SEATTLE -- The wintry end might not be on the immediate horizon in the Pacific Northwest, but baseball will return on Thursday when the Mariners embark on the regular season with Opening Day against the Athletics at T-Mobile Park. With all that in mind, here’s a look ahead to Seattle’s 2025 season: What needs to go right? The floor of this roster being a playoff team hinges on the rotation maintaining its remarkable health. The Mariners only played 13 games last year that weren’t started by Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, and even then, injuries to Castillo and Woo weren’t overly significant. That depth will be tested right out of the gate though in 2025, with Kirby expected to miss the schedule’s first month with right shoulder inflammation. Yet if those five can make a combined 150 starts, they should at least match the 85 wins they accumulated last year. And if the offense can supplement their starters by jumping from 21st in runs scored (4.17/game) to somewhere in the top 15, that could be the difference between being the first team on the outside looking into the postseason vs. actually getting into the tournament. |
Great unknown: Will the offense produce? The Mariners are mostly running it back with the group that they finished with last season, despite that group being the primary culprit for most of the team’s shortcomings. The only expected additions to the Opening Day roster are Donovan Solano and Rowdy Tellez, who will both be in the mix at first base and designated hitter. Solano will also see time at third base. Aside from budgetary constraints, the front office’s logic in not making more upgrades was their 21-13 finish after Dan Wilson and Edgar Martinez joined the coaching staff on Aug. 22, and that underlying numbers (a 104 wRC+, where league average is 100 and where the Mariners ranked tied for 10th) suggested that the lineup should’ve been better. But what they really need is more run scoring, because with their pitching staff, only a few runs could do the job on any given night. |
|
|
Team MVP will be: C Cal Raleigh While Julio Rodríguez might have the highest ceiling of any Mariners position player, if Raleigh can continue to replicate his production from the past three seasons, there won’t be a more valuable roster piece than “Big Dumper.” Last year, Raleigh was worth 5.4 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs), the most on the team and tied for 12th-most in baseball, after swatting 34 homers with 100 RBIs and slashing .220/.312/.436 (.748 OPS). He also played 135 games at the sport’s most demanding position, and a pitching staff that has been touted as one of the league’s best have all credited him for their success. Team Cy Young will be: RHP Logan Gilbert Entering his age-28 season, Gilbert has emerged as one of the game’s true workhorses and a beacon of consistency. He might not just earn the team’s top pitching honor, but that for the entire American League if he’s able to take another leap forward. One of the leading criteria among Cy voters is volume, and only four pitchers have more innings since Gilbert made his MLB debut in 2021. Over that stretch, his 12.4 WAR (per FanGraphs) ranks 11th, while his 3.60 ERA ranks eighth. But it’s also possible that Miller and/or Woo, who debuted two years after Gilbert, bridge the gap this year, and Kirby might have the highest ceiling of the entire group. |
Bold Prediction: The AL Cy Young winner will come from Seattle’s rotation Gilbert was the Mariners’ only arm to receive votes for the AL’s most prestigious pitching honor last year, but that could change this season, especially given Seattle’s blossoming reputation across the industry of possessing arguably the game’s best starting staff. The Mariners’ rotation led MLB in ERA (3.38), innings (942 2/3), quality starts (92), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.81) and OPS against (.650). Gilbert continues to get better, Kirby has been in the Cy Young race in each of the past two years (though he’ll be playing catchup due to right shoulder inflammation), Miller and Woo have emerged among the sport’s most talented young arms, and Castillo has been one of the true workhorses. It all points to the potential for a "Mariners vs. the field" type of year for the AL Cy Young. |
|
|
WRAPPING UP SPRING TRAINING |
|
|
• Matt Brash was back on bump in the Cactus League finale in a much-anticipated return from Tommy John surgery. Read more » • Tellez wows with glove and bat in final bid for roster spot. Read more » • Veteran OF Mitch Haniger was released by Seattle. Read more » • 1 important thing we learned about each team this spring. Read more » • Victor Robles now considered day to day after wrist X-rays come back negative. Read more » • Bright prospects and new faces: Recapping Seattle's Spring Training. Read more » |
|
|
FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW |
|
|
To subscribe to Mariners Beat, visit this page and mark "Mariners Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Mariners or that they're checked as your favorite team. |
|
|
© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
Please review our Privacy Policy.
You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB.
Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.
Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
|
|
|
|
