Mariners eye Dodger series: ‘There will be excitement in the ballpark’
Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo
SEATTLE — Don’t write the Seattle Mariners off as a playoff team just yet this year.
Don’t write them into the postseason yet, either.
But they continued to give themselves a chance with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday afternoon before a sun-splashed T-Mobile Park crowd of 31,250.
It was the second straight victory for the Mariners (81-65) and allowed them to win the series after losing the opener to the Angels on Monday.
“It was a series we needed to win,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “Credit to our guys. They show up every day ready to compete.”
The wins keep Seattle in the thick of a wild race for either the American League West title or a wild-card spot in the postseason.
“We are in a really good spot,” Servais said after Wednesday’s triumph over the Angels. “These guys enjoy playing with each other. They are playing for each other. When you play for something bigger than yourself, good things can happen. It takes some pressure off.”
The Mariners appeared to be feeling the pressure while dropping eight of their first 11 games in September.
“Trying too hard, pressing, whatever — I don’t want to read too much into that,” Servais said after Tuesday’s 8-0 whitewash of the Angels, impotent offensively with injuries keeping stars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout out of action. “When we were going through the stretch we had in August, guys couldn’t wait to get into the batter’s box. It was like, ‘Let me be the guy to get the big hit.’ That was just two weeks ago. These are the same guys.”
Seattle was lights out in August, winning 21 of 27 games to seize the lead in the AL West. It was a remarkable recovery from a lackluster first 3 1/2 months in which the Mariners found themselves 47-48 and 10 games out of first place on July 19, a week after the All-Star break.
Since then, the Mariners have gone 34-17. With 16 regular-season games remaining, they need to finish 10-6 to better the 90-72 record they posted a year ago.
“It’s exciting for me, just like it was last year,” says Seattle’s resident superstar, second-year centerfielder Julio Rodriguez. “We’re playing a lot of meaningful games right now. Everybody is focusing on winning. That’s pretty cool. It brings us together as a team.”
After a slow first half, Rodriguez has caught fire and been even better than he was a year ago, when he hit .284 with 28 homers and 75 RBIs while claiming AL Rookie of the Year honors. If not for Ohtani, the 6-3, 230-pound Rodriguez would be in line for the AL Most Valuable Player Award.
The Mariners’ franchise player leads the AL in hits (171) and is among the top 10 in nearly every offensive category, including total bases (299, second), RBIs (99, third), stolen bases (36, third), runs (94, fourth), home runs (30, tied for fifth), average (.289, sixth), slugging (.505, seventh), OPS (.849, ninth) and doubles (34, tied for ninth).
Rodriguez this week became the fourth player in MLB history 22 years and younger to enter the “30/30 club” (homers/stolen bases), joining Trout, Ronald Acuna and Alex Rodriguez. He leads the AL with 17 homers since July 22.
“Julio has been phenomenal,” Servais said.
Good thing, became no other Mariner regular is batting as high as .270 this season. Seattle’s team average is .244, ninth-best in the AL. That’s right — six teams are hitting beneath that figure, the Yankees lowest at .225, not far from the Mendoza line. The Mariners have struck out 1,435 times in 145 games, nearly 10 K’s per outing.
Servais has been most concerned about runners left on base. Seattle ranks 29th in the majors in runners left in scoring position (3.74 per game). The Mariners were 6 for 11 in that category Tuesday but 0 for 6 on Wednesday.
Seattle has some long-ball pop. Eight players are in double figures in home runs, four with 20 or more. Catcher Cal Raleigh is hitting .235 but with 28 homers, most ever by a Mariner catcher. Right-fielder Teoscar Hernandez (.267, 25 homers, 86 RBIs) has been on base 28 consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors. “Teo’s been one of the hottest hitters in the league for awhile,” Servais said.
The Mariners’ strength, though, is pitching. They are tied for first in the majors in ERA (3.73), lead in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.60) and fewest walks per nine innings (2.52) and have allowed the second-fewest earned runs (537).
Luis Castillo has been the ace of the rotation, going 13-7 with a 3.08 ERA. The 6-2, 200-pound right-hander is one victory behind AL leaders Kyle Gibson, Zach Eflin and Chris Bassitt, ranks third in the league in innings pitched (181 1/3) and fourth in strikeouts (199).
On Wednesday, Castillo limited the Angels to three hits and two runs with eight strikeouts over six innings. Afterward, Servais was pleased when a reporter asked about Cy Young Award consideration for the 30-year-old Castillo, who came to Seattle in a trade with Cincinnati before the deadline last season.
“It’s certainly worthy of talking about,” Servais said. “He’s been fantastic. He doesn’t get enough credit. We’re not New York. We play in Seattle. East Coast gets more exposure. Luis has been the rock. He has put together an unbelievable season, has been the epitome of consistency.
“What Luis has done for us since we acquired him has been off the charts. His mindset has really helped our young pitchers. To see him go out there and compete the way he does … he is one of the elite pitchers in our league.”
George Kirby (10-9, eighth in the AL in ERA at 3.48) and Logan Gilbert (13-5, 11th at 3.61) join with Castillo to give the Mariners a solid 1-2-3 punch at the front of their rotation. Castillo (2), Kirby (3) and Gilbert (5) are among the top five in the league in WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched).
Think how strong Seattle’s rotation could be had not veterans Robbie Ray — the 2021 AL Cy Young winner — and Marco Gonzalez been lost to injury. Ray, signed to a five-year, $115-million free-agent contract in 2022, had one start and three innings and underwent arm surgery in May. Gonzalez, a mainstay with the Mariners over the last six seasons, going 56-45 from 2018-22, last pitched on May 28. He was 4-1 in 10 starts and had arm surgery in August.
The Mariners’ bullpen was weakened when they sent closer Paul Sewald to Arizona at the trade deadline for outfielder Dominic Canzone and infielders Josh Rojas and Ryan Bliss. Fireballing Andres Munoz (3-7, 2.89, 13 saves) has taken over the closer role, with 62 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings.
Last season, Seattle reached the postseason for the first time since 2001, beating Toronto 2-0 in the wild-card series, then falling 3-0 to Houston in the divisional series. The Mariners have a chance to improve on that, but they’ll have to get to the postseason first.
After Wednesday action, the AL West race, and the league wild-card chase, were tighter than painted-on jeans. Houston (83-64), Texas (81-64) and Seattle (81-65) are vying for the AL West crown. The two teams that don’t win the AL West are in competition with Toronto (80-66) for the second and third AL wild-card spots.
Games remaining for the contenders:
SEATTLE (16: 10 home, 6 road): vs. Dodgers Sept. 15-17, at A’s Sept. 18-20, at Rangers Sept. 22-24, vs. Astros Sept. 25-27 and vs. Rangers Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
HOUSTON (15: 6 home, 9 road): at Royals Sept. 15-17, vs. Orioles Sept. 18-20, vs. Royals Sept. 22-24, at Mariners Sept. 25-27, at D-Backs 29-Oct. 1.
RANGERS (17: 6 home, 11 road): at Toronto Sept. 14, at Cleveland Sept. 15-17, vs. Boston Sept. 18-20, vs. Seattle Sept. 22-24, at Angels Sept. 25-27, at Mariners Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
BLUE JAYS (80-66) (16: 10 home, 6 road): vs. Rangers Sept. 14, vs. Boston 16-18, at Yankees 19-21, at Rays 22-24, vs. Yankees 26-28, vs. Rays 29-Oct. 1.
All four teams have challenges remaining. The Mariners and Blue Jays have the advantage in home games remaining, but the Mariners must face the Dodgers and the Blue Jays have six games left against Tampa Bay. The Astros play six games against Kansas City but also have series left with Baltimore, Seattle and Arizona.
Seattle will get to pretty much determine its own fate, with nine games against divisional foes Texas and Houston over the final week and a half.
At the All-Star break, and again when the Mariners went 3-8 to start September, things looked a bit bleak. But here they are, two and a half weeks to go, still very much in the playoff chase.
“We never got down about it,” said Rodriguez, signed by the Mariners for $120 million covering a contract that runs through 2029. “Even the best teams go through tough stretches. We know what we’re capable of. Every single win matters at this point. We’re not taking anything for granted.”
“We never lost faith,” Kirby said. “We went through a rough patch, but we’ve got each other’s backs. It’s super close, and we’re still in the race. We look forward to keep playing good baseball and hopefully get in the playoffs.
“For us, the biggest thing is to control what you can control. Do our job every day and the results will take care of themselves.”
Thursday is a rest day for the Mariners, who have played on 13 consecutive days.
“We need a day off,” Servais said. “It’s been a grind.”
T-Mobile Park will be loud for this weekend’s highly anticipated series with the Dodgers, who own the third-best record in the majors behind Atlanta and Baltimore. Tickets remain for Friday night’s opener, but the park is sold out for Saturday and Sunday.
I asked Servais about the biggest challenge the Mariners will face against the Dodgers. He paused, then smiled.
“They’re really good,” he said. “They got (Mookie) Betts. They got (Freddie) Freeman. They got players. They got bullpen.
‘We have a day off. We’ll worry about that on Friday, OK?”
Later, he added this: “There will be excitement in the ballpark this weekend. We need everything our fan base can bring.”
Rodriguez offered the same line of thinking.
“I’ve said it many times: Without our fans, we don’t have the same energy,” he said. “Having them backing us up, it definitely feels good.”
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