Seattle, WA

State of the Seattle Mariners: What stands out at All-Star break

Published

1 year ago

July 15, 2024

State of the Seattle Mariners: What stands out at All-Star break

After such a promising start to the road trip, the Seattle Mariners are skidding into the All-Star break on the heels of maybe their most frustrating series of the season.

Mariners select switch-pitcher with first-round pick in MLB Draft

The Mariners began their Southern California trip last week with a two-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and an 11-0 thrashing of the lowly Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.

But things quickly turned after that.

On Friday night, the Mariners lost 6-5 on a walkoff two-run home run by Willie Calhoun in the 10th inning. On Saturday night, they fell 2-1. And on Sunday afternoon, they blew a late lead and lost 3-2 after Jo Adell hit a three-run homer in the eighth. Three games, three agonizing one-run losses to one of the worst teams in baseball.

Here’s a look at what stands out for the M’s heading into the All-Star break.

Seattle Mariners standings update

Remember back on June 19 when the Mariners held a massive 10-game lead atop the American League West? That sure seems like a long time ago now. Seattle (52-46) enters the break with just a one-game division lead over the Houston Astros (50-46) and a five-game advantage over the Texas Rangers (46-50). Buckle up, because the final two and a half months could be quite a race in the AL West.

Hitting woes continue

The Mariners had two big offensive outbursts this past week, racking up eight runs and 13 hits against the Padres on Tuesday and 11 runs and 15 hits against the Angels on Thursday. However, those performances came with some major caveats: Seattle scored nearly all of those runs against a Padres rookie starter who entered with a 7.52 ERA, an Angels rookie who was making his MLB debut and an Angels long reliever who was making his season debut.

In their other four games this past week, the Mariners mustered a total of just 10 runs. On Wednesday, they managed just two runs and four hits against the Padres. And over the final 25 innings of their weekend series against the Angels, the M’s totaled just four runs against a pitching staff that has the third-worst ERA in the majors. The series ended with a dismal showing on Sunday, when Angels long reliever Carson Fulmer struck out seven of the 17 Mariners he faced in his season debut. Seattle was no-hit through five innings and finished with 15 strikeouts. It was the eighth time this season that the Mariners have struck out 15-plus times.

Heading into the All-Star break, Seattle ranks 28th in runs per game (3.87), dead-last in batting average (.219), 25th in on-base percentage (.300), 28th in slugging percentage (.367) and 28th in OPS (.667). The Mariners also have far and away the highest strikeout rate in the league at 28.1%, which is two full percentage points higher than the next-closest team. Seattle has been held to three runs or fewer in 50 of its 98 games, including 14 times in its past 23 games.

Julio heating up

Julio Rodríguez is finally starting to look like Julio Rodríguez. After a perplexing first half of the season, the Mariners’ 23-year-old slugger seems to be rediscovering the superstar form that made him one of baseball’s brightest young talents over his first two MLB seasons. Since July 4, Rodríguez is batting 16 for 30 with three homers and three doubles. To put that in context: He has six extra-base hits in his past 30 at-bats. Prior to that, he had just 13 extra-base hits in 344 at-bats this season. If this is indeed a turning point for Rodríguez, that would be a major boost for Seattle’s struggling lineup.

Cal’s massive week

The other bright spot for the Mariners’ offense this past week was Cal Raleigh. The 27-year-old catcher blasted five homers over the first four games of the road trip, twice homering from both sides of the plate in the same game. During that four-game span, he went 8 for 17 with six extra-base hits. He also picked up his fifth stolen base, making him a perfect 5 for 5 on stolen-base attempts this season after swiping only one bag combined over his first three MLB seasons.

Raleigh has 20 home runs at the break, which ranks 13th in the majors and is three more than any other catcher in baseball. He also has throw out an MLB-leading 23 base-stealers, which is three more than the next-closest catcher. His five stolen bases are also tied for the MLB lead among catchers.

Gilbert caps first half in style

One week ago, Logan Gilbert was named to his first All-Star Game. The 27-year-old right-hander then backed up his selection with two more brilliant outings. Last Tuesday against the Padres, Gilbert took a shutout into the seventh inning and finished by allowing just three runs and four hits in 7 2/3 strong frames. He then tossed seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball against the Angels on Sunday, while racking up nine strikeouts and no walks en route to his MLB-leading 16th quality starts.

Gilbert has posted a 2.79 ERA and an MLB-best 0.87 WHIP in 132 1/3 innings this season, while totaling 124 strikeouts and 25 walks. He leads the majors in innings pitched, ranks fifth with a .191 opponent batting average and is 10th in ERA. He has allowed one earned run or fewer in 10 of his 20 starts and has thrown seven-plus scoreless innings four times, including three times in his past six outings.

Seattle Mariners’ one-run magic has flipped

Seattle had excelled in one-run games earlier this season, but it’s been the opposite over the past 10 days. The Mariners have lost five consecutive one-run games, dropping three straight one-run games to the Angels this past weekend and back-to-back one-run games to the Toronto Blue Jays the previous weekend. Seattle is now 19-14 in one-run contests this year.

Up next

After the All-Star break, the Mariners open the unofficial second half of the season on Friday with a massive three-game against the Astros at T-Mobile Park. It will be the third of four series between the AL West rivals this year and could go a long way to determining the division title. Seattle is 5-2 against the Astros this season.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Seattle Mariners MLB Draft Tracker: Keep up with every 2024 pick
• How Mariners prospects did in MLB Futures Game
• The Mariners player who doesn’t want All-Star break to happen
• Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz added to AL All-Star team
• Seattle Mariners Trade Targets: Three bats from within AL West

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Seattle, WA

Seahawks Will Host Rams Or 49ers In Divisional Round

Published

5 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Seahawks Will Host Rams Or 49ers In Divisional Round

The Seahawks will host an NFC West opponent in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Whether that opponent is the Rams or the 49ers will be determined on Sunday when the 49ers play the Eagles in Philadelphia. Also still to be determined is the date and time of the game.

The Rams, who are the No. 5 seed, beat the Panthers on Saturday to advance, and since Seattle, as the No. 1 seed, hosts the lowest-seeded team that advances out of the wild card round, the sixth-seeded 49ers would come to Lumen Field if they win on Sunday. If the Eagles win, however, the Rams would come to Seattle, while the Eagles would head to Chicago to face the Bears, who beat the Packers on Saturday night.

The Seahawks split the season series with both teams, losing to the 49ers in Week 1 and the Rams in Week 11 before beating the Rams in Week 16 and the 49ers in Week 18 as part of a seven-game winning streak that helped them win the NFC West and earn the No. 1 seed.

Next weekend’s game at Lumen Field will be the Seahawks’ first home playoff game with fans in the stadium—they hosted a wild card game in an empty stadium following the 2020 regular season—since they beat the Lions in the wild card round during the 2016 season. Prior to that empty-stadium loss to the Rams five years ago, the Seahawks won 10 consecutive home playoff games dating back to the start of their Super Bowl run in 2005. The Seahawks have reached the Super Bowl in each of the three previous seasons that they earned the No. 1 seed.

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Seattle, WA

Paul Arriola, Pedro de la Vega and the Seattle Sounders return in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Published

17 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Paul Arriola, Pedro de la Vega and the Seattle Sounders return in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Forgotten. Absent. Inconsistently healthy. Weights of expectation.

These heroes offered glimpses and scenes of their greatness in 2025.

Paul Arriola, X Man

Paul Arriola gave us a glimpse of his former greatness before his injury. Once a DP, once the highest value transfer within MLS, once recruited to skip MLS entirely for what was at the time a much better league, Arriola’s all comps contributions per 90 would compare to wingback style players Jordi Alba and the now-gone Ali Ahmed.

Arriola slides right in that space, with his 0.57. Now, a discerning reader such as yourself will imagine small sample sizes and opponent quality. You would be correct. But Paul also put up similar numbers in MLS in 2018, 2021 and 2022. His time in MLS as a whole is .40/90 (in the realm of last season’s Christian Espinoza).

Defining Arriola’s role is always going to be hard. He’s played as many wide roles as exist in the modern game. With Seattle, he could be a left or right winger in a four-front if they choose to run a 3-2-4-1, or a wingback in a 3-4-2-1 or a conventional winger in a 4-2-3-1. No matter his role, he’s been strong. His calls to the US National Team ran every year from age 20-27, when he put up better numbers there than he did in league play. He’s now 30.

Pedro de la Vega, the injury saga

Sounders fans know how bright Pedro can burn. So do, Lanus fans, Argentina fans, Cruz Azul fans, Santos Laguna fans, Tijuana fans, Puebla, Galaxy, Inter Messi and a smattering of other MLS teams. The Leagues Cup player of the year and wonder goal nominee is absolutely thrilling, when available.

Lanus, Argentina and Seattle also know his history of injuries. Injuries are why he’s in Seattle.

PdlV only played 41% of available minutes in all competitions. A healthy winger of his quality should be around 66% or so. His absolutely stellar all comps performance of 0.72 is on par with Hany Mukhtar, at 20th in MLS play. Pedro is ahead of Diego Rossi, Djordje Mihailovic, and Dejan Joveljić.

When you think about how the Seattle Sounders will make up ground for the inevitable decline of Danny Musovski the names Arriola and de la Vega should be bandied about.

They weren’t merely better than the people who replaced them on the Sounders – they’re better than the majority of high-profile players in the league.

In 2025 Craig Waibel raised the floor and the peak. Injuries gave us only a few glimpses of that peak.

2026 is when the multi-competition heroic Sounders can once again show their prowess and why their presence as a top tier club is eternal.

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Catching up on Sounder at Heart

Here’s what you missed on the site this week.

Sounders

Next match: Sunday, February 22, 2026 v. the Colorado Rapids | 6 p.m. PT | Apple TV/FS1

Reign

Schedule to come next week.

Defiance

Schedule to come.

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Seattle, WA

Here’s why the Blue Angels in Seattle on Monday

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Here’s why the Blue Angels in Seattle on Monday

SEATTLE – Known for their high-flying skills above the skies during air shows, the Blue Angels will be in Seattle once again on Monday.

But with Seafair not until the summer, many are wondering why the Navy pilots are in the Emerald City ahead of schedule.

Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets are flying The Diamond Roll (four planes in formation), doing a 360-degree roll as one unit, flying at 400 mph over Lake Washington for the Seafair weekend in Seattle. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Keep reading to find out why the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are in Seattle on Jan. 12.

Why are the Blue Angels in Seattle now?

The Blue Angels returned to Seattle on Monday to begin preseason planning for the 2026 Boeing Seafair Air Show.

Pilots will assess airshow locations, scouting the skies and getting familiar with the landscape ahead of the Seafair Weekend Festival, when they perform in three separate air shows. Their visit brings the iconic Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornets to the city, the aircraft pilots use during the air show.

Blue Angels pilots plan to stay in Seattle until Tuesday, coordinating with Seafair event organizers. Last year, only two Blue Angels pilots were in Seattle for preseason planning, instead of the entire squadron.

When are the Blue Angels coming back to Seattle?

The Blue Angels will fly back to western Washington for the 2026 Boeing Seafair Air Show, on Friday, July 31 – Sunday, August 2, 2026.

They’ll also be in town for two practice runs on Thursday, July 30.

When is the 2026 Seafair Air Show?

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will perform in three air shows throughout Seafair weekend. They’re happening each afternoon on July 31 through Aug. 2 on Lake Washington and at Genesee Park.

The multi-day Seafair Weekend Festival also includes the Apollo Mechanical Cup Hydroplane Races, along with live entertainment, food and drinks, and family-friendly activities. Tickets for the festival go on sale in February.

Who are the Blue Angels?

The Blue Angels is a team of elite Navy flight demonstrators, showcasing their aviation skills in high-speed, precision aerobatic performances.

They perform in air shows across the U.S. each year, with the goal of inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country, displaying the teamwork and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

Formed in 1946, this year marks the 80th year of the Blue Angels. They take pride in performing for audiences both at home and abroad, showcasing the excitement, precision, and power of Naval aviation.

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The Source: Information in this story came from U.S. Navy Blue Angels, Seafair, and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.

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