Seattle Mariners Struggles Against Left-Handers are Exposing Roster Flaws
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The Seattle Mariners suffered a gut-punch loss on Saturday night, falling 2-1 against the Athletics at T-Mobile Park.
As has become customary, the M's struggled against a left-handed starter, scoring just one run against Jeffrey Springs over 5.1 innings. Furthermore, they couldn't score in the bottom of the tenth inning against left-handed reliever Hogan Harris, who came in to get the final two outs.
According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the Mariners are now 1-6 against left-handed starters in the last seven games. They were just swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, who ran out three lefty starters as well.
The Mariners are 1-6 in their last 7 games against left-handed starters.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 24, 2025
Sunday, they face lefty Jacob Lopez. @MLBNetwork @SeattleSports
The Mariners have certainly had success against some lefties this year, beating Garrett Crochet and beating Tarik Skubal (twice), but the struggles lately have magnified some roster issues.
Right-handed hitting outfielder Victor Robles missed 119 games with injury and hasn't been here most of the year, though he did return on Saturday night, going 1-for-4. Dylan Moore, always designed as a player to hit lefties, was just DFA'd after hitting .193 this season. Donovan Solano, who is supposed to hit left-handers, is hitting just .181 against them.
Mitch Garver tends to start against left-handed pitchers, so he's never available to pinch-hit late in games, and the outfield duo of Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley is not built for southpaws, though Canzone has had some success this season.
Jorge Polanco, a switch-hitter, is hitting .235 against lefties, so that's certainly passable, but it's still his weaker side.
As noted by Morosi, the M's will see left-hander Jacob Lopez on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. PT. Perhaps when the rosters expand on Sept. 1, the Mariners can bring up Leo Rivas or Samad Taylor, which could certainly help alleviate issues against lefties.
The Mariners are 69-61.
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