3 Reasons for the Seattle Mariners Summer Surge

If anyone had said the Mariners were going to go on a hot streak back at the start of July they would have been laughed at. On July 1, the Mariners were 38-42, had just lost 15-4 to the Tampa Bay Rays, looking like they would not even be a factor in the postseason race. Since then, the M's have gone on a tear, going (31-13) in there last 44 games with a 70.4% winning percentage. After sweeping Houston, the Mariners are just 3 GB of Texas for the division, while holding a half game (0.5) lead over Toronto for the final Wild Card.

The past two months have been quite an unreal turnaround for a team that was searching for answers at the end of June. The Mariners had under performed expectations all year until they flipped the switch at the start of July. Winning each of their final three series to close out the first half (45-44) one game above .500.


The second half got off to a rocky start, with the Mariners dropping their first series to the Tigers who were below .500 and in third place in the woeful AL Central. The Mariners then split a series with the AL Central leading Minnesota Twins. During the series however, they suffered a blow to their roster with the loss of Jared Kelenic to a broken foot after he kicked a cooler in frustration at the end of a 6-3 loss in game three of the series.


Even though the Mariners would go on to win their next three series coming into the trade deadline, the Mariners decided to trade closer Paul Sewald to the D-Backs for INF Josh Rojas, 1B/OF Dominic Canzone, and INF Ryan Bliss. The move was strange at the time given the front office made no additional moves, but it was expected given the Mariners place in the Wild Card standings and the division race. Catcher Cal Raleigh had this to say about the Paul Sewald trade at the time, "We can look at it two ways: we can pack it in, or we can keep going and trying make this thing real and kind of prove them wrong."


Since the Paul Sewald trade, the Mariners have done nothing but prove the front office wrong. Ripping off 15 wins in 19 games, while winning five of their last six series. Here is how the Mariners have gone on their summer surge: