The Mariners took care of business<\/p>\n
The Mariners<\/a> are in a tough spot. Among the AL\u2019s wild card teams, they have had the most difficult road: the Red Sox<\/a> stumbled a bit, sure, but have more than recovered and have been among the league\u2019s best over the summer, while the Yankees<\/a> have seemingly rebounded from their midsummer mediocrity. Seattle, though, has one month in the entire season in which they were great. Through April, they were 18-12, and are 57-56 since. They were outscored in May, and sat a combined +8 in July and August combined.<\/p>\n They also began their September with an 0-4 run, but over the weekend remembered that they are supposed to be holding onto a wild card spot rather than losing it to \u00a0the likes of the Rangers<\/a> (1.5 back), Royals<\/a> (two back) and Guardians<\/a> (2.5). While Seattle lost the first of a three-game set to the Braves<\/a>, they paid Atlanta back for that and then some in the next two contests. The Mariners won on Saturday in a 10-2 romp featuring Cal Raleigh<\/a>\u2019s MLB-leading 52nd home run of the year\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026and then on Sunday the beat down intensified. The Mariners took down the Braves, 18-2, with Raleigh hitting his 53rd shot of the year.<\/p>\n Of course, there was a lot more offense than what two homers could provide. Seattle picked up a combined 31 hits and 12 walks in these two games, to go along with the 28 runs: the Mariners walked all over Atlanta on Saturday, with “just” 11 hits and nine free passes, then went almost all-hit on Sunday, knocking out 20 of them against three walks. Julio Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> hit a pair of dingers on Saturday, Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/a> added his 43rd of the year and Josh Naylor<\/a> went yard, too, in addition to Raleigh\u2019s blast. On Sunday, Jorge Polanco<\/a> went deep, Naylor hit another, Su\u00e1rez hit another two, and there was the aforementioned Raleigh long ball, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mariners don\u2019t need to score 29 runs per series to win two of three from here on out or anything, but they do need to shake off their months of mediocrity if they are to survive September with a postseason spot in their grasp\u2026 and then do anything with it if they can manage that. They need to beat teams like the Braves when they get the chance, because the end of the season is going to be brutal: the Mariners close with consecutive series against the Royals (Kansas City is chasing Seattle and within striking range), the Astros<\/a> (the Mariners are 2.5 back of Houston in the AL West), the Dodgers<\/a> (it\u2019s the Dodgers) and the Rockies<\/a> (could be one of the worst teams ever, sure, but this is the Mariners, meaning that\u2019s actually a cause for alarm in games that matter to them).\u00a0<\/p>\n Orioles\u2019 improbable comeback<\/p>\n Yes, the above paragraph did contain an “it\u2019s the Dodgers” parenthetical, because it is, in fact, the Dodgers. While they aren\u2019t quite mired in mediocrity like the Mariners have been, there are still plenty of causes for concern and heartbreaking losses that could probably have been avoided in some way, if only for X, Y, and Z happening instead of what actually transpired. Saturday\u2019s game against the Orioles<\/a> is a prime example. Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning. Los Angeles was up 3-0 on Baltimore, on the road. The Dodgers ended up losing, and not even in extras. The Orioles attacked all at once, and the Dodgers couldn\u2019t stop it.<\/p>\n Even worse is that all of this happened with two outs. Yamamoto was a single out away from a no-hitter \u2014 it would have been the first in MLB this year, somehow \u2014 and then Jackson Holliday<\/a> struck.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s just one run, though, no need to panic. Except then Blake Treinen<\/a> came in, and pitched in a way that made you wonder if maybe Yamamoto going past 112 pitches was actually the better play. Jeremiah Jackson<\/a> doubled on a 96-mph sinker that caught too much of the plate, then Treinen hit Gunnar Henderson<\/a> with a pitch. He then threw a wild pitch to advance both runners into scoring position, and walked Ryan Mountcastle<\/a> to load the bases before walking Colton Cowser<\/a> to allow a run. Tanner Scott<\/a> would come in to relieve Treinen, who clearly did not have it, but it was too late. Emmanuel Rivera<\/a> took care of the rest.<\/p>\n A bases-loaded single plated two more runs, and Baltimore would win, 4-3. The Dodgers would end up winning on Sunday \u2014 more on that in a moment \u2014 but did lose a game of ground over the Padres<\/a> in the NL West because they dropped a series to the Orioles \u2014 they also lost to Baltimore on Friday via walkoff. San Diego sits just one game back with 18 to go.<\/p>\n At least there\u2019s Ohtani<\/p>\n The Dodgers had a tough weekend, but Shohei Ohtani<\/a> wasn\u2019t responsible for it, at least. After he was scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday with a chest cold, he made a surprise and necessary fill-in start for Tyler Glasnow<\/a>, who was dealing with back tightness, on Friday. Ohtani didn\u2019t have his recent longevity on display, going just 3.2 innings, but he held the Orioles scoreless and struck out 5 batters without allowing a run. The real problems came later after he had already left the mound.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, on Sunday, Ohtani\u2019s bat did its thing. He hit a leadoff homer in the top of the first inning\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026and then provided a bit of insurance after that in the top of the third with a second blast, No. 48 of the season.<\/p>\n The Dodgers were able to provide some additional help this time around, with Los Angeles avoiding a sweep and another walk-off loss with a 5-2 win.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rafaela\u2019s absurd grab<\/p>\n It\u2019s been mentioned in this space before, but MLB\u2019s outfielders are fantastic at robbing home runs these days. You can see by looking how well-practiced they are at camping underneath a ball and timing their leap to make the perfect grab. Which is what makes Ceddanne Rafaela\u2019s<\/a> grab on Saturday night all the more impressive. He did not have time to camp or time. He did not have time for anything besides what he did, which was to fun full bore from center field to nearly right field, leap and stick his glove out exactly where the ball was landing. The most he allowed himself was a fraction of a second beat to check where the wall was in relation to himself, so he would be able to time when to leap rather than crash.<\/p>\n That is, without a doubt, one of the great catches of 2025, if not even longer. It\u2019s a beauty \u2014 Rafaela started out in center, saw where the ball was going, and\u00a0booked it to right-center. The ball hung up in the air for about five seconds total, which is not all that long when you need to run across an outfield, and Rafaela was exactly where he needed to be when he needed to be. It was all so surprising that you can see a table full of fans seated beyond the wall jump with surprise when his glove reached over the fence and snatched the ball out of the air.<\/p>\n Verlander moves on up (again)<\/p>\n Justin Verlander<\/a> has been feeling it lately, flashing back to a much younger version of himself in a noticeable way. He has spent most of the season either struggling just a little too much for the Giants<\/a>\u2019 offense to save him, or not getting any help from them at all even when he does pitch well. In his last three starts, however, he has struck out 21 batters in 17 innings while allowing just 2 earned runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Giants did lose on Saturday, 3-2, so in a way that was the same old problems he\u2019s dealt with all year, but this game, at least, had another reason to pay attention to it. Verlander struck out 6 Cardinals<\/a>, giving him 3,536 career strikeouts. His fourth of the game tied him with Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry for eighth all-time in MLB history:<\/p>\n Verlander would punch out another two batters, giving him sole possession of eighth place and then another strikeout for cushion. He\u2019s going to have just a few more starts in 2025 before the season ends, so he\u2019s not going to move up again this year, but Don Sutton\u2019s 3,574 is next up on the list \u2014 if Verlander decides to return in 2026 \u2014 he\u2019s 42 years old and on a one-year deal \u2014 then that will be within reach, as well as Tom Seaver\u2019s 3,640, and even Bert Blyleven\u2019s 3,701 is a possibility if Verlander looks more like he has of late than he did during his earlier struggles.<\/p>\n
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