Pitchers and Catchers from all 30 Major League Baseball teams first reported to their respective Spring Training locations between Feb. 9 and 13, marking the beginning of the 2025 MLB Spring Training. The 15 members of the Cactus League, the Mariners included, gathered at their respective training facilities in Arizona, while the other 15 members of the Grapefruit League reported to their facilities in Florida.
Following a cold off–season, the Seattle Mariners tuned in to the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz., where they began preparation for the upcoming season. In 2024 the Mariners ended the season with a record of 85-77, putting them in second place in the American League (AL) West division, missing the playoffs once again.
The team last made a playoff appearance in 2022 after securing the second AL Wild Card spot with a Cal Raleigh walk-off home run versus the Oakland Athletics, Sep. 30, 2022. This broke a 20-year-long playoff drought for the Mariners. Since then, the Mariners have just barely missed out on the playoffs in back-to-back years.
“It’s a disappointment because we missed the playoffs, that’s what it means to me, I want to play in the postseason and do what we can to win a world series, that’s the ultimate goal,” Mariners Infielder Luke Raley commented on missing out on the postseason back in September 2024.
This offseason was definitely a slow one for the organization. The biggest moves by the Mariners this offseason were the team re-signing veteran infielder, Jorge Polanco, to a one-year $7.7 million contract Feb. 3, along with yet another veteran infielder, Donovan Solano on a one-year $3.5 million contract. Both infielders have proven themselves as plus hitters in previous years, and with the veteran presence, development will not be necessary for either of the individuals.
“It was more quiet than normal for us… We did have areas that we wanted to address in the infield. The first thing we did to address them was adding Solano, really really happy with that add… Then obviously adding Jorge back to the team was last week was a big deal for us,” Mariners General Manager Justin Hollander told Bump and Stacy from Seattle Sports 710.
Despite the organization not making many large moves during the offseason, there’s still a lot to look forward to for the 2025 season. In 2024 the Mariners’ starting rotation solidified itself as one of, if not the best, pitching rotations in the MLB. This five-man rotation consisting of Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Bryan Woo led the MLB in multiple different aspects in 2024. The team’s elite bullpen will also hopefully be seeing the return of the righty flame thrower, Matt Brash. If Brash’s recovery continues to go well, the righty will be returning to the bullpen after missing out on the entirety of the 2024 season due to receiving Tommy John surgery. With all of the Mariners’ starters returning this season, and the addition of the young right-hander, Emerson Hancock as the sixth man to the starting rotation, pitching will be the least of the team’s worries this season.
Mariners’ legend Dan Wilson took over as the team’s manager Aug. 22, 2024. Wilson replaced the former manager, Scott Servais. After nine seasons at the helm for the Mariners, Servais was released from the team after poor performances from the team in the months of July and August 2024.
“Guys are excited with what lies ahead here in [20]25. You know guys will try other things that were suggested to them by other starters… they can lean on each other a little bit that way also and I think that’s one of the things that makes that pitching staff so special,” Wilson commented on the Mariners pitching staff.
Pitching was not what caused the Mariners’ downfall last season. Despite the team leading the league in many of the pitching statistics, the Mariners’ offense ranked second to last in the MLB in regard to team combined batting average, .224 (via ESPN). The team also tallied up the most strikeouts in the MLB with 1,625. The Mariners only had four players out of the 22 hitters on the team that hit above .250, those four being Julio Rodríguez, Justin Turner, Victor Robles and Cade Marlowe.
The Mariners also have a lot of offensive talent in their farm system, with the organization having seven prospects ranked in the MLB Top 100 Prospects. The re-signing of Polanco, the addition of Solano and the possible promotion of some prospects could all help improve this team’s mediocre offense.
The MLB regular season begins March 27 for 28 out of the 30 teams, the Mariners included. The team will take on the now-mononymous Athletics, formally Oakland Athletics, at home to kick off the 2025 season. With almost the same team as last season, along with the addition of some new players that could make positive impacts on the team’s performance, it’ll be exciting to see how the Mariners will perform as they attempt to make another run at the playoffs.
