After trade deadline adds, Mariners ready to re-write late-season script

BALTIMORE – Even if they play not a lick of October baseball, the Seattle Mariners are assured of a special season.

Cal Raleigh, their record-setting slugger behind the plate, has seen to that. Julio Rodriguez, back to superstar status, and a pitching staff that, in its typical fashion, goes longer and better than almost all their peers, have done their parts to make memories, as well.

Yet to be truly special, to fulfill the dictionary definition that this year will be distinguished by some special quality, the Mariners know it will take a few more wins by the end of September, and several more deep into October, to shake the numbingly similar ends they experienced the past four years.

Like the 10-game American League West lead they blew last season, thanks to a flaccid offense that made their early success unsustainable on the way to an 85-win season.

Or the one-game September lead they seized in 2023, only to lose 16 of their final 27 games and finish with 88 empty wins, unaccompanied by a playoff berth.

Lest we forget, 2021 brought them 90 wins but perhaps the most soul-crushing transaction in recent trade deadline history, when GM Jerry Dipoto broke up an effective bullpen by dealing closer Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero to the Houston Astros – who ran away with the division while the Mariners stayed home.

Heck, even their one winning lottery ticket into the postseason – a 90-win 2022 campaign that included a wild-card sweep of Toronto – only illustrated how far the Mariners had to go: They finished 16 games behind the Astros and got gut-punched by the eventual World Series champs in the ALDS.

But now?

Eight consecutive wins brought the Mariners even with the Astros atop the AL West before their streak was snapped Aug. 13. Raleigh and Rodriguez have powered the offense to a .730 OPS that ranks a respectable 12th in the majors. And even Dipoto finally played along, cashing in some chips to bring in the two best hitters on the market in old friend Eugenio Suárez and lefty-swinging first baseman Josh Naylor.

Just 41 games remain. Yet rather than wonder how they could be better-equipped, the Mariners who have ridden this roller-coaster before feel much different.

Prepared. Confident. Poised to achieve.  

“I feel like we’re ready this year,” Matt Brash, whose 1.42 ERA ranks fourth among MLB relievers, tells USA TODAY Sports. “I feel like we’re a very confident group. We made some additions at the trade deadline, which really boosts our vibe, our lineup and everything.

“I feel like this team is different. We’re much deeper in all aspects, and I think we showed it coming out of the break with how we were playing.”

They rolled up five straight wins against Central-leading Detroit and those Astros sandwiched by the All-Star break, raided Arizona for Naylor on July 24 and Suárez a week later and really took off.

They won eight straight games starting Aug. 3, a span in which they chased down the Astros, integrated their two big bats in their lineup and rode Raleigh’s power a little more: The Big Dumper is now at 45 home runs, tied with Johnny Bench for second all-time for a primary catcher and just three behind Salvador Perez’s record 48, with 41 games to play.

These Mariners, once in it, thrice shy of the playoffs, know what incomplete feels like. It doesn’t feel like this.

“I’m pretty sure we have everything right now,” says Suárez, a Mariner in ’22 and ’23 before a trade to Arizona preceded 66 homers there the past season and a half, prompting Seattle to reacquire him.

“We have a really good pitching staff, bullpen is doing really well, offense has been awesome. For me, it’s one of the best right now.”

Star system

It takes 13 position players and 13 pitchers and a couple dozen reinforcements to make a team. Yet it is hard to deny the superstars’ impact on these Mariners.

Raleigh’s 5.2 Wins Above Replacement trail only Aaron Judge in the AL, with Rodriguez on his heels at 4.9 WAR. Raleigh continues stacking historic superlatives – at 98 RBIs, he’ll be the first catcher with consecutive 100-RBI seasons since Mike Piazza from 1996-2000 – yet Rodriguez’s contributions are a significant difference-maker.

He was the face of the Mariners’ grim output a year ago, a superstar dragging a .690 OPS and 110 strikeouts through the first half, missing the All-Star Game for the only time of his career.

J-Rod has his swagger back this season, with a more palatable .734 OPS and 23 homers, the 24-year-old’s irrepressible energy now with a dose of restraint that only four years of this grind can bring.

“Julio has in some ways aged, matured, this year,” says manager Dan Wilson. “I think he’s learned a lot about this game and has put it to use. A lot of the joy, the love of the game coming back. That’s what you love to see.

“And in that process looks to be playing really free out there – running the bases, hitting the ball hard, hitting for power, playing incredible defense.”

In some ways, Raleigh kicked off this era of Mariners baseball on Sept. 30, 2022, when he hit a walk-off home run against Oakland to clinch Seattle’s first playoff berth since 2001. It was his 27th homer of the year, cementing Raleigh’s status as an emerging star rather than a slugging curiosity.

“That was an incredible moment for this franchise, for him, for everybody, to get a taste of the playoffs there was huge,” says Brash, the winning pitcher in that clincher. “Watching Cal has been really fun this year. I feel like every time he hits a home run, there’s some kind of record he’s setting.

“That just reminds you how special it is. Catches pretty much every day, still producing at the plate and especially at the beginning of this year, he was carrying this team for a lot of it.”

Yet adding on to that star infrastructure could make all the difference for this club.

Gotta have faith

For the past five seasons, the Mariners have ranked at least second in the AL in the number of one-run games played. This year, they are 26-16 in one-run games, more wins than any club.

Yet it is a dangerous way to live; the Mariners were 33-19 in 2021 and 34-22 in ’22 and won 90 games each season, before slipping to 25-26 and 27-28 and out of playoff consideration the next two seasons.

One-run games mean high-leverage relievers called upon nightly, and starters’ pitch counts including an inordinate number of high-stress throws. A lineup lengthened by Naylor and Suárez could theoretically tack on later runs with  greater frequency, and fellows like Brash and All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz can sit down a little more when they warm up.

“The depth of our lineup has grown. That makes a big difference,” says Wilson, who took over for the fired Scott Servais at midseason last year. “That’s been huge for us.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Suárez is among the most beloved figures in any clubhouse and certainly left an impression in Seattle before he was dealt after a 214-strikeout campaign in 2023.

“It means a lot. I feel like I never left,” says Suárez. “Everybody treated me well. For me, it’s awesome to be back helping the team win games. For me, it’s more important than anything else.”

There’s a lot of ways Seattle can do that, given it ranks third in the majors with 171 homers while its rotation (3.88) and relievers (3.61) are both fifth in the AL in ERA. And they lead the majors in rotation innings pitched.

That’s no surprise given the track record of a rotation with four former All-Stars; this year’s luminary is Bryan Woo, who has gone at least six innings with two or fewer walks in all 23 starts.

“We have so many good arms here,” says right-hander Logan Gilbert, who followed George Kirby’s seven shutout innings Aug. 12 by taking a shutout into the seventh the next night. “George did a heck of a job yesterday, Woo’s having a great year, (Luis) Castillo – when it’s your turn to get the ball you just want to find a way to go as deep as you can and keep the lead and give it to the bullpen.

“Because they’ve been killing it, too.”

Woo wasn’t yet a big leaguer during the ’22 playoff run but has been around long enough to know the Mariners must attack where they once failed. Having the tools to do so will help.

“To go out and get the guys we did, it’s encouraging the front office has faith in you not only to buy, but to get such great pieces that have fit in so well so far,” says Woo. “We’ve had (seasons) where you’re way ahead, like last year, and we kind of didn’t stay consistent throughout the year. Held division leads or playoff spots late and didn’t finish the job.

“It’s consistency and playing your best ball when it matters most. Making sure we get hot at the right time and do finish the job to get in.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mariners move up MLB standings after adding at trade deadline