Seattle Mariners on the Wrong Side of History with AL West Collapse
UPDATE: According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, there have actually been quicker collapses, but the point still stands: What has happened to the Mariners has not been pleasant over the last month and change.
the Astros lead the AL West by percentage points
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) July 20, 2024
they trailed by 10 games entering 6/19
their 24 games are tied for 3rd-fewest by a team to erase a division deficit of 10+ games since divisions began, behind only:
1982 Dodgers: 13 games
1993 Red Sox: 20
h/t @EliasSports https://t.co/mYxbv9r9NQ
Neither the Dodgers team or the Red Sox team she cited ended up winning the division.
7:45 a.m PT: After an embarrassing 3-0 loss on Friday that dropped them out of first place in the American League West, the Seattle Mariners are now an embarrassing footnote in baseball history.
Per a story from MLB.com on Friday's loss:
It took just 24 games for the Mariners to lose their 10-game divisional lead. That’s the shortest span to lose a double-digit lead in the divisional era (since 1969) -- by far, per Elias. Going into this year, the dubious record was held by the 1995 Angels, who led the AL West by 10 1/2 games on Aug. 16 before the famous “Refuse to Lose” Mariners stormed back and ultimately won the division in a one-game playoff. That gap was covered in 33 games.
The M's led by 10.0 games over the Houston Astros in the month of June, only to lose it that quickly. Houston has played great baseball while the M's have slumped mightily. As of this moment, the Mariners are out of the playoff picture entirely, also trailing in the wild card race by 2.5 games.
What's made this even more frustrating for Seattle is that nearly everything that could go right - has - and they still haven't been able to capitalize. The Astros are out six starting pitchers, including mutliple for the year. Justin Verlander and Kyle Tucker are both out for this series, and the M's still put together a pitiful offensive performance that saw them register only four hits and squander the limited chances they had.
Seattle had runners at first and second with nobody out in the fifth inning but got a pop up and a double play to end the inning. They also had the bases loaded and two outs in the third and got a soft lineout off the bat of Cal Raleigh.
At 52-47, the Mariners will try to even up the series on Saturday night. George Kirby pitches against Framber Valdez. First pitch is 6:40 p.m. PT.
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