Justin Hollander falls on the sword in regard to Mariners' 2024 offensive struggles

There is no doubting that it was the lack of an effective offense which ultimately cost the Seattle Mariners a playoff appearance last year. They ended up sitting just one agonizing game back of a wild card place at the conclusion of the 2024 regular season. (Although, in reality, it was technically two games, due to relevant head-to-head tiebreakers.)

It's frustrating for Mariners fans to think that an average offense would likely have been more than enough to secure a second playoff appearance in three seasons, when combined with the best rotation in baseball. The M's couldn't even manage this however, with the most strikeouts in the Majors and the second-worst team batting average contributing towards ranking just 21st in scoring.

While it's clear what was to blame for the Mariners falling short, there is the question of who was to blame, with plenty of it to go around. However, if there's one person who is willing to take it on the chin, look no further than executive vice president and general manager Justin Hollander.

Justin Hollander takes accountability for Mariners' offensive woes

Hollander proved to be a stand-up man, during a studio appearance with Bump and Stacy on Wednesday. As per Zac Hereth of Seattle Sports, he said: "If it starts with somebody’s fault, it’s probably mine and our front office. We just did not play good enough and put enough pressure on teams."

The Dayton, Ohio native is known for being a popular and friendly person around the organization. In this respect, maybe it should come as no surprise that he's willing to accept the blame for the offensive failings, even though he is arguably not the main reason for why the lineup struggled for the majority of last year.

In this respect, Hollander didn't hold back with a damning verdict of just how tough it was to watch the Mariners at the plate during the 2024 season. He said: "We played terrible offense for the first four months of last year as a group. There were individual players who were better in stretches and worse in stretches. But as a group, we were just an unacceptably bad offense for the first four months of the season."

Justin Hollander is feeling good about Mariners lineup in 2025

As critical as the former lawyer was of the Mariners' offensive performance during last year, this is equalled by his optimisim for what he expects from the lineup this coming season.

"Offensively, we feel like we have a team that is capable of doing it. I don’t know if we’re going to lead the free world in offense like we did over the last six weeks of the season. I’m pretty certain we’ll be better than we were for the first four months of the season when we were just bad."

You can certainly appreciate this optimism, given just how productive the lineup was after Dan Wilson took over as manager in late August. Consider that, for September specifically, the Mariners ranked fourth in team batting average, third in OPS and, most importantly of all, third in runs scored at an average of 5.15 per game. (For what it's worth, this average over the course of a whole 162-game season would have also seen the Mariners finish third in the Majors overall with 835 runs.)

Of course, just because the Mariners are capable of having a good offense, this comes with no guarantees. There also remain a number of lingering questions. For example, can Julio Rodríguez be consistently good for an entire season? Will the spark Justin Turner provided after his trade acquisition be missed? Can Mitch Garver recover from one of the toughest offensive seasons of his Major League career? Is Jorge Polanco truly over his injury issues and ready to return to the form he showed regularly during his tenure with the Minnesota Twins? Will Víctor Robles continue where he left off last year?

The point is, Hollander's belief in the Mariners makes sense, but will it prove to be justified, or will he once again be taking the blame for a lackluster offensive display at the conclusion of the 2025 season?

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