{"id":343820,"date":"2025-12-12T06:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343820\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T06:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:08:12","slug":"can-the-mariners-finish-this-job-going-into-2026-the-argonaut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343820\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Mariners finish this job going into 2026?\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 The Argonaut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 season for the Seattle Mariners was full of amazing accomplishments\u00a0and\u00a0memories.\u00a0Including on Aug.\u00a03. On that\u00a0afternoon,\u00a0the Mariners hosted the Idaho Vandals for Idaho Vandal day at T-Mobile Park for their matchup with the Texas Rangers. Idaho\u2019s\u00a0head football\u00a0coach Thomas Ford Jr.\u00a0threw out the first pitch of the game\u00a0to start the day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mariners finished the regular season with 90 wins and entered the playoffs as the\u00a0second best team in the entire American Conference.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They took care of the Detroit Tigers in the\u00a0American\u00a0League Division Series, winning the series 3-2, even after Detroit dominated Cleveland in the wildcard,\u00a0who was the number three team going into the playoffs. They then made it to the\u00a0American League Championship Series, something they\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0accomplished\u00a0since 2001.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the conference championship, the Mariners took on the best team from the American Conference, the Toronto Blue Jays. Although the Mariners took an early 2-0 series lead over the Blue Jays, Toronto rallied back and ultimately won the series 4-3 after a come-from-behind victory in the seventh inning of game seven.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the Mariners finished the season with all these accolades, they still left one mark open on their 2025 bucket list.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was to make it to the\u00a0World\u00a0Series and hopefully give the city their first championship, something this franchise has been unable to do in their near-50 years of being a professional baseball team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On offense, the Mariners have many star players returning to the 2026 season. Star players such as Julio Rodriguez are coming into\u00a0the\u00a0next season red-hot with a\u00a00.267 batting average, 95 RBIs and 32 home runs. And who can forget the runner-up for the MVP, Cal Raleigh who boasts a\u00a00.247 batting average, a team high 125 RBIs and a team high 125 home runs as well. Solid key players such as J.P.Crawford, Randy\u00a0Arozarena\u00a0and Dominic Canzone are all returning to Seattle for the 2026 season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November, the Mariners re-signed star first baseman Josh Naylor to a five-year,\u00a0$92.5 million\u00a0contract. Naylor, who was traded to Seattle from the Cleveland Guardians at the 2025 trade deadline, looked great in a Mariners uniform as he showed off a superb\u00a00.299 batting average, 33 RBIs and nine homers in the regular season and three in the post season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second baseman Jorge\u00a0Polonco\u00a0is waiting for a new contract this season after his old contract ended.\u00a0Polonco\u00a0was great in the regular season for Seattle,\u00a0having a\u00a00.265 batting average, 78 RBIs and 26 home runs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was also insanely\u00a0clutch\u00a0in the playoffs, such as a game winning walk-off single in the 15th inning of\u00a0game five against Detroit to send the Mariners to the ALCS. Polanco also hit a go-ahead three-run homer in game two of the ALCS for Seattle, further emphasizing his great play in important moments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ford Jr walks out with University of Idaho mascot Joe Vandals in preparation of his first pitch of the Seattle Mariners game | Courtesy | Idaho Athletics <\/p>\n

Then,\u00a0finally,\u00a0there is third baseman Eugenio Suarez,\u00a0who\u00a0also is\u00a0looking for a new contract in\u00a02026. Although his batting average was low at\u00a00.187, he still did well overall for the Mariners, boasting 31 RBIs and 13 home runs. As for the starting pitching staff, expect little to no change at all, as young stars Byran Woo\u00a0and Bryce Miller,\u00a0and\u00a0veterans George Kirby, Logan Gilbert\u00a0and Luis Castillo\u00a0all expect to return in\u00a02026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This pitching staff was already dangerous in 2025, no reason to think any different going into 2026 unless there is a visit from the dreaded injury bug. With another year of experience under their belts and continued chemistry within the rotation, the Mariners should once again boast one of the most consistent and intimidating pitching rotations in\u00a0all of\u00a0the American League.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even elite closer Andres Munoz is coming back for 2026, anchoring a bullpen that also returns several key arms as well, giving Seattle both the depth and late-game reliability needed to support their stacked rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I were the Mariners heading\u00a0into the 2026 season, I would sign Jorge\u00a0Polonco\u00a0on a short\u00a0two-year deal worth\u00a0$8-12 million a year. I would only sign a short contract with him because he is a cheap offensive weapon, and a reliable weapon when healthy,\u00a0which is something he has struggled with over his career.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joe Vandal standing with Seattle Mariners mascot before Idaho Vandal day at the Mariners game versus the Rangers | Courtesy | Idaho Athletics<\/p>\n

\u00a0Then,\u00a0I would make the decision\u00a0not to\u00a0re-sign Suarez because of his batting average, and he will be on the wrong side of 30 headed into 2026. Although his home runs are high,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0either an out or a homer for Suarez every time he is on the plate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would look to replace him with solid players such as Matthew Chapman from the Giants, Alec Bohm from the\u00a0Phillies\u00a0or Brendon Donovan from the Cardinals. All three options would be better than Suarez when it comes to batting average, home\u00a0runs\u00a0and RBIs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

All have been great defensemen in their careers, especially Chapman who won five Gold Glove Awards. After I find a replacement for Suarez, I would then work on improving the bullpen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would keep Andres Munoz,\u00a0who has been one of the league\u2019s best closers in recent years. Then I would sign free agent LHP Tanner Scott to a two-year deal worth $20 million. If this\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0work out, I would sign Wandy Peralta or Brent Suter for a cheaper\u00a0option.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Mariners are looking for more of a \u201ctrade\u201d route, I would look at trading for Rays RHP Jason Adam, who has been a strikeout machine. In return,\u00a0I would offer Tampa Bay a couple\u00a0of\u00a0prospects or\u00a0maybe even\u00a0a bridge player.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Mariners make similar offseason moves and keep their stars, they could enter 2026 as legitimate World Series contenders. With a powerful lineup, elite rotation and reliable bullpen, Seattle may have the pieces to finally win it all.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 season for the Seattle Mariners was full of amazing accomplishments\u00a0and\u00a0memories.\u00a0Including on Aug.\u00a03. On that\u00a0afternoon,\u00a0the Mariners hosted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[90350,363,481,99,131980,172132],"class_list":{"0":"post-343820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-idaho-vandals","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-seattle-mariners","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-t-mobile-park","13":"tag-thomas-ford-jr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}