The Importance of the Athletics First Series Against the Seattle Mariners
The Athletics are aiming to be a .500 team in 2025, and in order to do that, they'll need to rack up some wins against the teams in the AL West. One team in particular has given them some trouble of late, and that's the Seattle Mariners.
In 2024, the A's were 4-6 against the M's heading into the final series of the season, and ended up getting swept, leaving them with a 4-9 mark on the year, and a .500 record in the second half of the season. The last year that the A's held a winning record against Seattle came during the Covid season in 2020 when they went 6-4.
From 2021-24, the A's have posted a 17-47 record in these meetings. Granted, the A's have only had one season in which they were a competitive team, with another three years of rebuilding during this time while the Mariners have had one of the best rotations in baseball, so the record makes plenty of sense.
But if the A's want to reach their goal in 2025, they're going to have to play teams like the Mariners more closely than a .265 winning percentage overall.
So what are we talking about when we say they need to have a good showing when the season kicks off for each club on Thursday, March 27? The simple answer is a split in the series. Each team takes home two wins, and they move on to their next opponent.
With perennial Cy Young contender George Kirby out for the time being, that may be the opening that the A's need in this series. Of course, Seattle has a whole slew of arms that they can throw at any team, and will presumably just move Bay Area native Bryan Woo up from the fifth spot in the order to No. 4.
In six appearances against the A's, Woo holds a 3-0 record with a 0.57 ERA, so maybe the A's would rather face Kirby after all.
Regardless of who is on the mound for Seattle, the A's are going to have to figure something out. The Mariners are projected to be in the mix atop the AL West with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, but a split would show that the A's are inserting themselves into the divisional race as well.
Plus, the confidence in the A's clubhouse would be through the roof if they're able to take down Seattle at least a couple of times in the season-opening series. This is a team that went 1-12 against the Mariners in 2023, and winning two games in one series would double that win total from the not-too-distant past.
One key for the A's in this series could be new addition Gio Urshela. In an interview this offseason, Brent Rooker talked about the Mariners being a club that throws a lot of high fastballs. Not too long after, the A's signed Urshela, who hit .269 against heaters last year.
The A's third baseman ranked in the 74th percentile in whiff rate, and the 85th percentile in strikeout rate last season on all pitches, and his whiff rate up in the zone was also extremely low. Facing Seattle's starters could be part of the reason why Urshela was brought in.
That said, his batting average on those pitches at the top of the zone, at least on the inside corner and in the middle, were .167 and .190. He's a better hitter when the ball travels just above the zone in those same areas (.290), or middle-in (.346), so in order for any pitcher to be effective, they're going to have to hit their spots with little margin for error.
The Mariners are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the division all year long, but a split in the opening series could be what the A's need to put themselves on people's radar for 2025.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.