Mariners Somehow Turn Home Run Barrage Into Familiar Opening Day Letdown

This was, in the most exhausting way possible, an incredibly Mariners way to lose a baseball game. Seattle hit four home runs on Opening Day, got a historic first-swing jolt from Brendan Donovan, saw encouraging pop from Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley, and still walked off the field with a 6-4 loss because none of that power came with anybody on base. The Mariners finished with just six hits, left only three runners on, went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, and got absolutely nothing from the heart of the order when it mattered most.

Solo homers are fun. They wake up the building and look great in a recap. They also don’t solve the same problem when the offense still turns into a one-man-at-a-time operation. Seattle’s Nos. 2 through 4 hitters — Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, and Josh Naylor — went a combined 0-for-11, and when that happens, four home runs can still somehow feel weirdly empty.

Mariners Squander Donovan Spark in Bitter Opening Day Reality Check

Yet, there actually were real reasons to come away encouraged.

Canzone was the biggest one. Two homers, both crushed, and both coming from an effortless looking swing that makes you think this can’t just be brushed off as one loud night. Seattle needs more real power from complementary bats, not just theoretical upside. Raley did too. His fifth-inning homer was essentially a line-drive that only traveled 344 feet, but it came off the bat at 113.8 mph. If Seattle is going to become a deeper, more punishing lineup, those two can’t be occasional side dishes.

In the (Can)zone. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/TAaIGIlgCn
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 27, 2026

Donovan wasted zero time giving Mariners fans something to yell about. His leadoff homer in his first at-bat with Seattle was the first leadoff home run by a Mariner on Opening Day. Donovan did his part. The problem is that too many guys behind him didn’t.

The game ended up feeling so familiar. Seattle had the juice, but not the sequencing. You can live with Logan Gilbert giving up three runs over 5 1/3 innings if the offense cashes in its own chances. But the Mariners didn’t really create enough chances to cash in. Cleveland, meanwhile, got the big swing it needed when José Ramírez lined a two-run double in the seventh off Gabe Speier, and that was basically the difference.

Then came the most maddening part of the night: the ABS non-challenge.

In the eighth inning, with Seattle down a run, Raleigh took a 2-2 pitch for a called strike three and didn’t challenge, even though he admitted afterward he should have. Julio then went down looking in the next at-bat, and the inning died right there. MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer reported that the Mariners have a loose policy that leaves those decisions mostly to the catcher, and Raleigh flat-out said afterward, “Looking back, yeah, I should’ve done it.” That’s brutal. The ABS system is here now. It exists for exactly that kind of moment. Not using it there wasn’t just a missed opportunity. It was appalling game management in a spot where one overturned call could’ve changed the entire inning.

Still, it’s just one game and there were encouraging signs. Canzone looked dangerous. Raley looked healthy. Donovan announced himself immediately. But the larger picture still felt painfully familiar: too little traffic, too little from the middle, and one completely avoidable late-game failure in a moment that demanded better.