SEATTLE — Yes, I’ve made the trip to the Pacific Northwest for this three-game series. If you’re going to the games check BCB social media later, I’ll post my seat location.
The Mariners made the ALCS last year and came within an agonizing Game 7 of making their first World Series.
Now they’re struggling to stay near .500.
Also of interest, especially with all the rain in Chicago this summer: The Cubs’ next six games will be indoors, in Seattle and Arizona.
For more on the Mariners, here’s Kate Preusser,
manager of our SB Nation Mariners site Lookout Landing.
There are a lot of bad Mariners seasons to compare it to, and obviously recency bias is a thing, but it’s hard to think of a worse season from a Mariners fan perspective. After advancing further in the playoffs than ever before last season, the Mariners — and their fans — came in to 2026 with understandably high expectations. The team had what most fans considered a solid off-season, as well, replacing Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suarez with Brendan Donovan, coming to terms on a long-term deal with trade deadline acquisition and immediate fan favorite Josh Naylor, and adding depth to the bullpen. These improvements, along with a young core, strong farm system, and weakened AL West, made the Mariners early pre-season favorites for a repeat run into the postseason.
Instead, everything that could go wrong, has. Donovan has missed most of the year after re-injuring the same injury that kept him out last year. That and injuries to J.P. Crawford forced the promotion of top prospect Colt Emerson before he had significant seasoning at Triple-A, and the young shortstop struggled, eventually being returned to Triple-A last week (in happier news, so far his replacement, utilityman and unheralded minor leaguer Brock Rodden has been doing quite well). Injuries have been a bugaboo on the season – there isn’t a member of the starting lineup that hasn’t missed time with some injuries, including Cal Raleigh, going on the IL for the first time in his career. Raleigh has cratered a year after being runner-up for AL MVP, and the suspicion around Seattle is the oblique injury that held him out early in the season still isn’t quite right. Naylor, who’s been dealing with a wrist injury, also hasn’t been able to repeat his sterling start in Seattle. although his bat has heated up lately. The only member of the starting lineup who’s been consistently available and productive has been second baseman Cole Young, whose breakout season has been one of the only positive aspects of the 2026 season, along with a career year from Randy Arozarena, who will be a free agent at the end of the season.
The injury bug carries over to the pitching, as well; setup man Matt Brash has missed all of the season, straining an already-thinned bullpen, and even spring training standout Cooper Criswell has been out of action for months. Carlos Vargas, another late-inning arm, has also been on the IL all season. By contrast, the rotation has been healthy with the exception of Bryce Miller, whose return caused some difficulties with a six-man rotation/piggyback setup until the team dealt Luis Castillo at the trade deadline. But none of the starters, except Logan Gilbert — and maybe Emerson Hancock, in the midst of a breakout year of his own after years of struggle — have been as strong and consistent as they have been in seasons past. They’ve looked pretty pedestrian at times this year, and that combined with the offensive struggles have made this season a very difficult watch for Mariners fans. Top prospect Kade Anderson remains waiting in the wings to help out when needed, but that probably won’t happen unless one of the starters goes down with an injury.
The biggest issue that’s plagued the Mariners is their inability to put together a consistent nine innings. The offense will score a pile of runs and the pitching will give up even more; a starter will have a solid outing only to have the bullpen blow it, or get no run support from the offense; the offense will score early and then not at all again. It’s been a disjointed mess to watch, and this late in the season, most fans have given up hope of a miraculous comeback, even with a truly dreadful AL West.
Fun facts
This series will be the Cubs’ last of the season in the Pacific Time Zone. Their next, at Phoenix, will be their last in the Mountain Time Zone (though since Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving time, Phoenix and Seattle are both on the same time during the baseball season). Six of their final nine series will be in the Central Time Zone and three in the Eastern Time Zone.
…..
The Cubs are 18-10 against the Mariners, for a winning percentage of .643. They have had more success against only two American League teams: .667 vs. the Athletics (18-9) and .679 vs. the Orioles (19-9). The Cubs are 9-5 at Seattle, the same as at home. That .643 also is third best vs. an AL team, after .786 at Baltimore (11-3) and .833 at Oakland and Sacramento (10-2).
…..
In their last trip to the Pacific Northwest, in April 2024, the Cubs lost the first game, 4-2, but won the next two, 4-1 and 3-2. They are 4-1 in series at Seattle, with the only loss by two games to one in 2010. The Cubs won both games played there in 2019.
(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Probable pitching matchups
Friday: Matthew Boyd, LHP (8-2, 4.02 ERA, 1.235 WHIP, 4.64 FIP) vs. Emerson Hancock, RHP (7-7, 3.30 ERA, 1.109 WHIP, 3.72 FIP)
Saturday: David Peterson, LHP (4-1, 4.06 ERA, 1.353 WHIP, 4.26 FIP in nine games with Cubs; 7-7, 5.29 ERA, 1.531 WHIP, 4.00 FIP in 25 games overall) vs. Kade Anderson, LHP (MLB debut)
Anderson is the Mariners’ top prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect and has dominated Double-A hitters in 18 starts in his first professional season.
Sunday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (8-9, 3.77 ERA, 1.088 WHIP, 4.54 FIP) vs. Bryan Woo, RHP (9-8, 4.10 ERA, 1.084 WHIP, 3.30 FIP)
Times & TV channels
Friday: 9:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Mariners market territories)
Saturday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market. In the Chicago local market this game will be on WPWR-Ch. 50 because WFLD-Ch. 32, Fox-TV’s primary channel, is carrying the Bears preseason game.
Sunday: 3:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Prediction
As noted above, the Mariners have struggled this year. The Cubs are 13-6 on the road since the beginning of July. All of this should add up to another series win, two of three.
Up next
The Cubs travel to Phoenix for a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning Monday evening.
