By Paul Taylor Posted on

Mariners: 3 takeaways from deflating road sweep versus Blue Jays

In a series which the Mariners needed to win, they instead suffered three crucial losses and left their playoff pursuit hanging by a thread.

Heading into Toronto, the Mariners had genuine hopes of saving their season, sitting just 3.0 games off the AL West summit and 3.5 games out of the final wild card spot. They were coming off an impressive homestand where they won series versus the Cubs and Phillies, and were about to face a Blue Jays club looking like a shadow of last season’s World Series finalists. In addition, the M’s were facing the prospect of the easiest schedule in the majors in September, based on the combined winning record of their opponents.

That September schedule still dangles as an enticing prospect helped by 17 combined games against the Angels, Athletics and Rockies, who have the three worst records in the majors. However, the Mariners have now made things a lot harder for themselves following the Blue Jays series, falling to 5.0 games back of both the top of their division and an AL wild card spot. Here’s our three main takeaways from a discouraging sweep versus the Blue Jays:

1) Costly outing for Emerson Hancock in more ways than one

If there’s one team which has paralleled the Mariners for underwhelming offensive production in 2026, it’s the Blue Jays. The two teams have been linked together ever since both entered the majors in 1977, but this is one of those ways where they would prefer not to have a connection. In any event, the M’s entered the series with cause for optimism, aided by the Blue Jays ranking second-worst in runs per game, and 28th in both OPS and wRC+.

Unfortunately for Dan Wilson’s team, the Blue Jays chose Friday night to effectively double their average runs per game this season, as they went on to win 8-1 on the back of 12 hits and two walks. It marked just the second time since July 8 that the hosts scored 8+ runs. And at the heart of the M’s struggles, was Emerson Hancock allowing his most earned runs in more than two months.

Let’s be clear in stressing Hancock has been one of the few success stories for the Mariners this season, with him finally looking more like the pitcher who was drafted sixth overall in 2020. However, when it was all said and one on Friday, he allowed eight hits and five earned runs over 5.0 innings, while only producing one strikeout. In fairness, he deserved credit for toughing it out for so long, after appearing to injure himself on a sliding tag of Nathan Lukes during the first inning.

This credit (and respect) only grew, when it was announced on Sunday that Hancock was being placed on the 15-day Injured list with a left adductor strain, retroactive to the Friday. It’s a real shame given just how far he has come this year, and the M’s can only hope he does come back before the regular season concludes. In the meantime, Bryce Miller is set to return to the rotation from the bullpen, but we wouldn’t have minded Ryan Sloan being called up to gain some invaluable experience.

2) Avoidable mistakes prove costly for the Mariners

J.P. Crawford throws the ball to home ( credit Tim Rogers)

At the midway point of Saturday’s game, things were looking good for the Mariners as they led 3-0 and seemed primed to even the series. Then Kade Anderson, who had looked solid through 4.0 innings, started to struggle and was replaced by Eduard Bazardo with one out and two men on base. Bazardo subsequently got the second out, but then walked a hitter to load the bases.

This set the stage for a rematch of last season’s defining moment in Game 7 of the ALCS, as George Springer came up to the plate. And while the outcome wasn’t as traumatic as the home run which sent the Blue Jays to the World Series, it was still pretty painful in its own right as a misfired pitch brought Myles Straw home. Bazardo then ran to home plate for Cal Raleigh to flip the errant ball to him, but he didn’t realise he had to tag Brett Bateman, who had alertly read the play to hustle from second base and slid in to score.

It was bad enough that Bazardo had fired so far wide of Raleigh in the first place on a 3-2 pitch to allow Straw to score, but to then not have the awareness to know what was going on was even worse. As a result the fifth inning ended at 3-2 rather than 3-1, and it set the stage for the Blue Jays to come back and ultimately win 4-3 in a game which was there for the Mariners to take. As an aside, Anderson’s decent second career outing was impacted by having the two earned runs tagged onto him, due to Bazardo’s inability to do a better job of closing out the inning.

In truth, avoidable and costly mistakes have been one of the narratives of a tough season in Seattle, and this spilled over into the series finale. While we appreciate that ultimately the Mariners did nothing offensively on the day — more on this in a moment — J.P. Crawford made an unnecessary error in the bottom of the fifth when his team was down just 2-0, somehow allowing a routine ground ball to slide underneath his glove. As a result, rather than beginning a potential inning-ending double play, it instead led to another Blue Jays run to make it 3-0.

3) M’s lineup’s worst vs. Max Max’s best

For all the Mariners’ offensive struggles this season, there remained some belief that the collective potential was still capable of breaking out. And who better to have this break out against, than a struggling Max Scherzer? Unfortunately for M’s fans it was more of the same on Sunday from their lineup, as Mad Max turned back the clock with a vintage display.

Scherzer entered the series finale with the poorest stats of his 19 years in the majors. Yes, he had only made 12 starts this season prior to Sunday’s game, but irrespective, a 7.02 ERA, 6.32 FIP and 1.54 WHIP were the worst of his career, all adding up to a negative bWAR . So of course he went out and had his best start of 2026, versus the Mariners.

The three-time Cy Young winner went a season-long 7.0 innings and proved also unstoppable against the M’s, as he only gave up one hit, a walk and no runs. He also doubled his previous season-high in strikeouts as he racked up 10, in his best outing in a Blue Jays uniform. His 10th K proved significant, as it marked his 3,535th career strikeout and moved him past Gaylord Perry into ninth spot on the all-time list.

There’s every chance Scherzer will move up the eighth place before this season is through, with him now 19 strikeouts behind Justin Verlander, who is currently on the Injured List. As for the Mariners, not being able to get anything going against a 42-year-old struggling pitcher is extremely discouraging. Following Sunday’s action, they sit last in the majors in batting average, OPS and most importantly, runs per game.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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