3 key takeaways for the Mariners from the Yankees series

The Mariners were simply outclassed by the Yankees this week. After an 11-2 walloping to start the series, a baserunning gaffe cost them the second game and Seattle managed to escape with a narrow one-run win in the final game. The two losses pushed their AL West deficit to five games and their chance to make the playoffs is now just 5.0% according to FanGraphs. So, what do we garner from this rough stretch of outings?

1. The young pitchers aren't quite ready to handle the big bats just yet

Bryan Woo has been great all year. After 110.1 innings, he's sitting at a 2.85 ERA and 0.88 WHIP with an elite 2.6% walk rate and top-decile 4.9% barrel rate. However, his performance against one of the most menacing lineups in baseball showed that he's still got a long way to go before leading any rotation at the major league level. Over 4.2 innings against New York, he conceded nine hits and seven earned runs, including two home runs. He ran into similar issues against the Guardians in June and when he's at his best, his low whiff (22.4%) and strikeout (20.8%) rates leave him vulnerable to guys who excel at making great contact.

Other young arms like Bryce Miller and Emerson Hancock have immense promise but haven't yet gotten to the point where they'd be reliable presences on the mound against playoff-bound competition. On the bright side, they've got time to figure things out.