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Mariners hold their own against one of baseball's best and creep closer in WC race

The Mariners went 1-1 in two games against the tough-as-nails San Diego Padres, holding their own against one of the best teams in baseball

By Jason Wang |
San Diego Padres v Seattle Mariners
San Diego Padres v Seattle Mariners / Alika Jenner/GettyImages
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The Mariners put up an even fight against one of the better MLB rosters in 2024. They scored eight runs while conceding nine over two games and are now 3.5 games behind the Astros for the AL West spot, while sitting four games behind the Minnesota Twins in the Wild Card race.

Best Hitter: Victor Robles

9 PA, .500/.667/.667, 3 H, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP, 1 SB

Robles continues to be a blessing for the Mariners lineup, getting on base at a very consistent clip while putting the ball in play when necessary. After a slight slump in August which saw him post a .661 OPS over 89 plate appearances, he's back to swinging a hot bat with a 1.075 OPS over 34 plate appearances in September. His BABIP of .526 likely isn't sustainable but he managed to keep a similar mark over the full month of June so huge regression isn't necessarily guaranteed.

Honorable Mention: Luke Raley

8 PA, 2 H, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K

While Robles has been great since joining the team, Raley has arguably been one of the most important offensive contributors in aggregate. He has been with the team since day one and although he had to fight for full playing time at the beginning of the season, he's become a recurring staple in the lineup. His cumulative OPS of .774 is the highest on the team of any player with >210 plate appearances and he's second on the team in homers (19) and RBI (52).

Best Pitcher: Bryan Woo

6.2 IP, 89 P, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

After 18 starts, Woo's 2.36 ERA has proven him to be an elite part of the rotation. Hampered by injury, who knows what he'd be able to achieve this year if he was fully healthy. In his start against the Padres, he took a perfect game into the seventh inning before a home run by Fernando Tatis Jr. broke the game open. He also had 12 whiffs (seven against his four-seam fastball) and 18 called strikes (ten against his four-seam fastball). While still his secondary weapon, his sinker has taken a big step forward as well, going from a .314 wOBA in 2023 to a .255 wOBA in 2024.

His sweeper has also made big improvements over last year, especially with limiting hard contact. He had a .457 slugging percentage against it last year while he's managed to allow batters to slug just .063 against it this year.

Honorable Mention: Andrés Muñoz

1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Muñoz was perfect in his sole save opportunity, picking up his 20th of the year. He struck out Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado before getting Jake Cronenworth to ground out. Muñoz had some brutal outings in August including back-to-back blown saves against the Tigers and Dodgers but he's been consistently stellar outside of those instances. His whiff rate of 39.1% is in the top percentile of qualified pitchers while his strikeout rate of 33.2% is in the top 4%.

Best Moment: Cal Raleigh hits his 30th homer of the season

Cal joined a group of backstops with elite bats this week, becoming just the 12th catcher in MLB history with multiple seasons of 30+ home runs. He also surpassed his own manager, Dan Wilson, with his 89th home run as a manager, second-most of any catcher in franchise history behind just Mike Zunino (95).

Raleigh has been one of the few real power threats in Seattle this year, being one of just two players with a slugging percentage >.400 and the only one with at least 20 home runs. He's also on pace for a 100-RBI season, currently sitting at 92. He still struggles to hit for a high average but his reliance on the three true outcomes has worked out decently for him so far, especially with the added on-base abilities of Victor Robles and Randy Arozarena to help him out.

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