Mariners vs. Astros: Would Series Loss End Seattle's Season?
As the Mariners face the Houston Astros in a key series, concerns rise regarding Seattle. Their performance, particularly the lineup, hints at a grim future.
Video Transcript
Well, if Seattle does not win this series against Houston, is it time for us to say, "Yeah, it's over for Seattle," come Monday?
'Cause if they can't score- look, I think it's over and I don't see them doing it.
Yeah, I, I, I think it's over already, but, y- you know, again, there's so many games.
There's really not a lot of games left, but in the 2026 Major League Baseball season- Right it feels like an eternity is left because everybody stinks.
So yeah, it, it, it's kind of fair to say, I think, for me at this point, Joe, if losing the series, I don't I wouldn't say that their season is done because it's only a, a, you know, a slop of one game there.
But if they get swept, yeah, I, I would say that's it.
Oof.
Yeah, i- any more is just, it's so hard.
I mean, at 57 and 65, Craig, and we're sitting here going, "Yeah, the, you know, maybe if they got..." Like, no.
No, a t- the, the kind of season that Cal Raleigh's ha- have.
Can you remember going from having a season like, guy, give me a player that you can recall that ever had the kind of year that he had last year, that we were talking about MVPs and, you know, 60 home runs and all of this other stuff, to a guy that's hitting a buck 59 this year.
Yeah, I don't know.
And he's not admitting any crazy injury, too.
It's not like he, we're talking he's gonna have 400, 500 at bats and he just, he can't hit.
I've never seen anything like it.
Yeah, I have no idea.
Everyone, you know, we were talking about it in the, you know, at the, at the Marlins this week, too.
It just, it seems unprecedented, Joe.
And n- not for the s- not for the course of his career.
It seems unprecedented just from a drop-off for one season.
Now, guys have been hurt before, naturally, and- Right you know, Stanton comes to mind, when he was with the Marlins and then he went to the Yankees and he would, he's been hurt a lot in New York.
But no, you're right.
What, I, I, I have to believe that he's just gutting it out and not saying anything.
Remember, if you have an oblique injury and you come back- as quickly as he came back from that, which was pretty quick, I'm gonna believe that maybe this is something that has been lingering with, with Cal Raleigh.
So, to your point, you know, what's interesting is that if we looked at, like, Rookie of the Year to, like, being done from baseball, we could find a lot of those guys.
A lot of guys.
But as far as MVP- Good point.
Yeah, but, but not MVP.
Yep.
But not MVP.
I'll, you know, what I'll do is, is during our next break I'll, I'll take a look and see if there's been, like, a precipitous drop-off from guys who have, won the MVP before and then, you know, sort of exited.
There have been, like, random MVPs before- Switch hitter, too in leagues.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How much of it do you think is mental, Craig, where he is, it really, the longer it's gone, it's the wor- 'cause, you know, the worse it gets for guys.
They can't get out of their own head.
Uh- Yeah, maybe and then all of a- Maybe you know what I mean?
It's, I think next year will answer a lot of those questions on whether it was- Yeah was it a flash in a pan, was it an injury, was he just maybe needs It sounds, if anybody needs to get away for a little while, I think Cal Raleigh is a guy that needs to get away for a little while here.
But somebody else has gotta be able to pick up the slack on that team, and it's gonna start here tonight with Kirby on the mound, taking on Lambert for Houston.
Now, if you're Houston, you're a couple of games above 500.
Too many close calls against the Giants, in that West Coast, that whole West Coast trip was interesting there against, the Padres and then the Giants.
But they are at home here, and I still think they're the front runner to, if any team can put five wins together in a row with that bullpen and that crazy dude, Triple Crown, possible Triple Crown winner, at the helm, it feels like they have the best shot at doing that here, Craig.
No?
Yeah.
Look, I, look, I, I, I was out on Houston.
They've, you know, climbed back into it and I think that they're still a very deficient team.
They're a team that has had- Sure a negative run differential for the majority of the season.
I, I, I thought on paper Seattle was better.
I thought on paper Texas was better.
But the good thing for the Astros, Joe, is that their offense is really good.
It seems like they're sort of match-up proof, and they seem to be scoring runs every night.
I don't love their pitching, and this isn't like when they had Zack Greinke and Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander- Right and Framber.
Like, none of those guys are even there anymore.
But they, they slug their way in and out of some problems, and as long as Paredes and Alvarez, and I know Altuve is hurt, but I mean, you think of Jeremy Pea and Jos Altuve and that punch that they have, one-two in the lineup, or two-three depending on when they hit them.
Joe, that's as good as any team in baseball right now, those two guys.
I mean, Jeremy Pea may be having the best season of any shortstop in baseball.
And so as long as those guys keep hitting like that, it's gonna keep them in a lot of games.
And then they do have what, you know, you could make the case Seattle doesn't have and Texas doesn't have, which is Josh Hader.
So you get deep into a game- Yes and then you expect Hader to be able to close out the game.
So maybe it is Houston's on paper, but I would also say, you know, Texas plays Houston late in the season.
I wouldn't be shocked to see- Yeah, they do Texas overtake them.
Yeah.
So I, I, I'm gonna still hold off on Houston, and I, I really don't think Houston wins a playoff series.
That I will say, too.
