Mariners’ continuing struggles on the road a cause for concern

While the Seattle Mariners remain in a playoff spot for now, there has to be at least some worry their away form could ultimately cost them.

The previous road trip for the Seattle Mariners was an unmitigated disaster as they went 2-7 on the east coast, including being swept in dominating fashion by the Philadelphia Phillies. The hope was that this time around they would do better, in part due to the quality — or lack thereof –of their three opponents.

Well, we’re two games into the nine-game road trip and unfortunately for Mariners fans it is so far more of the same. While they’ve been extremely unlucky to not at least split the first two games in Cleveland, but close doesn’t count in the grand scheme of things if you’re ultimately coming away with a loss.

Yes the Guardians are in pursuit of a wild card spot and entered the weekend series at .500, but they are not a quality baseball team. Ahead of facing the Mariners they were only 33-32 at home and overall had a poor -55 run differential, yet here they sit on Sunday morning having already clinched the series heading into the finale.

Mariners in a road funk since Detroit

In respect of series wins, the Mariners don’t have one on the road since their stunning and dominating sweep of the Detroit Tigers ahead of the All-Star break. This only further highlights the frustrating surrounding a roster which clearly has the talent to compete with anyone, and has only been strengthened since then with the trades for Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez.

Regardless, the Mariners are currently on a run of seven straight losses on their travels, nine in their last 10 and 12 in their last 15. On the season they are 31-37 overall on the road, with only the Texas Rangers having a worse showing among AL teams either in a playoff spot or in realistic contention.

In fairness to the Mariners they do remain in a decent position, 3.0 games back of the Houston Astros at the top of the division and with a 2.0 game advantage for the final AL wild card spot. However, every time they have the opportunity to catch and take over the Astros they seem to drop the ball.

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The Astros are there for the taking

If there was ever a year to surpass the Astros and win their first AL West title since 2001 this was it for the M’s. Their rivals in Houston having been ravaged by injuries this season — even more than they have — and are clearly not on the same level as previously.

The Mariners are collectively a mercurial talent, equally capable of the aforementioned sweep of the Tigers and losing five of six to a Baltimore Orioles team with the second-worst record in the AL. They should be in first place in the AL West and challenging for top spot in the AL as a whole.

What’s interesting is that between 2021-23 the Mariners were excellent on the road, with records of 44-37, 44-37 and 43-38 respectively. Then the cracks started to show last season as they went 36-45 on their travels and finished just one game back of the wild card bracket in the AL.

It’s all still in the Mariners’ hands

On the positive side of things the Mariners still have two extremely winnable series on this nine-game road trip, with stops in Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Although it’s still a case of actually going out there and taking said series, despite the fact both the Rays and Braves have losing records this season and are average at home.

Looking ahead, it looks like the Mariners’ final road trip of the regular season will be an extremely tough challenge with visits to Kansas City and Houston. The Royals have pulled to within 2.0 games of the M’s for the final wild card spot, while the Astros will be looking to finish the M’s off and make it eight division titles in the past nine seasons.

We know the Mariners will be just fine back at T-Mobile Park, but it’s going to be their road form which ultimately determines if they return to the playoffs after a two-year absence. They have the talent, work ethic and mental fortitude to make it happen, and will only have themselves to blame if they fall short again.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rodgers Photography

How do you predict this will ultimately play out? Will the Mariners right the ship on the road, at least enough to help them make the playoffs? Let us know you thoughts in the comments section below