Grading the chilly Seattle Mariners' lifeless 0-3 series loss vs. Toronto Blue Jays

As the Seattle Mariners were busy winning nine straight series, even the optimists among us surely suspected that they would regress eventually. The only question was how bad it would be.

If their performance in a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays in Seattle over the weekend is any indication, it could be pretty bad. The Mariners lost all three contests, giving up three times as many runs (21) as they scored (seven). It was a bad time, plain and simple.

The good news is that the Mariners woke up on Monday morning still in first place in the American League West at 22-17. They have a 2.0-game lead over the Houston Astros and Athletics, neither of whom is playing particularly well in their own right.

It is nonetheless time for an autopsy of the Blue Jays series, so let's slap on some surgical gloves and grade the Mariners' performance in all facets of the game.

Mariners vs. Blue Jays Breakdown and Grades: Series Results

• Friday, May 9: SEA 3, TOR 6
• Saturday, May 10: SEA 3, TOR 6
• Sunday, May 11: SEA 1, TOR 9

Grading the Mariners’ Offense: F

About the only thing that can be said in defense of Seattle's offense over the weekend is that it ran into some tough luck here and there. This was especially the case on Friday, when the M's were robbed of hits by the likes of Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho.

On the whole, though, the Mariners simply did not play Mariners baseball on offense. Whereas they had overwhelmed the opposition with their patience, power, speed, and surprisingly efficient contact skills through their first 36 games, this series saw the Mariners strike out 28 times while drawing only five walks, otherwise hitting only two home runs and stealing zero bases.

Blue Jays pitchers were in attack mode throughout the series, and the Mariners just didn't have an answer for that approach. Across the last three days, only four teams had a lower rate of contact within the strike zone.

Hitting with runners in scoring position also continues to be a struggle for the Mariners, who went 4-for-18 in those spots. Most painful of all was a spot on Friday in the eighth inning when, trailing 5-3, they loaded the bases with nobody out and came up empty.

This offense is still beating expectations overall, posting 4.92 runs per game with a 120 OPS+ that is tied for third-best in MLB. But this was frankly a series to forget, and Randy Arozarena (4-for-10, 1 BB) is really the only hitter who pulled his weight in the three games.

Grading the Mariners’ Defense: B

The Mariners continued to play clean defense in this series, as their only error came on an ugly play on both ends between J.P. Crawford at short and Rowdy Tellez at first base. Fortunately, nothing bad came of that.

Besides, Crawford made up for that miscue with this terrific pick on a hot grounder by George Springer:

Other highlights from the series included a busy night for Leody Taveras in right field on Saturday and a nice snowcone catch on bloop by Dylan Moore on Sunday, which bailed out Arozarena after he had allowed a runner to advance to second with a lazy throw from left field.

For the most part, however, it was a tough-luck series for the defense. Blue Jays hitters made a habit of placing relatively soft-hit balls just out of the reach of Mariners fielders, as if guided with actual laser precision. Most crushing of all was Myles Straw's 89.4 single that scored two runs in the eighth inning on Saturday.

It is true that range is a relative weakness for this Mariners defense, but nobody should be coming away from this series thinking that it's because of poor glovework that the home team lost all three games.

Grading the Mariners’ Pitching: D

An output of 21 runs simply isn't a good outcome for a three-game series, and this particular flop mostly falls on the starting pitchers.

Luis Castillo, Logan Evans, and Bryce Miller combined to allow 15 earned runs in 15 innings, with only Evans (5.0 IP, 3 ER) putting forth anything like a solid outing. Struggles with the fastball otherwise marked Castillo's and Miller's stars, as the former worked 1.1 mph below his usual velocity and the latter absolutely grooved one to Springer for a game-breaking homer on Sunday:

We expressed our concerns about Miller even before his outing, and we're no longer alone there. Matt Calkins of The Seattle Times has a worthwhile article on Miller as well, noting that he's been banged up since the end of last year and that he's pitching defensively.

The bullpen fared batter, save for Carlos Vargas on Saturday. The three runs he gave up in the eighth inning were the difference in the game. And while he didn't serve up especially hard contact, he had a couple of wide throws that resulted in two stolen bases for the Blue Jays that both led to runs.

It is worth reiterating that the Mariners suffered from bad luck on balls in play in this series, but the reality is that the team is more vulnerable to those kinds of outcomes in 2025. After striking out 24.4 percent of the batters they faced in 2024, the team's strikeout rate is only 20.7 percent this year.

It's also hard to excuse just how much the Mariners got crushed by the bottom of the lineup. Of the 21 runs the Blue Jays scored, 14 were driven in by the last fives spots in the order.

Grading the Mariners’ Strategy: B

In fairness to Dan Wilson, there is only so much a manager can do when it's his starters who are getting the team into trouble.

This was the case with Castillo on Friday and Miller on Sunday, and Wilson can't be blamed for sticking with either one for too long. The five runs of Castillo all came in the first three innings, while Miller was cruising before Springer's homer capped a two-out rally by Toronto.

Where Wilson did mess up was in giving Vargas too long of a leash as things were unraveling for the righty in the eighth inning on Saturday. Yet that was largely circumstantial. Wilson had already used Gabe Speier and Matt Brash (welcome back, old sport), and Vargas indeed earned extra confidence with a spectacular 10-game run (11.2 IP, 1.54 ERA) between April 6 and May 6.

All the same, it should have been fair game to call on Andrés Muñoz in that situation. He'd had a busy series in Sacramento, sure, but he'd had two days off and only ever calling on him in the ninth inning or later frankly demonstrates a lack of imagination.

Though the offense went cold, it was otherwise nice to see Wilson sticking with his go-to lineup, with Crawford up top followed by Jorge Polanco, Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Arozarena. That's the best top five he can possibly use.

At any rate, the Mariners don't have much time to shake this one off. Their next three-game series against Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees begins Monday, with first pitch at T-Mobile Park set for 6:40 p.m. PT.