The Mariners’ offense has been, to put it simply, bad. Unfortunately, this isn’t a new problem. The Mariners have had a lackluster offense for most of their existence. Only recently were they catapulted to the status of a fringe playoff team, in no small part due to their pitching. From 2021 to the present, the Mariners have genuinely been a team to worry about in the AL West. Excelling at doing the little things, the Mariners’ offense has been good enough to just about get them by. Throughout 2021 and 2022, the Mariners were a team that was insanely hard to play. Great starting pitching, followed up by an elite bullpen, exceptional defense, and low strikeouts. These were the ideologies that Seattle tried to prop themselves up on.
Mariners’ Offense Must Rise to the Occasion in 2025
Missing playoffs by a game in 2021 and losing their long-time third base servant and Seattle legend, Kyle Seager shifted the Mariners’ focus. They made a splash in the trade market, acquiring Jesse Winker, who was the number-one-ranked LF going into the 2022 season, according to MLB Network. They also got Reds’ slugger third baseman Eugenio Suarez. The discourse around Suarez at the time was that he was just a salary dump who filled a hole. He played tremendous defense and provided much-needed pop at the hot corner. He was instrumental in the Mariners breaking the drought. In 2025, Suarez is still sorely missed by Seattle and their fans.
Flash forward to 2025
Unbeknownst to them, Seattle’s plate approach changed. Homeruns were in, walks and singles were out. Way out. Strikeouts were dangerously high. Their offense had become everything they spent years making it not. While a new fan favorite, Suarez led the league in strikeouts in both seasons in the PNW. Recently acquired former Blue Jays slugger Teoscar Hernandez hadn’t flopped in Seattle but overwhelmingly contributed to the strikeout culture, and they missed playoffs by a game, again.
Seattle is still searching for some identity in the batter’s box. Financial constraints placed on them by cheap ownership have left Seattle searching for dollar-store solutions to luxury problems. This means that in-house solutions will have to massively raise their 2024 bar.
Seattle needs more help from their big-name players.
In 2024, the Mariners seem to have had the worst-case scenario happen for almost all of their players. Regression, slow starts, injuries, you name it.
Mitch Garver
The biggest free-agent offensive signing in Seattle under Jerry Dipoto was also the one of the biggest disappointments. A World Series Champion with the Texas Rangers the year before, Garver signed a 2/$24mm deal with their divisional rivals that was announced on Christmas Eve, 2023. It says a lot about the type of player Garver was in 2024 that he really only had one highlight on the year. A walk-off homerun in a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Unrecognizable from any season in which he played more than 50 games, Garver was relegated from the everyday DH to the backup catcher. His batting average dropped almost a full 100 points from 2023 (.270 to .172). There are some silver linings, however. His power production was still good, hitting the third most homeruns of his career, and the second most RBI. Despite a hefty career high in strikeouts, he also put a new career high in walks. There is certainly room for improvement in 2025, and I think Garver would be the first person to tell you that.
J.P. Crawford
Going into his age 29 season in 2024, the Mariners’ Captain was one year removed from his career best year, where he slashed .266/.380/.438 with 19 homeruns and led the league with 94 walks, and a career best 5.1 WAR. It’s a testament to how valuable to this offense Crawford is that he received MVP votes. A career glove-first shortstop, Crawford showed the world that he can be valuable with his bat too.
So what happened in 2024? Injuries took away a third of the season and he never really got the ball rolling. His batting average dropped 64 points, but he still put up 2.7 WAR. When he’s on, the Mariners are on, and they desperately need him to be on.
Randy Arozarena
Until recently, Randy was one of those players you never really expected to get traded. He gets a pass for having to leave Tampa. It had to have been hard for him.
With that being said, he did increase his output once getting to the PNW. He raised his average by 20 points, and his OBP by 38 points. He also had 23 RBI in 54 games for Seattle, almost as much as the 37 he had in 100 games he had for the Tampa Bay Rays. Now that he’s settled into a new environment and team, Seattle needs Randy to be Randy this year.
Main Photo Credits: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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