Mariners continue to plummet in power rankings, emphasizing importance of impact move

The Mariners had the best record in June when we last talked about the MLB Power Rankings. The offense and pitching were clicking on all cylinders, and it looked like this team had turned a big corner.

Since that time, the Mariners have dropped four consecutive series and the division lead has diminished to just three games. The Astros are catching fire (which should scare Mariners fans), and the lead just continues to slip away. During that time the Mariners have stumbled to a bottom 10 offense during that stretch with a team strikeout rate just a hair under 30%. The other issue is that the Mariners' pitching has scuffled as well, as the pitching has ranked 19th in team ERA during that time, at 4.59. All of this has the Mariners struggling to maintain a top 10 spot in the latest power rankings from Bleacher Report.

With four consecutive series losses, the Mariners fall to #10 in Bleacher Reports latest power rankings

As the All-Star Game and the Trade Deadline approaches, the Mariners will look to tread water and keep their division lead, but it emphasizes how lucky this team has been and how much they need impact. The AL West has been terrible (until the recent Astros surge) and the Mariners have been slightly above average which led to a comfortable division lead.

This team is going to be active at the trade deadline, and they should be. The team has holes in both corner outfield spots as well as second base and possesses all of the prospect capital to make an impact move. With the core group of Julio Rodriguez, JP Crawford, and Cal Raleigh struggling to meet expectations, the need for an impact move is becoming more and more paramount.

This Mariners team is loaded with talent and hopefully they can change course on the offensive side. However, they can't sit around and let the division lead continue to slip through their fingers, the time to make an impact move is now.