whose struggles at T-Mobile Park continued in his fourth game with the M’s - went 0-4 with two strikeouts, while Young’s one hit didn’t come with anyone on base.
Seattle’s chances were relatively few and far between. Rodríguez knocked a one-out single and stole second before Naylor walked to put two men on. Brendan Donovan struck out and Cal Raleigh walked in turn to load the bases, but with Colt Emerson at the plate, Rasmussen knew what to do.
Luis Castillo Sent to White Sox, M’s Get Middling Package: 2026 Trade Deadline Analysis Part I
The 2026 trade deadline has come and gone, and while the team sealed a Monday deal to bring righty stick Taylor Ward onboard as a rental, the bigger long-term move was on Saturday.
“The Rock” is no more. Well, at least in the Mariners clubhouse; not only is Dwayne Johnson still wrasslin’, but Luis Castillo is still playing baseball - just with the Chicago White Sox.
Seattle entered the trade deadline with six starting pitchers and two near-MLB ready hurling prospects tearing up Double-A more thoroughly than the family cocker spaniel handles little Timmy’s (previously completed, I’m sure) homework. The most obvious candidate for offload was Castillo, who has a 5.06 ERA, 4.57 FIP, and 1.395 WHIP over 20 games and 17 starts this season, not to mention around $30.3 million (the $7.178 million in prorated contract from this year and the $24.15 million for next year) in remaining guaranteed money until the end of 2027.
The team was in talks, evidently, about fellow starters George Kirby and Emerson Hancock, but with a standard five-man rotation after sending Castillo to Chicago’s South Side, there is a clear order of who’s going to pitch in these next few weeks.
The Sox sent the Mariners three players in return: right-handed relief pitcher Seranthony Domínguez, 28-year-old outfield project Nolan Jones, and Double-A catching prospect Boston Smith. Chicago also sent an undetermined amount of cash to the Mariners as part of the trade.
As for Castillo, while this perhaps isn’t the return the Mariners might have been hoping for (many mocks had been made about some sort of big MLB-impact return from the pitching-starved Cubs, for example), it makes sense that Castillo didn’t net a bat. His first year with the Mariners at age 29 was similar to his peak seasons with the Reds, but after that, his production began to decline year-over-year. The following chart from FanGraphs shows ERA, fielding independent pitching (FIP) and expected FIP (xFIP) in each of his big league seasons:
WATCH: Which Relievers Could Mariners Pursue in Free Agency?
While the bullpen largely served as a strength for the Mariners in 2025, it wasn’t good enough when it mattered most in Game 7 of the ALCS. Who could Seattle target to further bolster the pen this winter?
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