Mariners choke job vs. Reds leaves no doubt about what Jerry Dipoto must fix

The Seattle Mariners let a win slip away on Wednesday, and the only pleasant surprise is that it wasn't Dan Wilson's fault this time. It was simply them sticking to a losing formula that feels as inevitable as it does unlikely to fix itself.

For the 78th time this season, the Mariners got a performance from a starting pitcher consisting of three earned runs or fewer. And for the 33rd time, they lost anyway. It's the third-most of any American League team, trailing only the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers.

It shouldn't have been this way. After Emerson Hancock provided six innings of two-run ball in the rubber game against the Cincinnati Reds, things were lined up for Wilson to hand a 3-2 lead off to Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier and Andrés Muñoz. That should have equaled nine outs and a W.

It's not Wilson's fault that Bazardo allowed the Reds' eighth and ninth hitters to reach with one out in the seventh, much less that he served up a right-on-right three-run blast to Sal Stewart, which secured a 5-3 win for the Reds and a series loss for the Mariners.

Bazardo was saddled with the loss, and the fact that it's only the 16th for a Seattle reliever is the definition of misleading. Leverage situations of all stripes have been a problem for the pen, and it shows in how Mariners relievers rank 20th in Win Probability Added.

At least when guys like Michael Rucker, Cole Wilcox and Nick Davila get lit up, you can write it off as a function of the pen being shorthanded with Matt Brash, Carlos Vargas and Cooper Criswell all on the IL. But even the core four is imperfect. Out of Muñoz, Bazardo, Speier and Jose A. Ferrer, only Muñoz has an exceptional strikeout rate. And as Bazardo demonstrated, the risk of catastrophe goes way up as soon as a ball leaves a bat.

And then there's the offense, which…[long, beleaguered sigh]… just keeps doing its thing.

That's now 53 games with three or fewer runs scored, the fourth-most in MLB. More to the point, the Mariners' record is now 8-27 in games in which they don't hit a home run. For a team that is not built to get 'em on, get 'em over and get 'em in, the fact that the Mariners have gone homerless in that many games is an indictment in and of itself.

Since things aren't coming together, it's on the Mariners front office to shake things up

It's almost too perfect that the Mariners came out of the All-Star break with a 3-3 homestand. The second half represented a chance for a fresh start after a 48-49 first half, but they instead picked up where they left off. Look at what Seattle has done so far, and it's mediocrity all the way down.

We maintain that Jerry Dipoto has a point when he says that the best players the team can acquire are the ones it already has. Second-half Julio Rodríguez has already hinted at showing up. The Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor of 2025 may do the same. The three injured relievers may yet get healthy. Brendan Donovan, too.

But for how much longer can this be the mantra? We're 103 games into the season, so "no longer" is the only acceptable answer. Everyone, from Dipoto on down, needs to stop seeing this Mariners team for the World Series contender it's meant to be and start seeing for what it is. And that's a team that needs help.

So, go get that proven reliever. Go get that right-handed hitter. Heck, go get two of each. Leave nothing to chance. There's been enough of that already, and the results are getting old.

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