Mariners' 2025 punching bag helpfully lands with playoff rival Red Sox

There were some unofficial rules at play when the Seattle Mariners faced the Detroit Tigers last year. Inexplicably, they were in for a good time when Tarik Skubal was on the mound. Much more explicably, the same was also true of Tommy Kahnle.

Between the regular season and the postseason, M's hitters got six looks at Kahnle in 2025. The veteran righty somehow only got six total outs in those games, including zero in back-to-back outings in July in which he gave up seven runs.

Then in the 15th inning of Game 5 of the ALDS, Jorge Polanco happened to Kahnle to send the Mariners to their first ALCS in 24 years.

Perhaps it's punching down to say we wouldn't mind the Mariners seeing Kahnle again, but that's just how we feel. It's therefore nice to have confirmation that it could happen, with word coming from multiple sources on Tuesday that Kahnle has joined up with the Boston Red Sox.

Tommy Kahnle staying in the AL could mean more chances for the Mariners to feast

In fairness to Kahnle, he's been a consistently good and occasionally great reliever for 11 major league seasons. And even if it's not right away, he should have a chance to help the Red Sox in 2026.

He got knocked around for a 4.43 ERA last year, but he still made 66 appearances out of the Tigers' bullpen. Prior to that, he posted a 2.38 ERA over 92 total appearances for the New York Yankees across 2023 and 2024.

Out of the 2,644 pitches Kahnle has thrown since 2022, a whopping 2,083 have been changeups. And why not? Even though hitters clearly know it's coming, they have just a .189 average and 32.9 Whiff% against it over the last four years.

Kahnle is signing with Boston hot off a stint with Israel in the World Baseball Classic, in which he logged two scoreless appearances. There isn't a clear spot for him underneath Aroldis Chapman in Alex Cora's relief corps, but Kahnle signed late enough that he can be stashed with Triple-A Worcester until a need arises.

Where the Mariners are concerned, they have dates with the Red Sox from June 19-21 in Seattle and from August 31-September 2 in Boston. If Kahnle is wearing a Red Sox uniform for one or both of those series, the M's will hope that the race to the bat rack is on like it's 2025 all over again.

And not just for schadenfreude purposes, mind you. The Mariners and Red Sox play on opposite coasts and in different divisions, but they do share the American League and there are only six playoff spots to go around. Any damage Seattle does to Kahnle in a Boston uniform would have the potential to pay off come October.