Inside The Mariners

Here's Early Season Grades For Seattle Mariners 54 Games Into 2025

The Mariners are a third of the way through the season and have exceeded expectations in some areas, while falling short in others.
Teren Kowatsch|
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) celebrates after hitting a home run against the Chicago White Sox on May 21 at Rate Field.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) celebrates after hitting a home run against the Chicago White Sox on May 21 at Rate Field. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are officially a third of the way through the 2025 season. Entering Thursday, the Mariners have a 30-24 record and lead the American League West by half a game.

It's been a chaotic and surprising season for Seattle in several ways, and there will be more twists and turns before the year ends.

Here's some grades for the Mariners a third of the way through the season:

Offense

Seattle's offense has been one of the biggest shocks in the early part of 2025. The lineup was responsible for a large number of the team's wins during its nine-series win streak from April 7-May 7. Entering Thursday, the Mariners are sixth in the majors in home runs (73), 10th in RBIs (238), 10th in runs (247), 11th in OPS (.324) 11th in OPS (.722) and fourth in wRC+ (114).

Seattle's offense has started to slow down since its series win streak was snapped by the Toronto Blue Jays in a series May 9-11. From that point through Wednesday, the Mariners are slashing .220/.291/.364 with a .655 OPS and have struck out 175 times in 18 games.

The M's have overcome lengthy injuries to starters Luke Raley, Ryan Bliss and Victor Robles. The club has gotten contributions from up and down the lineup that have helped make up for the trio's absences.

Individual players like Jorge Polanco and Ben Williamson have seen their numbers regress after solid starts to the season, which has coincided with the offense slowing down.

Seattle's offense could go either direction at this point, and its current homestand is proof of that. The Mariners won 9-1 against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday and were shut out 9-0, also against the Nationals, on Wednesday.

At this point, the offense has done well enough overall to earn a positive grade.

Grade: B

Starting pitching

The starting rotation was the undisputed strength of the team going into the season. The unit boasted three All-Stars and Seattle was the only team that had four pitchers start 30 or more games in 2024.

This season, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller all landed on the 15-day injured list. In their stead, the Mariners went through much trial and error before settling on solild substitutions. Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock eventually settled into their roles on the rotation nicely. Evans had the longest outing for an M's starter this season and threw eight innings against Washington on Tuesday. Hancock has four quality starts in his last seven outings.

Luis Castillo has started to find his midseason form and Bryan Woo is the only pitcher in the American League to throw six or more innings in 10 starts. Kirby has made just two starts since being activated off the IL, and is still trying to regain his All-Star form. Miller struggled before landing on the IL, but received a cortisone shot for elbow inflammation that was responsible for a lot of his difficulties. Gilbert will begin his rehab assignment with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday.

The starters have been significantly better in the last two weeks, but they'll need to sustain that for longer in order to earn a positive grade.

Grade: C

Bullpen

Seattle's bullpen has been the most volatile unit on the roster this season. Due to the rotation's struggles, the relievers have been at or near the top of the major leagues in innings pitched for most of 2025. The Mariners had to pull bullpen arms from Tacoma to make up for the high usage the first month of the season.

Like the rotation, the bullpen has started to settle in. Matt Brash and Jackson Kowar have both been activated off the injured list and have looked good in their respective outings. Carlos Vargas, who was on the roster bubble in spring training, has become a legitimate high-leverage reliever and the pecking order of the bullpen has become a lot more clear than it was at the beginning of the season.

Seattle also has arguably the best closer in baseball. Andres Munoz hasn't allowed an earned run (0.00 ERA), has struck out 28 batters in 22.2 innings across 23 appearances and has a league-leading 17 saves in 19 opportunities.

Entering Thursday, the Mariners are 10th in the majors in bullpen ERA (3.48) and tied for third in saves (18).

The early chaos, high usage and constant turnover dings Seattle's relievers slightly. But having Munoz, and the way the bullpen has pitched recently raises the overall grade.

Grade: B

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Teren Kowatsch
TEREN KOWATSCH

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