Yankees' Luke Weaver has Mariners fans feeling better with every playoff meltdown

Remember when Luke Weaver was a member of the Seattle Mariners? Don't lie and say you do. It was only for a couple weeks back in 2023, and he had a 6.08 ERA in five appearances. Whatever that is, it's not memorable.

Weaver's Mariners tenure is more notable for what didn't happen. He didn't break out for them like he did for the New York Yankees, a run that darn near resulted in him winning a World Series ring in 2024 while his former teammates sat at home like chumps.

Weaver only made three appearances for the Yankees after they claimed him off waivers from the Mariners in 2023, but he made enough of an impression to earn a new contract from the team that winter. He signed for $2 million for 2024, with a $2.5 million option for 2025.

Because Weaver was a free agent at the end of the 2023 season, there was never any guarantee that he would have stayed with the Mariners even if his time in Seattle had gone better. But the team surely could have matched the Yankees' offer, and it looks like a compelling "What if?" in retrospect. In pitching to a 2.89 ERA over 62 appearances in 2024, Weaver essentially matched Andrés Muñoz in overall performance.

But in case anyone in the Pacific Northwest hasn't been keeping up with Weaver more recently, here's the deal: He has a 135.00 ERA in the 2025 playoffs.

Luke Weaver no longer looks like the one who got away from the Mariners

It could be worse, and it actually was worse for Weaver in his first two playoff outings. He faced six batters between Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series against Boston and Game 1 of the AL Division Series against Toronto. All six reached, and he was charged with five earned runs. His ERA was the dreaded INF for "infinite," meaning he would have never stopped being scored on if the part of Aaron Boone's brain responsible for making pitching changes suddenly malfunctioned.

Granted, some would say it already has simply by virtue of Weaver still being high enough on Boone's trust tree to get high-leverage duty in both of those games. He really struggled down the stretch of the regular season, pitching to a 7.36 ERA over 17 games. More broadly, his fastball has lost both zip and effectiveness relative to 2024.

As noted by Jake Rill of MLB.com, there might have been some pitch-tipping contributing to Weaver's struggles. If so, it'll do for a sign of progress that he was at least able to get an out in Game 2 of the ALDS, even if it did end in a 13-7 loss for the Yankees.

From a Mariners perspective, the point in bringing all this up is not to dunk on Weaver. He's not exactly Public Enemy No. 1 in Seattle, and rooting for anyone to fail just for the sake of it is bad form. If anything, one feels for Weaver that he's hit the skids just before another date with free agency, especially given that he had been open to fielding opportunities to start again.

There is nonetheless a sense of relief to be found in all this. It's the kind that can only come from thinking that your team missed out on an ace reliever, only to find out that isn't the case.

Meanwhile, all is mostly well for the Mariners right now. Their bullpen is a huge reason why they need just two wins to advance to the American League Championship Series, whereas Weaver and the Yankees still need three.