The 2025 Mariners are no more.
I already wrote my season recap. I intentionally published it before the playoffs to feel like I could say something objective without the benefit of hindsight. The playoffs are random, if you hadn’t heard. They’re a short series of coin flips. The best player in MLB can lose. The best team in MLB
can lose. It’s a fine epilogue for the winner. It’s not what defines a season.But even armed with that mindset, it was tough not to watch the coin turn in the air these last
few weeks, seeing the possibilities with each rotation. And it was only more difficult to watch as it clanged against the earth, spin indecisively — violently, even — as the final rattles revealed its face.
Why aren’t the Mariners playing in the World Series?
It’s a mistake to analyze a coin flip. Sure, you can calculate the angle or velocity or distance to the floor. But you’ll never escape the coin’s essential nature. The Mariners lost because somebody had to.
Beyond that? Pitching, mostly. It wasn’t good. The Mariners’ rotation averaged less than five-innings per game and posted a 4.40 FIP, 4.47 ERA and 5.40 xERA. The only teams with worse starting pitching this postseason were the Brewers and Reds, who each got torched by the Dodgers.
As a result, the bullpen picked up 60.2 innings — by far the most of the postseason. That’s not ideal. The Mariners only had four reliable relievers, and they were asked to cover 5+ innings almost every night. Dan Wilson was frequently confronted with a trio of bad options: stick with a struggling starter, turn to one of the good relievers early in the game, or go with a lesser choice. The way Wilson navigated this task has been the source of considerable handwringing, but most of his decisions get a big ol’ shrug from me. Pitch better.
The one decision I found myself with an opinion on was, of course, THE decision. In ALCS Game 7, Kirby did well to get through five innings, and Bryan Woo did well to get through two more. The Mariners held a two-run lead and needed to get nine outs to reach the World Series. The options, in no particular order, were Woo, Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash, Eduard Bazardo, and Gabe Speier (and potentially Bryce Miller or Luis Castillo).
Wilson stuck with Woo to begin the inning. I’m more skeptical of this choice in hindsight, but Woo was facing the Blue Jays’ bottom third. Shrug. The issue was he walked the leadoff batter and then gave up a single. That forced Wilson to the bullpen to face the top of the order. He chose Bazardo.
Is this the move I would have made? No. I would have gone with Muñoz. And I can’t think of a good reason to have gone with anyone else. I appreciate this was a bit more complicated, as Woo all but ensured the top of the order would come up again in the bottom of the ninth. But I want my best pitcher in that spot, and that was undoubtedly Muñoz. Wilson instead went with his second or third best option, and, well, there was no bottom of the ninth.
It’s always unfortunate when a postseason comes down to a pitching change. It’s unfair to the pitcher who failed, and Bazardo especially had been good. I also think it’s somewhat unfair to Wilson. Wearing it comes with the hoodie, but the pitching change overshadows just how bad the Mariners played most of the series. Game 6 is the real bummer for me. They pitched bad (especially the starters), they hit bad (especially the bottom of the order), their defense was weak (which seemed to apply across the board), and they ran the bases poorly in what few chances they had. The Blue Jays outplayed them. They outplayed themselves. That it came down to Wilson is only evidence of the coin’s existence, and my criticism of his performance is the same as for anyone who calls the wrong face. Choose better.
One thing this postseason made clear is the October truisms don’t hold up. Their brand of pitchers and homers wasn’t specifically adept to the playoffs; their momentum from September didn’t carry over because that’s not how coin flips work. And yet, the Mariners were one bad pitch from the World Series because they won their division and had a first round bye. Oh yeah- the Mariners are still 2025 AL West champs! If there’s any key to postseason success, it’s being there. They were. That’s what defines 2025 for me.
Of course, this brings up a sticky point. As I argued in my season recap, the Mariners were essentially (and in some ways literally) the same team as they were the last four years. This season (and this playoff run) serves as proof of concept for their team building model, but I wouldn’t call it a step forward. It seems they’ve now caught the car: do they continue to hoard assets, buy at the margin, and stalk opportunity in the long-term, knowing they’ll be back here with time? Or do they get “uncomfortable” in addressing the depths of their roster, defend the division more directly, and demand this opportunity again next year?
In the end, I was surprised by how familiar the postseason looked. I’m not sure what I was expecting. Jorge Polanco’s walkoff in ALDS Game 5 was a great moment, but I mostly remember the aggravating 14+ innings that came before. Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam I found especially moving, but my feelings for that play are complicated by the outcome of the series. The playoffs were simply an extension of the regular season, with the same sense of invincibility and defeat. They won the same ways. They lost the same ways. I don’t know the last time I missed an inning of this team.
