Mariners: 3 observations ahead of ALDS Game 3 in Detroit

There’s plenty happening for the Mariners in the lead-up to Game 3 versus the Tigers, including the ridiculous need to defend Josh Naylor.

Paraphrasing/borrowing a saying that relates to the city of New York, we would contend that baseball is the sport which never sleeps. Certainly you can make this claim based on everything which went on during Monday for the Seattle Mariners, despite them not actually playing a game.

The Mariners saved their season by beating the Detroit Tigers on Sunday evening 3-2 and tying their playoff series at 1-1 as opposed to falling into a 0-2 hole. Here’s a look at some of the off-field news surrounding the team ahead of Game 3 of their best-of-five AL Division Series:

1) The asinine hypocrisy of criticizing Josh Naylor

While studying journalism and media at university, a tutor for one of the modules told the students that sport often reflects society. Based on this assumption, it’s extremely worrying how certain people are reacting to Josh Naylor being away from the team at the time of writing, alluding to how selfish and hypocritical society can be.

As announced by Mariners manager Dan Wilson during Monday’s post workout media session, Naylor is not with the team in Detroit due to personal reasons. In other words, his wife has now gone into labor with the couple’s first child and he has therefore flown to Arizona to be with her.

Even allowing for this likely being a case of the loud minority, to read some of the comments online about Naylor not being with the team has still proven to be shocking. (And/or perhaps indicating my naivety in such matters.) In summary, that he’s being selfish in not putting the team first with them in the middle of such a vital playoff series.

There’s reference to how this wasn’t done back in the day, with fathers remaining in their jobs, as well as people just claiming they wouldn’t do what Naylor has if they were in a similar position. To those folks we say that it’s you who is being selfish, you don’t get it because you don’t have a family of your own, are too young, or are just outright lying in saying you would miss the birth of one of your own children.

2) Potential weather delay could actually be a blessing

As reported by Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports, a rain delay is possibility for Tuesday’s Game 3 of the American League Division Series in Detroit. There’s a 65 percent probability of precipitation and 39 percent probability of thunderstorms in the morning, with it then set to be mostly cloudy weather and 61 degrees during the afternoon in the area surrounding Comerica Park.

Tuesday’s game is currently scheduled to begin at 4:08 p.m. local time in Detroit, followed by a 3:08 p.m. local time first pitch on Wednesday for Game 4. If Game 3 gets delayed due to weather to the point that both games are moved back 24 hours, this could actually benefit the Mariners.

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This would then give Naylor another 24 hours to return to the team – of course pending the actual birth of his child – while also helping the Mariners’ rotation challenges in the absence of Bryan Woo. Logan Gilbert would still start Game 3, but then the M’s could go back to the Kirby for Game 4 after a normal four-day rest as opposed to turning to Bryce Miller which, respectively, was making plenty of people nervous.

From the category of ‘Be careful what you wish for’, Stecker does note that the Mariners are just 1-6 in games impacted this season by weather. Even allowing for this though, we still wager that having Game 3 delayed for a day would actually be a good outcome for a team looking to gain any advantage possible.

3) Mariners’ 2026 projected arbitration salaries dilemma

On Monday, MLB Trade Rumors unveiled their projected arbitration salaries for 2026. The 10 estimates for the Mariners are as follows, with us including their respective 2025 salaries in brackets:

• Trent Thornton ($2MM): $2.5MM
• Randy Arozarena ($11.3MM): $18.2MM
• Logan Gilbert ($7.625MM): $10MM
• Gabe Speier ($845K): $1.7MM
• George Kirby ($4.3MM): $5.4MM
• Tayler Saucedo ($937.5K): $1.1MM
• Matt Brash ($777.6K): $1.8MM
• Luke Raley ($787.4K): $1.8MM
• Gregory Santos ($771.1K): $800K
• Bryce Miller ($800K): $2.4MM

Given the possibility that Luis Castillo might not be back next season, the cost to keep the remainder of the rotation core together looks reasonable all things considered. As for the bullpen, Gregory Santos should be back because of how inexpensive he will be to retain outweighing the injury issues he’s endured in Seattle, while Trent Thornton and Taylor Saucedo seem set to be non-tendered.

The biggest uncertainty surrounds Randy Arozarena given the big jump in his projected salary, but we would contend he’s worth it. In fact the Mariners should get ahead of the game and offer a multi-year contract extension to a player who often proved to be a spark plug and, among other things, set a career-high with 27 home runs and added 31 stolen bases. (Heck, he even put his body on the line by leading the majors with 27 hit by pitches.)

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rodgers Photography

For anyone who believes Naylor should still be with the team, make your case here. Also, would you pay whatever is necessary to bring back Arozarena next season, or do you not consider him to be worth it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.