The Mariners' road record is a terrible omen for their playoff fate

There's no denying the Seattle Mariners are on a horrific run on the road, which continued on Wednesday with a 9-4 loss that completed a three-game sweep by the Rays in Tampa Bay. The M's are now 1-5 on their latest endeavors away from home, with one more series remaining in Atlanta before they get to return home to the friendly confines of T-Mobile Park.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, this is a continuation from their previous nightmare road trip, which saw them go 2-7 and included a dominant sweep by the Phillies in Philadelphia. In all, the M's have gone 6-16 on the road since their own dominant sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, prior to the All-Star break.

Mariners just don't measure up well on the road

For some context of just how bad things are for the Mariners right now, their 32-40 road record is fourth-worst in the American League and eighth-poorest in the majors as a whole. The question now is: What does a .444 winning percentage on the M's travels mean for their playoff chances?

Well, at least from a historical perspective, it doesn't make for pretty reading if you're a Mariners fan. Not including the COVID-impacted 2020 season, only three teams have made the playoffs since 2010 with a sub-.450 winning percentage on the road: the Braves in 2010, the Astros in 2015 and the Rays in 2022.

It only gets worse for the Mariners the deeper you go down this rabbit hole, with just 15 teams in total making the playoffs with a sub-.450 winning percentage since the modern era began in 1901. (Again not including 2020.) All-time, only four teams have been able to win a pennant and only two have won the World Series when playing sub-.450 ball on the road.

The implication is that the truly good teams are good everywhere, alluding to the 2025 Mariners just not being very good. However, this does not mean that all hope is lost yet with the team still managing to hold onto the third and final AL wild card spot, even if that hold is threatening to slip away altogether.

Recent history offers some hope for the Mariners

It's not as if this team can't win on their road, as noted by their recent history on their travels with winning records each year between 2021 and 2023. In addition, this is arguably a more talented team than any of those were.

Even if this is the case, it still only matters so much if you don't actually win games on the field when you are playing away from Seattle, which is the current conundrum engulfing the 2025 version of this franchise. Again though, all hope is not lost yet.

We appreciate that Mariners fans are used to feeling nervous about their team just given their history of causing anxiety and heartbreak. However, at least the M's still have control of how this all plays out, at least in terms of still sitting in a playoff position ahead of their series in Atlanta.

After facing the Braves, only six of the Mariners' remaining 19 games will be on the road, although they will be two extremely important series which will likely determine their playoff fate. First they will travel to Kansas City to face a Royals team just 2.5 games behind them, and then it's off to play the Astros in Houston.

It was genuinely believed this was the season when the Astros were finally there for the taking, but the Mariners have failed to take advantage largely due to their woeful road record. If this season is to be the third successive time the M's fail to make the playoffs, it would be almost sickeningly apt if their main divisional rivals put the final nail in their coffin away from home.