Through the first half, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses in baseball

The Seattle Mariners are floundering. The Astros have picked up an immense amount of steam and have come roaring back after an abysmal start to 2024. Now just one game back and headed to Seattle to kick off a three-game series, this could be a crucial turning point to decide the AL West.

How did this happen? To start, the Mariners have a run differential of just +19, on par with the Diamondbacks (+17), Mets (+13), and Padres (+12). The difference is that the latter three teams are very unlikely to win their divisions whereas the Mariners have maintained their position as head honchos, at least for now. The Astros' own run differential of +49 might be indicative of them being the better team. But the Mariners have the third-best team ERA in baseball at 3.46, so that must mean the hitting is insufficient. But how insufficient?

The Mariners offense is awful, plain and simple.

Here are some key figures about how the Mariners have been at the plate in the first 97 games of the season:

• They are dead last in team batting average with a mark of .219, slightly below the White Sox (.220)
• They are 25th in on-base percentage at .300, slightly below the Angels (.304)
• They are 28th in slugging percentage at .367, ahead of just the Marlins (.354) and White Sox (.347)
• They are dead last in total hits with 701, 12 fewer than the 29th place White Sox
• They lead all teams with 1,013 strikeouts, 64 more than the second place Athletics
• Their .721 OPS with runners in scoring position is 21st in MLB, slightly below the Blue Jays (.729)
• Cal Raleigh leads qualified Mariners hitters with a .734 OPS
• Six qualified players are averaging <.220 and two are averaging <.200
• Two qualified players have >100 strikeouts

There is an endless amount of additional figures I could use to highlight just how rough things have been for the Seattle lineup but I think the picture is already as clear as day - the offense is simply not competitive enough to make a deep postseason run or potentially to make the postseason at all.

The best opportunity to rectify this situation is to be active at the trade deadline but Jerry Dipoto has provided lukewarm updates as recently as July 17.

"We are open to doing something that has the potential to be dynamic. Don't know if that's going to be available. Right now it's not and this is as late as we've ever gone into a deadline where I can honestly say it's not;"

Jerry Dipoto on Brock & Salk

What is this potentially dynamic move? Is it a big deal to bring in one big bat like Luis Robert Jr. or Isaac Paredes? Is it a move to address more specific needs like contact hitting? Are they adding a fifth fish to the Salmon Run?

As of now, no one is certain, not even Jerry Dipoto. The only thing that is certain is that the Mariners don't even have a league-average offense let alone a division-leading one and if they do not proceed proactively, they just might surrender the best first half to a season they've had in decades.