On the AL side, the Rays ran through the Yankees like they weren’t there. No Judge, no defense, and now Judge wants the front office to go all in. Aaron, you have the pieces. Bellinger, Jazz, Fried, a top prospect just called up. Stay healthy and catch the ball. The White Sox looked like Cinderella for two games in Cleveland, then the clock struck midnight. No real starter, bullpen games every night, and way too many strikeouts to go deep in October.

The Guardians then ran into the same wall the White Sox did. Tampa had three legit starters to Cleveland’s two, and four straight days after the rain delay ground the Guards’ pen into dust. Down 2-1, the Rays whittled them down exactly as predicted. Also: Randy and Glasnow celebrating with their old team. No complaints here.

Back to the Dodgers, because watching the Brewers wear them down was a treat. Muncy batting eighth tells you how dangerous that lineup still is, but nobody else grinds you like Milwaukee: twelve-pitch at-bats, starters at eighty pitches in the third. You don’t beat the Brewers, you outlast them. And yes, there’s a segment on Tarik Skubal. One WBC start, asking out of a game against us while Scherzer was ready to throw hands to stay on the mound, then chasing the money to LA. No dog in him. No ring either.

The World Series is Brewers vs. Rays, two small markets, two stingy staffs, two rested bullpens, two domes. Small ball, sac flies, bunts, unselfish baseball. Expect a lot of 2-1 games, and probably a 13-12 fifteen-inning Game 1 just to spite us. Both hosts pick Brewers in seven, with Misiorowski tabbed as series MVP. Then darkness: the CBA expires in about six weeks, and nobody thinks a great World Series stops the lockout. Deferred money needs to go, and a cap with a real floor could fix the gap between cheap owners and the Ohtani-style loopholes.

Mariners manager search: Voit says he’s not gone, Espada is in the mix (Astros stink and all), Rocco Baldelli is the vibes guy with the victory summer sausage, and there’s a cheap young name out of Chicago’s player development that feels very Mariners. The core is there. Get this hire right and you can win. Get it wrong and it’s 75 wins and a wasted Cal and Julio prime. Jerry, give us a reason. Whoever it is needs to bring back that glorious week in May: patient at-bats, walks, homers that hurt. Make the pitchers work and make the home runs hurt. First merch drop, pending.

Dan Wilson is out, and we think it comes down to leadership. His hands-off, let-the-players-lead approach worked when Cal was having an unbelievable season and the roster took care of itself. It fell apart once Cal got hurt and nobody was steering. The club told him the Friday before the finale and let him make the announcement himself, which he earned. The next hire has to have managed before, and Lovullo is already off the board. We both believe that if they pull a Red Sox and make the change in June, we are playing a playoff game tonight.

The defense was the ugliest part. Julio's no-fly zone is gone and the mental mistakes piled up, including playing catch with a fan with two outs. Randy's problem was effort, like the fly ball he gave up on in Tampa while Castillo stared a hole through him. He also led baseball in runs, and we doubt he's back at any price. Cole Young and his plus-16 defensive runs saved was the only plus glove on the roster. Perry Hill, Eric Young Jr. and Kevin Seitzer are all gone so the new manager can bring his own staff.

September was supposed to be the easy part. Instead a 42-year-old diced us up in Toronto, the A's walked us off twice in Sacramento, and we lost five of seven to them.

Deadline grade: one for two. Dominguez was solid after a rough first outing. Taylor Ward led the league in walks, got traded here and became the worst hitter in baseball. Alex Hoppe, the arm we gave up, looked good in Baltimore. At least Castillo is gone and we never have to say "piggyback" again. Also on the never-again list: Refsnyder, Connor Joe, Buddy Kennedy and the WBC. Brendan Donovan has not been seen since his August concussion and we would like proof of life. Meanwhile Ben Williamson is in the playoffs with Tampa while our third basemen let everything roll through.

The good stuff: Canzone refused to be a platoon guy and became the everyday three hitter. Cal was top ten in fWAR from mid-August on and still got to 23 homers. Randy's game against the Cubs had a leadoff homer, a robbed homer and a walk-off homer. Kade Anderson started to find it. Naylor stole 30 bags, somehow, and his missing power makes more sense now that he's had wrist surgery. Rick Rizzs got his goodbye, and we hope J.P. gets a better send-off than Kyle Seager did. Ryan Rowland-Smith hitting tanks in a Steve Irwin outfit was the best part of 50th anniversary weekend.

For next year, the big worry is Julio, who has gotten a little worse every season and is still Ryan's favorite player. We'd give Jerry one more manager cycle, and we wonder out loud how much say he really had in hiring Dan. The rotation should be fine if Kirby stays locked in and Gilbert stops chasing punchies.

Playoff picks: Rays out of the AL, and Braves over everybody, mostly because we refuse to watch another franchise win its first title before we do. We'll be back for a postseason recap and again when there's a manager. Thanks for sticking with us through a September we didn't want to talk about either.

Cal Raleigh's turnaround has been the story of the last two weeks. He moved his hands up in his swing, his plate decisions have sharpened, and it started right around when he stopped internalizing everything and told the New York media what's done is done. He backed it up with a three-run homer Friday that set up a Leo Rivas walk-off after Andres Munoz let Bregman tie it, one of two rare Munoz slip-ups since June and July. With Woo skipping a turn for a shoulder issue, Cade Anderson made his debut against a tough lineup and gave us almost six quality innings and three runs, more movement than velocity, already clearly more pitcher than thrower.

Then came the Randy game. Arozarena led off with a first-pitch homer, robbed one in the outfield to save Cade's bid, and with two outs in the ninth down two runs to a closer who hadn't allowed a run in 25 innings, Weston Wilson doubled, Rivas bled one through, and Randy walked it off to dead center. Bookend homers with a robbery in between. We haven't seen that kind of fight in a while.

Sunday reminded us who we can still be. Bryce Miller gave up two grand slams in a 19-0 loss, walked the bases loaded, and leaned on a splitter that's never a strike even with seven pitches to choose from. His velocity has been sliding since Texas and something's clearly wrong, whether that means the IL or a bullpen conversation soon.

The Phillies series turned into a showcase. Julio hit his 20th off Zach Wheeler, Logan Gilbert stranded Philadelphia's red-hot lineup all night, and Cal put up the first three-homer game at T-Mobile since Edgar in '99, lefty power we hadn't seen from him in a while. Kirby followed with 21 whiffs, a season high, and flirted with the first complete game since 2023 before Dan went to the pen. Munoz got shaky with his fastball command but found the slider when he needed it. We couldn't finish the sweep though. Lazaro shut us out with basically two pitches, and Woo, back from his skipped turn, had the velocity but not the location at home, and Bryce Harper made him pay for it.

We sit two and a half back of Houston in the West with 29 games left and the easiest schedule in baseball coming in September, outside one gauntlet series in Boston. Toronto is up next against Dylan Cease, and their bullpen and clutch hitting look as shaky as ours have all year, so we like our chances there.

Injury front is ugly. Brendan Donovan took a ball off the dome in BP and landed back on the IL, Matt Brash looks like a lost cause on the 60-day, and Carlos Vargas is finally back and already useful. Colt Emerson tried to play through a wrist injury, kept it quiet, and now needs season-ending surgery. Naylor is banged up too and nearly added a second team concussion in two months before somehow staying in the game.

We're also done watching Dan rest guys who don't need rest in games we can't afford to lose, but full credit to Dominic Canzone, who's turned into a genuine everyday bat and not just a lefty platoon piece anymore. Looking ahead, Randy's a rental probably taking East Coast money this winter, and if Gino clears waivers cheap we'd take the swing-and-miss for the vibes. Mostly we just want Jerry to find a right-handed bat instead of more pitching and let this team play like the Brewers: get on, get over, get in.

Since the break it's been 7-9 and no road series win in two and a half months. The Giants series went 2-1 our way after an ugly 7-0 opener. The Reds series was the same movie in reverse: George Kirby and the pen shut them out 8-0 behind a Cal Raleigh grand slam after Cincinnati walked Canzone in a lefty-lefty spot to get to him, then two straight duds. Everybody starts saying we turned a corner, and then Texas happened. Three of four gone, the rotation shelled all week, Kirby giving up four homers, Woo giving up five runs because road Woo has an ERA near eight. We could have left Arlington up two and a half. We left third. In LA we won the opener on five homers, with Cal and Julio going deep in the same game for the first time since April, Canzone hitting two, and Refsnyder off the foul pole. Then one hit in six innings against Eric Lauer. Not Yamamoto. Lauer.

The Twins weekend was the whole season in three games. Friday we load the bases in the first, get two on a Raleigh ground-rule double, Cole Young homers, and the offense goes dark. Twins chip away, 5-3, and we drop to 53-58. Saturday was a carbon copy until the ninth, with Logan Gilbert taking a comebacker off the ankle in the fourth and giving us seven quality innings anyway. Then Minnesota pulls an outfielder for a fifth infielder, Royce Lewis tags first before throwing to second and nullifies the force, and Randy scores on a scorched Raleigh grounder. Sunday we build 6-0 behind seven shutout innings from Kirby and a Raleigh three-run shot, and our three highest-leverage arms cough up six runs. Bazardo has the home run bug. Ferrer, who has been so good, gave up a three-run shot. Munoz showed his first crack since June. The offense bailed them out anyway on singles from Naylor and Robles and a Colt Emerson knock through the right side, with Naylor belly-flopping into third and face-planting on his own helmet on the way. Back-to-back walk-offs, same as last year against these guys.

Two moves, both the ones we needed. Castillo and the thirty million left on his deal go to the White Sox for Seranthony Dominguez, spelled with an E, plus Nolan Jones and Boston Smith, Chicago's number ten prospect. Dominguez is the guy who served up the Eugenio Suarez grand slam in the playoffs last year, so his last memory of this building is a good one for us. Then Taylor Ward from Baltimore for Alex Hoppe, Brock Moore and Harrison Kreiling. The forty-homer power is gone, but he leads the AL in walks and hits .269 against lefties, which is the exact allergy we've had all year. We're now the only team with two guys sitting in the .300s in on-base. Arozarena stayed, Kirby stayed, Hancock stayed, and San Diego wanted Kade Anderson for Mason Miller. Hard no.

Skubal to the Dodgers was inevitable, and the part that stings is there was no fight for him. They just took him. A billion two in deferred money, a luxury tax bill bigger than sixteen teams' payrolls, and Blake Snell working as a depth piece. Give us a cap and a floor and the same money still gets spent, just not all in one zip code.

Elsewhere: Houston grabbed Varsho, the Cubs stacked Gausman, Clay Holmes and Braxton Garrett, Baltimore sold everything, the Mets and Giants held fire sales, and Boston walked away with Adley Rutschman and a real catching tandem. That's the deadline winner.

Six games left on this homestand, three against a Tigers team that just dismantled its own rotation and three against the Rays for the fiftieth season celebration.

The road trip recap: a 5-1 homestand followed by a 1-5 trip, because of course. We should have had game one in Miami before Gabe Speier's rare bad command day, but losing to the Marlins and Rays isn't the crime. Both Florida teams are good. The crime is the Royals sweep, the Angels, the A's, all the series against middling teams we should have banked earlier. Tampa got on us so fast Friday and Saturday that we turned both games off before the seventh. Then Sunday the bats jumped a lefty starter early and the bullpen carried a 6-2 win after Hancock took one off the hand. Hopefully the week off is all he needs.

Then the rant portion. Randy jogged after a catchable ball in Castillo's start, let it drop, and Cedric Mullins hit the very next pitch out. Castillo's glare said everything. Randy's hitting .290, but singles to right with nobody on aren't carrying a team his defense keeps costing. And the piggyback six-man rotation has us a man short in a bullpen that's already hurt, throwing the wrong guys in leverage spots. Between those two things we counted about six games gone. Our theory: Castillo stays stretched out to protect his trade value, and we both think he's moved by the deadline. Ryan wants Randy packaged with him and Suzuki brought in. Travis isn't trading the only guy hitting above .280. Either way, we're buyers. This pitching is too good and the AL is too bad to sell.

Injury report: more excited for Carlos Vargas and his hundred mile an hour sinker than for Brash, who we love but don't trust to stay healthy. Julio is past the seven-day mark and hopefully in the lineup for the home opener. Donovan is total radio silence since the end of May, no rehab assignment, no 60-day move, which is weird. Maybe Jerry or Hollander tells us something in the dugout presser.

Around the league: the All-Star Game was a bore, 27 combined strikeouts and an AL win, though Randy got a knock. The Derby saved the week. The new format, where every swing counts and you have to end on an out, was the right call, and Jordan Walker homering on his final swings to beat Schwarber in a dead-silent Philly ballpark was perfect theater. We also solved international baseball: put it in the Olympics mid-season, because the WBC keeps wrecking stars' first halves. See Vladdy and his four homers.

Standings check: Rangers lead the West, we're the only team in the division with a positive run differential, the A's are 1-9, and the White Sox are somehow tied for first in the Central and legit. Up next, Giants and Reds at home, two of the only five NL teams under .500, then the Rangers series that decides who we are. Ryan says 5-1. Travis says 1-5, strictly to reverse the jinx. We'll see you next Thursday either way.

Pittsburgh cost us the series, and it stung because we missed Skenes and still couldn't cash. Game one we took 3-2 behind six strong from Kirby, a Cal Raleigh homer, and the storybook one, Cole Young going deep in his hometown with his high school coach in the bleachers. Mooney closed it for save fourteen and finally looks like someone we can trust again. Game two was the 11-1 clunker, three hits and a run in the first and nothing after. Game three was the real gut punch, a 9:30 a.m. getaway where we loaded the bases three times and scored zero, stranding twelve. That is where pinch-hitting a .133 lefty specialist for Canzone or Raleigh becomes exhibit A for why Jerry and Dan are on the list.

Cleveland was more of the same, another 1-2. We won game one on the hometown tour, Colt Emerson going 3-for in Ohio and Dom Canzone launching one of his own, with Castillo dialed in. Saturday we lost 4-3, down 4-0 into the eighth before a Randy three-run shot and some good ninth-inning at-bats against a top closer came up short. Sunday was the worst, because we finally broke the three-run wall in the seventh and thought we had a series win. Then Dan pulled Hancock one out early, burned Bazardo for a single out, and let Josh Simpson lose it to the lefties. JP grounded out on the first pitch in the ninth and that was that. It makes you wonder how many of these calls are even Dan's, or a directive coming down from Jerry.

Then the Angels flipped the mood. We walked in expecting a sweep, a game under .500 and out of the division lead, and instead took the first two. Game one was the Cole Young show, his first two-homer game, one a lefty-lefty laser to dead center, with Dom adding a lefty-lefty tank of his own. Game two we saw in person, an 8-3 win built on twelve singles and a double, Woo dealing at home, Julio with three hits and his average finally creeping up, Colt with three more. Bryce Miller goes tonight against Ureña looking as sharp as he has all year. As for the piggyback, it got called off the second Logan got hot and we have not heard a word since. It is on the shelf, probably dead, and honestly good riddance to being a man short in the pen.

Around the league, the Mets finally cut their manager loose at 34-47, though changing the vibe over there feels hopeless. Misiorowski hit 105.5, which we are rounding to 106, and he had the nerve to say he slipped and left a couple ticks on the table. The Angels fired their GM two weeks before the draft, which barely registers for a franchise that has been in the dumpster for thirteen years. The Yankees are scuffling without Judge while the Rays ripped off seven straight behind Caminero's six-game homer streak. And the White Sox dropped twenty-two on the Royals, almost all of it on homers, on a day the Cubs put up twenty-one and the Rockies fourteen.

Tonight it is the Angels again, then a three-game pennant rematch with a Blue Jays team limping in having lost seven of eight. Stay right, don't let anybody else get right, and ride it to October. Ryan says it probably won't happen. He also said that last week.

The injuries are the story. We had two-thirds of the Opening Day lineup on the IL at some point on the trip, almost all position players this time, which beats last year's run of pitching injuries since the rotation can still carry us. Cal is back behind the plate and you can see his impact on the starters, but the power isn't there yet. Still think he's good for 25. Donovan remains a total mystery, no rehab outings, no updates. Randy should be eligible tomorrow and we need his bat. Julio and Josh both missed time dinged up, and Julio's average has slid to .247, which is starting to scare me. Then Dom pulled up holding his hamstring, called minor and day to day. Somebody get Rick Griffin back in here.

Defense got sloppy too. Naylor botched a routine glove flip to Gilbert covering the bag, not what you want from a five-year, ninety-million-dollar first baseman. The bright spot is JP sliding to third so Colt Emerson can play his natural shortstop. The captain gave up his career spot and has looked sharp over there.

The rotation question is the piggyback. They went back to it with Miller and Castillo, but it leaves us short in the pen and it backfired Friday. At some point Castillo has to move to long relief or the ninth, though neither of us fully trusts him or a Jekyll-and-Hyde Munoz late.

Farm report is the good news. Kade Anderson is 8-0 with a 1.3 ERA at Double-A Arkansas, paired with Ryan Sloan. Dipoto says a callup is coming, likely two-inning spot starts to manage his innings.

Road trip in brief: should have won in Detroit but Munoz blew Sunday. Split four in Baltimore after stealing the first two on absurd replacement-level defense. A ten-run explosion in Washington, then the offense vanished, fifteen runs total over the next eight games. Home stand: pitching carried all three wins. Gilbert was vintage in the opener, 97-98 again, seven innings and ten punchouts in a 3-1 win. George cruised then derailed in game two. Woo was dominant at home, nine strikeouts into the eighth in a 3-0 shutout. Then Boston rolled out three lefties, our kryptonite, and ground us down with eighty-mile-an-hour singles while Suárez carried a no-hitter into the seventh. We took the Father's Day finale 3-1 behind another Gilbert gem to stay a game and a half up.

Around the league: Schwarber went off, 29 bombs with two in one inning, and Harper cycled the same game. Misiorowski throws 104 every pitch and looks untouchable, even if a couple of Tommy Johns feel inevitable. Skubal trade chatter is heating up, no thanks at his price. The White Sox might be for real, sitting in the second wild card.

Up next, Pittsburgh then Cleveland, both middling like us, both winnable if we play up to it. Randy is likely back this series. Knowing us it'll be excruciating, three runs a night, hanging on for dear life. A lot of hope, but a fearful hope.

Injury news first. Cal Raleigh is targeting rehab games in Everett this weekend, sold out two hours after they announced it, then Tacoma, with a likely June 16 return for the first game back off the road trip. No rush. The point is getting Cal in-game swings he never got in spring while off at the WBC, where the swing and miss was real. Brendan Donovan has no clear timeline, working the anti-gravity treadmill on his groin in Arizona. When he's back the puzzle gets fun. Colt isn't leaving third, JP and Cole stay put for defense, so Donovan slots into a DH or outfield platoon. The dream is parking Randy at DH to hide his glove and his hustle, because if he does his one job everybody wins.

Friday we were there in person. JP Crawford led off with a homer, Julio went deep, and then the wave started with runners on and cursed the whole thing. Brash couldn't locate, a 5-1 lead evaporated. Luke Raleigh tied it with a solo shot that landed near our seats. Naylor booted a barehand play, his defense is not great, but Mooney limited the damage and Cooper Chriswell has been absolute dynamite when called on. Then they walked Naylor to set up the double play and pitch to Randy, who lifted a ground ball pitch into a walk-off two-run blast. JP's first career two-homer game.

Saturday was a four-homer slugfest with no other offense, which is the whole problem. Nearly seventy percent of our runs come from the long ball, and that backfires in October against arms throwing 97. Luke Raleigh, a platoon bat, leads the team in homers. Colt and Dom both went deep, Dom's getting baseballed hard with no luck. Woo went seven, nine K. Julio capped his best month ever, ten bombs and a .357 stretch in May. That's the Julio we've been waiting for.

Sunday in the steelhead unis we survived 3-2 in extras on the last successful piggyback, Bryce and Luis each going five, homers from Cole Young and Canzone, and Victor's first career walk-off infield single. Two tenth-inning walk-off wins in one series. Thin margins, but these are the games we lost all April and May. Then we swept the Diamondbacks.

Mets series, and they're loaded with Soto, Bo Bichette, and Semien hitting seventh, yet they keep metting it up. Monday was four hits and a 2-1 grind win, Hancock dealing, Naylor tying it with a back-tweaking homer, Cole Young walking it off after Randy stole third uncontested. Tuesday was a laser show, Patrick Wisdom and Johnny Pareto tanks. Pareto bat-flips singles and has made himself a real tough demotion when Cal returns, a serviceable backup with great energy. Wednesday the streak ended at eight, Kirby got George'd to death pounding the zone too predictably while Peralta shut us down.

Around the league: the Yankees hung thirteen in a single inning on the A's, eighteen batters, eleven hits. The Rangers and A's won't go away, both within striking distance. The White Sox are somehow chugging, new management and a better locker room going a long way. And yes, the Pope is a Sox fan.

Ten game road trip ahead through Detroit, Baltimore, and Washington. Ryan's high on his own supply at 8-2, the saner take is 7-3. Split Baltimore, handle the Nationals despite James Wood. Just pray it doesn't rain in Camden like it always does.

The Mariners went on the road and came back 4-2, which sounds fine until you remember how painful the first half was. KC came in on a ten-game losing streak, and naturally, the M's gave them life. Game one was all pitching. Logan Gilbert looked sharp through five and two-thirds, his velo sitting 93-95 now instead of the 96-97 of years past, but the stuff was there. He kept Bobby Witt Jr. quiet. The offense had one productive swing: a Mitch Garver homer in the seventh. Two-nothing.

Saturday was a gut punch. Steven Kolek threw a complete-game shutout. The Mariners were so aggressive at the plate it was almost disrespectful to themselves. JP grounded out on the first pitch. Guys swinging at everything, letting a starter cruise when they should have been driving up pitch counts and getting to a bad bullpen. Kolek should have been out by the seventh. Instead he went the distance.

Sunday started with a Julio homer two batters in, but Bryan Woo couldn't hold it. The Royals broke through in the fifth and kept piling on. Colt Emerson went 4-for-4 with three doubles, becoming just the 18th player aged 20 or younger in MLB history with four-plus hits and three extra-base hits in a game. The kid has an OBP north of .360 and barely strikes out. Down 8-3 in the ninth, the M's rallied for three and brought the tying run to the plate. Too little, too late, but Ryan saw a spark. He was right.

Oakland was the biggest series of the first quarter, and the Mariners delivered a sweep. Game one was Piggyback 2.0. Luis Castillo had his best stuff of the year: four shutout innings, two hits, six K's. Ryan thought he deserved another inning instead of handing it to Bryce Miller. The transition still feels clunky. It didn't matter because the offense hung seven runs on the A's starter with four homers from Raley, Canzone, Crawford, and one more. Nine-two.

Game two, the A's called up a lefty throwing 95 with a funky delivery to exploit Seattle being dead last against left-handed pitching. The M's settled in and manufactured all four runs without a homer. Refsnyder and Robles got hits. Emerson Hancock was locked in for seven shutout innings. The only blemish: Andres Munoz giving up a solo shot on that slider he can't bury. It sits around 85, doesn't get down, and lefties are sitting on it. That pitch is becoming a real problem.

Game three, another lefty in Jeffrey Springs, and Refsnyder cracked it open with a three-run homer. Emerson drove in three. Julio hit his tenth of the year, eighth in May, off a 97-mph fastball. Gilbert threw six shutout frames. Nine-one. The three starters combined for zero runs allowed across the series. Twenty-two runs scored, 28 in the last four games. First place in the AL West at 28-29, half a game up on Oakland.

Around the league, the Astros threw the first no-hitter since 2024 with rookie Alimber Santa finishing two innings in his MLB debut. Jordan Alvarez hit four homers in two games to reach 20. The Cubs remain the most confusing team in baseball: two ten-game winning streaks and a twelve-game losing streak, all before game sixty. Tampa Bay is building around speed, contact, and platoons, doing the opposite of everyone else, and it's working. D-backs and Mets come to Seattle next.

Then Tuesday happened. Bryce Miller was supposed to start and hand off to Castillo in a piggyback setup, but Miller went no-hit into the sixth and the plan unraveled. Dan Wilson doubled back to the mound, which you can't do, which let runners on base turn into a double steal, which meant the infield had to come in, which meant soft contact bleeders won the game. Mooney gets a clean inning and it's a different story. The offense left everyone stranded again late, with Rayleigh and Kenzone sitting until the ninth before getting one at bat with the bases cleared against the closer. The debate on how much is Dan and how much is front office direction is alive and well. It's probably both.

Monday was a reset. Brian Woo dealt: six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, back to the guy he was before the Missouri teams had their way with him. And the Colt Emerson story is already a good one. Called up that afternoon while suited up for Tacoma, he drove to Seattle and made the Sunday game. His parents missed it, went back to Ohio, and then made it back Monday to watch him hit his first career homer, a three-run shot in the eighth that broke the game open. It barely stayed fair, but it landed in the seats, and that's all that mattered. Wednesday, Hancock got out of a bases loaded jam with nobody out, Pareto hit his first MLB homer, Randy went deep to left center, and Rafe closed it out after working three straight. Series win over the White Sox. Two of the last three series taken.

JP Crawford has told the team he's willing to move to third if it means keeping Emerson at short, and that says everything about Crawford's character. He credits the mentality to Kyle Seager and D Gordon. Whether the arm holds up on cross-diamond throws is an open question, but the leadership isn't. On deck: three in Kansas City, then three at Sacramento in what amounts to a minor league ballpark. Ryan is calling five and one. Travis's at two and four. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and the Royals being one-win-in-forever is exactly the kind of thing that makes Kaufman dangerous.

Chicago started hot. Raley went nuclear in game one, a grand slam and a three-run homer, seven of the team's 12 RBIs, Naylor added a three-run shot, 12-8 win. Then Saturday: a veteran lefty with an ERA over five shows up and the offense dies. One run. A Refsnyder sac fly. Castillo pitched well enough to deserve better. Sunday they had their shot, bases loaded, one out, Cole pops up and Donovan dribbles one down the first baseline. One out of three in Chicago and it should have been two.

Houston started clean. Kirby went five innings, nine strikeouts, one run, and became the 12th pitcher in franchise history to reach 50 wins. Game two was all Canzone, his first career grand slam off Imai, who couldn't find the zone. Randy went four for four with a two-run homer. Woo gave six innings and two runs. Then game three happened. Miller was dealing in his season debut, on pace for six scoreless, until an umpire took a foul ball to the face and got concussed badly enough to still be in the hospital when the team left town. The rhythm broke, the Astros scraped two runs, Julio walked one home to tie it, and then the Mariners lost on a Naylor infield dribbler that was half an inch from a walk-off win. Cal backed up a throw awkwardly, tweaked his oblique, and was on the IL the next morning. Game four, Raley hit a three-run homer in the first, Garver went deep, Donovan went double-triple-single in his first three at-bats, and Castillo went five and two-thirds on 108 pitches. Back-to-back solid outings from the guy who used to be the "oh no, he's pitching today" guy. Four and three. Could have been six and one.

Cal is probably done until the All-Star break, but Garver is a proven big-league catcher and Cal hasn't been Cal this year anyway. The bigger question is Raley, the team's home run leader hitting .270, still getting platooned against lefties. It's a Jerry-era roster philosophy, but at some point you have to let the hot guy hit. The rotation logjam is a good problem. Miller looked sharp coming back, Hancock has been great, Kirby is Kirby, and Castillo is in a groove. They're talking stack starts to get everyone their innings. It probably lasts one outing before something else solves it.

Around the league: the Cubs have spent 20 of 45 games inside two separate 10-game win streaks. The Braves hit 30 wins first. The White Sox are above .500 for the first time since 2022, two years after setting the all-time loss record. Tatis still hasn't gone yard despite hitting the ball harder than ever. Yandy Diaz rockets, no lift. The Padres are only three wins ahead of Seattle. Flip three of those one-run losses and nobody's treating them like a tier above.

Prediction for the homestand: four and two. But Mason Miller is pitching Friday, so the first eight innings of that game are going to matter a lot.

Saturday night was the real gut punch. Randy Johnson retirement ceremony, the number 51 going into the rafters, the whole ballpark riding high. Then Emerson Hancock goes out and deals: fourteen strikeouts, a sweeper nobody could touch. We still lost in ten innings because Randy did Randy things on the basepaths, Julio missed a ball in the outfield, and Munoz couldn't hold it. It felt very Felix-era. All the strikeouts in the world, zero run support.

Then the Braves came to town. A rotation of studs, a bullpen with sub-1.00 ERAs, four guys hitting over .300. We were expecting a second sweep in five days. Game one looked like we were right until Luke Raleigh, 1-for-17 coming in, had a chat with Edgar Martinez and hit a three-run bomb. JP Crawford followed with a moonshot to right that Aaron Goldsmith tried to talk us out of believing in. It had plenty. 5-4 final, bullpen held. Series.

Game two, Kirby shoved for six and JP hit another two-run shot, but Munoz served one up to Matt Olson in the ninth. Game three, Brian Wu put up nine strikeouts over six shutout innings, Julio hit a tank off Martin Perez, and Jose Ferrer worked three straight days, 10 outs across three appearances, to close it out. Series win against the best team in the NL.

Big topics this week: the closer conundrum (Munoz is streaky, a committee approach might be smarter until Brash returns), the Emerson Hancock question (his 14-K gem has forced the fifth starter conversation with Bryce Miller on his way up), and the fact that the American League is historically bad right now. Three teams over .500. Two solid weeks and we could be in first by three games.

Also: Framber Valdez threw at his own catcher, started a bench-clearing brawl, and got five or six games. The Phillies have taken off since making their managerial change. And the NL Central's worst wild card team has a better record than we do.

The roller coaster keeps rolling. It's early. We'll forget that tomorrow night around the seventh inning.

The M's closed April at 16-16 after a 5-1 road trip through St. Louis and Minnesota. Cole Young is becoming something special, Matt Brash is a question mark, and Luis Castillo remains the $25M elephant in the rotation.

@ Cardinals (April 24–26) — Sweep

• Game 1: Kirby's 3rd straight quality start, Naylor 418-ft go-ahead blast, Muñoz closes it. W 3-2
• Game 2: Woo gets shelled (5 HR allowed), but the offense chips back inning by inning. Will Wilson ties it with a homer off Riley O'Brien. W 11-9
• Game 3: ABS challenge in the 9th changes everything — Ruf Schneider battles back, gets a hanger, walk-off homer. W 3-2. Sweep.

@ Twins (April 27–29) — 2-1

• Game 1: Castillo struggles, cold weather, rookie pitcher nobody had film on. L 11-4
• Game 2: Gilbert solid, Naylor bat flip of the year, Randy 3 hits, Julio 3 doubles. W 7-1
• Game 3: Cole Young 3 RBIs including the go-ahead 2-run single in the 9th. Brash exits after 2 pitches. W 5-3

STORYLINES

Cole Young is for real. .383 with 10 RBIs over his last 13 games. 2nd-best WPA in all of baseball behind only Trout. #1 among all position players in defensive WAR. He went from one of the worst defensive 2B in baseball last year to the best this year. Where does he hit in the order, and when does he get his first All-Star nod?

Matt Brash. Exited Wednesday after 2 pitches with right-side discomfort. Had a 0.00 ERA in 13 outings. IL stint likely. Bizzardo probably slides into the leverage role. Oblique word has been mentioned. Not great.

Luis Castillo. The $25M question. Sometimes has his 95-96 stuff, sometimes doesn't. Cold weather theory has merit. But Hancock has been dominant and Bryce Miller is rehabbing. When everyone's healthy, something has to give.

JP Crawford's defense. Still the captain, still hits. But the range isn't there anymore and it shows. Leave it alone while we're winning — revisit if we stop.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

• Red Sox fired Cora and 5 coaches at 10-17, then won 17-1. Phillies fired Thomson (9-19), offered the job to Cora, he said no, Donnie Baseball steps in. Mattingly wins his first two.
• NL Central: every team is at or above .500. Reds are 20-11 with Tito Francona out of retirement. Wild.
• Braves at 22-10, rookie J.R. Richie from Bainbridge, WA gave up a homer on his first MLB pitch then struck out 8.

COMING UP

• Randy Johnson #51 retirement ceremony — Saturday May 2, T-Mobile Park (80s jersey night giveaway)
• Home vs. KC Royals (May 1–3) then the Braves (May 4–6)

Takeaways

• Seattle Mariners' April performance
• Bullpen struggles
• Offensive performance

Travis and Ryan break down a week that tested every M's fan — from the darkest record since 2011 to right back in the AL West race in four days. That's baseball.

🏥 Injury News & Roster Moves JP Crawford is back and already clutch — he's tied the team walk-off record. Victor Robles back on the IL, Schneider on paternity leave, so Patrick Wisdom gets the call from Triple-A.

🌾 Down on the Farm Cade Anderson is dealing — 11 K's in 5 innings in his last Double-A start. The guys dig into the logjam: if Bryce Miller returns and Emerson keeps rolling, something has to give. Six-man rotation? Trade? Move Emerson to the pen? Colt Emerson projected for a May call-up.

😤 Anaheim — The California Nightmare

• G1 (W 3-1): Woo dealt. Cole Young breaks it open in the 10th.
• G2 (L 1-0): Zack Neto leadoff homer — that was all she wrote. Jo Adell robbed Cal, Naylor, AND leaped into the stands to rob JP. Three robberies. Greatest defensive outfield game we've ever watched against us.
• G3 (L 8-7): Offense scored seven but Luis gave up six and the bullpen gave up more. Brutal finish.

😤😤 Texas — Four Losses, Four One-Run Games

• G1 (L 2-1): Cal's first career homer. deGrom and the pen did the rest. Gilbert wasted again.
• G2 (L 3-2): Donovan leadoff bomb. Still not enough. Third straight one-run loss.
• G3 (L 2-0): Two hits. Two. Four and nine. It was dark in Arlington.

☀️ Houston Home Stand — The Cure

• G1 (W 9-6): Season-high 9 runs. Three in the first on walks and chaos. Randy two-run bomb breaks it open.
• G2 (W 8-7): Down 7-2, came all the way back. Cal's first homer at T-Mobile. Julio's first homer of the year. JP walks it off with a bases-loaded single.
• G3 (W 6-1): Walked until the cows came home. Julio extends his on-base streak.
• G4 (W): Nails goes nuclear — back-to-back homers. 13 hits. Kirby goes 7.2. Back to one game under .500.

🌍 Around the League Dodgers are 12-4 being Dodgers. Everyone else is bunched up. Rangers lead the AL West at 9-7. Blue Jays and Astros rotations are in shambles. Pirates and Reds quietly hanging around. Cubs gave up 14 to Philly.

🔭 Looking Ahead Padres (10-6) in town — soft schedule but a real lineup. Woo goes tonight. Jackie Robinson Day tomorrow. Then Rangers at home for redemption, followed by the A's. Travis wants a win streak. Ryan says take it one series at a time. Either way — stay on the roller coaster.

Thanks for listening to The Nautical 9. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.

MARINERS NEWS The Mariners sign top prospect Colt Emerson to an 8-year, $95M extension before he's played a big league game. We weigh the risk, the precedent, and where he might slot in when he gets here.

OPENING HOMESTAND RECAP (3-4)

vs. Guardians — 2-2 split Thu 3/26: Guardians 6, Mariners 4 | Fri 3/27: Mariners 5, Guardians 1 | Sat 3/28: Guardians 6, Mariners 5 (F/10) | Sun 3/29: Mariners 8, Guardians 0 (NBC)

Emerson Hancock threw 6 no-hit innings in his season debut on Sunday Night Baseball. Rotation looked sharp. Bullpen is a work in progress.

vs. Yankees — 1-2 series loss Mon 3/30: Mariners 2, Yankees 1 (walk-off) | Tue 3/31: Yankees 5, Mariners 0 | Wed 4/1: Yankees 5, Mariners 3

Cal Raleigh — off the bench after a brutal Cleveland series — delivered a walk-off single in Game 1. Max Fried and Cam Schlittler were filthy in Games 2 and 3. The Mariners rallied late in the finale but couldn't close it out.

STORYLINES

• The WBC hangover is real — Julio, Randy, Cal, Muñoz, Bazardo, and Bizzarro all slow out of the gate
• Brendan Donovan doing his job at the plate, still finding his footing at third
• Cole Young is the early surprise — lefty at-bats, big hits, highlight-reel defense at second
• The Mariners have been under .500 in the opening homestand three of the last four years
• Bullpen usage questions — why isn't Dan going to Brash and Spire in key spots?

AROUND THE LEAGUE Chase DeLauter (CLE) homered twice in his first regular-season career game. Murakami (CWS) went deep 3 times in 3 games. JJ Wetherholt (STL) homered for his first big league hit, then walked off the Rays the next day. McGonigle (DET) had 4 hits on debut day. Walk-off grand slams from Dom Smith and Drake Baldwin. Blue Jays opened with back-to-back walk-offs vs. Oakland.

ABS SYSTEM — EARLY TAKES We're both into it. The crowd reactions are electric. Early standouts on the challenge system: 'Geno Suárez and Salvi Pérez. CB Buckner is having a rough week. Two things it still needs: a 3D plate model and an egregious-miss override when teams are out of challenges.

LOOKING AHEAD AL West road trip — Anaheim and Texas. Woo, Hancock, and Castillo on the bump. JP Crawford off the IL and on the trip. Warmer weather, the ball will carry, and Julio loves hitting in Anaheim.

Baseball is almost here! Travis and Ryan kick off Episode 4 on the eve of the 2025 MLB season, diving into everything Mariners and beyond as Opening Day arrives.

In this episode:

• Opening Day hype — Giants vs. Yankees on Netflix tomorrow, then the full slate drops Thursday morning with early games. It finally feels like Christmas Eve.
• Mariners rotation talk — Logan Gilbert gets the ball on Thursday. Where does the rotation shake out behind him? Kirby, Emerson, and what it means for the staff.
• Lineup construction — Cole Donovan as the true leadoff guy they've been missing, Luke Raley's bounce-back potential, Cole Young absolutely raking in spring, and whether this is finally Julio's year from Game 1.
• Colton not making the club — Was it performance? Or just giving a 21-year-old more seasoning? Either way, expect to see him this year.
• The Mariners TV situation — RootSports is dead. Mariners.TV is the new brand. Will your cable login work in the MLB app? We're all finding out Thursday morning.
• Streaming chaos — Netflix, Peacock, Apple TV, Amazon Prime... how are casual fans supposed to find a game anymore?
• WBC wrap-up — Great pitching, cold bats, and a loss that still stings. Why do international teams just seem to want it more?
• AL/NL whip-around — Division winners, wild card picks, Dodgers three-peat talk, and why the Phillies might finally break through in the NL.
• Bold 2025 predictions — Cole Young as breakout player, Cal Raleigh hitting 51 home runs, Brian Wu as a sneaky Cy Young dark horse, and a Mariners 101-win season prediction.

Final picks: Mariners vs. Tigers in the ALCS. Mariners vs. Phillies in the World Series. Mariners win it.

Takeaways

• Spring Training Concerns
• AL WEST Preview
• WBC Excitement

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Podcast Update
• 07:15 AL West Deep Dive and Playoff Predictions
• 21:49 WBC Quarterfinal Matchups and Analysis

Welcome to Episode 2 of The Nautical 9! For our new listeners, the name is a tribute to the Mariners—"nautical" for the sea-faring theme, and "nine" for the players on the diamond. We kick things off by urging fans of the old Super Sports Kid podcast to subscribe to our new feed. Then, we catch up on Mariners Spring Training, discussing Bryce Miller's minor oblique injury , Cade Anderson's polished debut , and why we think Colt Emerson might break camp as our Opening Day third baseman.

The bulk of this episode is dedicated to the upcoming World Baseball Classic. We preview all the pools , debate the pitching restrictions on aces like Tarik Skubal , and track all the Mariners players suiting up for their respective countries—from Julio with the DR to Cal catching for Team USA. Finally, we wrap up with our tournament predictions and a quick update on our recording schedule as we count down the 25 days to Opening Day.

After a 15-month hiatus, we’re back with a brand-new podcast and a new mission. We’re shifting our focus from general Seattle sports to the Hometown 9: your Seattle Mariners.

Note to our original listeners: If you’re hearing this on the Super Sports Kid feed, head over and subscribe to The Nautical 9 to stay in the loop. Let's get to work!