Some seasons, we’ll hear of a World Series hangover. That is, one of the two combatants from the previous season’s Fall Classic gets off to a bad start, and getting all the way to the World Series is cited as one of the reasons for the struggles. Pitchers were extended a full month past the regular season and the position players took part in upwards of 20+ extra games. Is it possible the 2026 Mariners were suffering from an ALCS hangover for a bit? After all, they did reach Game 7, the closest the franchise has ever come to making the World Series.
The Mariners, at various points this season, were 4-9, 8-13, 10-15. Just a week ago, they were still 25-29.
Thanks to playing in a bad division that has seen its leader flirting with .500 most of the season, though, Seattle has remained within striking range of first place throughout a two-month hangover.
It appears to be over.
The Mariners now have a six-game winning streak. They’ve done it every which way, with blowout wins, low-scoring close wins and a 7-6 walk-off in there, too. They are now in first place in the AL West, already having opened up a 2 ½-game lead. All it took was one great week and they’re in control.
Rookie shortstop Colt Emerson has provided a nice, powerful spark with six extra-base hits in his first 13 career games. Julio Rodríguez remains one of baseball’s most underrated stars (just check ballpark-adjusted stats instead of his actual slash line) and Randy Arozarena has been playing close to an MVP level. The Mariners have gotten by without much of anything from behind the plate, but maybe Cal Raleigh will look closer to the 2025 version when he returns from his oblique injury.
We know all about the Mariners’ strong rotation, with Emerson Hancock having a breakout season in front of George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert. The bullpen has mostly been good and surely Andrés Muñoz can eventually put his struggles behind him.
Even when the Mariners looked terrible in the early going, I never strayed and made sure to mention here multiple times that I still had them winning the AL West. They will. They can leave all these struggles safely in the rearview mirror if they keep playing the way they have this past week. And if they end up playing deep into October, the bad stretches in April and May will be nothing more than a footnote.
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Mariners
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Athletics
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Rk
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Teams
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Chg
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Rcrd
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1 |
Braves | Ronald Acuña Jr. was struggling, but that fell by the wayside rather quickly. In his last four games, he has five homers and 11 RBI. | — | 40-20 |
2 |
Dodgers | They’re on a rampage again. The Dodgers have won 14 of 17. | — | 38-21 |
3 |
Brewers | Perhaps no one better sums up the Brewers’ magic than Andrew Vaughn. In 610 games with the White Sox, the former first-round pick hit .248 with a 97 OPS+. In 48 games last season for Chicago, he was hitting .189/.218/.314. In 64 games after the Brewers grabbed him, he hit .308/.375/.493. This season, in 20 games, he’s hitting .344/.420/.508. | — | 35-21 |
4 |
Yankees | The Bronx Bombers have won six of seven and put up a 13-run inning on Sunday. They scored 10 before an out was recorded. Hilariously, the Yankees scored zero runs in the other eight innings. Baseball! | 1 | 36-23 |
5 |
Rays | The Rays have lost five of seven and their two wins came against the lowly Angels. | 1 | 36-20 |
6 |
Guardians | The Guardians were hot last week. That’s no longer the case. They just had a 2-4 homestand and are now tied with the White Sox in the loss column. | — | 34-27 |
7 |
Phillies | You take a 4-2 trip to Petco Park and Dodger Stadium every single time. That’s a big success. | 4 | 30-29 |
8 |
Pirates | Though overshadowed by a bigger name in the rotation, give it up for Braxton Ashcraft. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball. | 5 | 32-28 |
9 |
White Sox | The White Sox are currently on their third separate five-game winning streak of the season. Two years ago, they didn’t win five in a row once in the entire season. | 5 | 32-27 |
10 |
Mariners | He hasn’t been perfect, but it looks like maybe Luis Castillo could be a nice weapon in long relief. That’s three outings in which he’s worked 11 ⅓ innings and allowed three earned runs (2.38 ERA). He’s struck out 13. | 7 | 31-29 |
11 |
Diamondbacks | Corbin Carroll now has eight triples. No one else in baseball has more than four. He’s on pace for 22 triples this season. We haven’t seen a 20-triple season since 2007, when both Curtis Granderson and Jimmy Rollins got there. For those curious, the record should be safe: 36 by Owen Wilson (no, not that one) in 1912. | 3 | 31-27 |
12 |
Padres | Fernando Tatis Jr. (finally hit a home run!), Jackson Merrill and, to a lesser extent, Manny Machado have started to show signs of life. And yet the Padres have lost six of seven. It’s a bizarro season. | 5 | 32-26 |
13 |
Cardinals | Brutal loss last Wednesday for Dustin May. He had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, but the Cardinals only led 1-0. May coughed up a double and a bunt single before being removed. The Brewers got two runs off the Cardinals’ bullpen, both charged to May. He took the loss. | 4 | 31-26 |
14 |
Reds | Elly De La Cruz left Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury and he’s undergoing an MRI on Monday. The Reds really can’t afford to lose him for a length of time at this point. That offense around him is just so thin. | 4 | 30-28 |
15 |
Cubs | The Cubs lead the majors in runners left on base by a decent margin. The Pirates are second with 460 runners left on. The Cubs have stranded 488. It’s obviously good to get so many runners on, but a great team would do a better job at getting them home. | — | 32-28 |
16 |
Nationals | This is the first time the Nationals have been over .500 heading to June since they still had Bryce Harper. Yes, 2018. | — | 31-29 |
17 |
Blue Jays | With a win on Friday, the Jays climbed back to .500 for the first time since they were 4-4. Then they turned around and lost two straight. What’s worse? That included another Jeff Hoffman meltdown. | 1 | 29-31 |
18 |
Orioles | What is this? A sign of life!?!? The Orioles have won seven of 10. They’re only one game out of playoff position! | 5 | 28-32 |
19 |
Astros | They’ve won seven of 10 and just keep hanging around in the AL West race. Even last year, when they missed the playoffs, they were only on the outside looking in due to a tiebreaker. | 1 | 27-34 |
20 |
Rangers | The breakout season for Josh Jung remains on track. A career .255/.298/.426 hitter entering the season, he’s now slashing .316/.372/.495 with 16 doubles and seven homers. | 2 | 28-31 |
21 |
Athletics | They’ve lost seven of nine and are now 11-17 at “home.” | 9 | 28-31 |
22 |
Mets | The Mets finished a 16-12 May on a four-game winning streak. If they can keep playing four games above .500 per month, they’ll hang around in the wild-card race. | 4 | 26-33 |
23 |
Twins | Back in early April, the Twins started a run during which they won eight of nine. After that, they were one of the worst teams in baseball for weeks. Through this past Tuesday, the Twins had won seven of nine. They’ve since lost five straight. Uh oh. | 4 | 27-33 |
24 |
Marlins | The Marlins are actually pretty good at home, but they are a miserable 8-19 on the road. Unfortunately, their current road trip still has three games left. | 3 | 26-34 |
25 |
Red Sox | Not that it’s helping much in the W-L columns, but Jarren Duran has been on fire. In his last 14 games, he’s 20 for 60 with three doubles, a triple, six homers, 15 RBI and 10 runs. | 1 | 25-33 |
26 |
Angels | Guess who leads the American League in runs scored? Yep, Mike Trout. Get this man on a winner sometime in the next few years, please. | 3 | 23-37 |
27 |
Giants | The Giants had an emphatic, blowout win on Sunday, scoring 19 runs in Coors Field. Of course, they still lost the series and had lost five straight before the explosion. That’s just how things have gone this year. They’d be ranked lower, but the dregs of the league are particularly atrocious right now. | — | 23-36 |
28 |
Royals | Since May 9, the Royals have gone 3-16 with a negative-48 run differential. | 3 | 22-37 |
29 |
Tigers | The Tigers have lost 21 of their last 25 games. They are now on pace to lose 103 games. They haven’t lost 100+ games in a season since 2019. | 1 | 22-38 |
30 |
Rockies | The series win over the Giants was the Rockies’ only one in the month of May. Better late than never, I guess? | — | 22-38 |
