8/24/25

(Seattle, WA) In 12 games this season, the Seattle Mariners and Athletics have split the meetings 6-6. In 10 of those 12 meetings, the game was decided by two runs or fewer between the AL West foes. For the final time in 2025, the M’s and A’s met with the three-game series and season series on the line on Sunday afternoon in Seattle. While the A’s are well out of the playoff picture, they still wanted to take a shot at the Mariners playoff hopes and build for the future.

In the finale, Logan Gilbert would take the ball for the Mariners coming off of one of his worst starts of the season in Philadelphia. The ace of the staff looked to build off of the reset that was started by Bryan Woo and George Kirby to begin the series. The A’s would have another rookie on the mound as Jacob Lopez tried to complete a perfect month after dominating so far in August.

Mariners 11, Athletics 4 (Game Three)

Logan Gilbert came out dealing and struck out the first two he faced on his way to a 1-2-3 1st inning. Jacob Lopez did not get off to as nice of a start as Randy Arozarena welcomed him to T-Mobile Park with a hard line drive to left for a base hit. That gift was better than Cal Raleigh’s gift to Lopez as the MLB leader in home runs tied history in the bottom of the 1st. A fastball right down the heart of the plate was crushed out to left field for a 448-foot two-run blast. The home run was Cal’s 48th of the season, tying him with Salvador Perez for the most home runs hit by a catcher in a single season. It also gave the Mariners an early crooked number with a 2-0 lead.

On Kid Appreciation Day at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners went all out including letting a youngster do a little play by play on TV in the top of the 2nd. The first pitch in the youngster’s broadcasting career did not go as he had hoped. Jacob Wilson jumped on a first pitch fastball down the middle and smoked it out to left field. The solo shot was the rookie’s 11th of the year and got the A’s on the board, trailing 2-1.

While the Mariners bats have not been too hot, that changed with the hot temperatures on Sunday. In the bottom of the 2nd, Seattle got that run back plus a little bit more. Jorge Polanco walked and stole second but with two outs, the inning didn’t seem like it would be too big. Randy Arozarena was clearly seeing the ball well out of the lefty’s hand and sent a backdoor slider out to right center for extra bases. Polanco scored as Arozarena moved to second with his 26th double of the year.

In stepped Cal Raleigh and while he would only see one pitch in the AB, it ended with baseball history. Cal Raleigh clobbered the first pitch from Lopez for another no-doubt, two-run home run. It extended the Mariners lead to 5-1 but that was just the tip of the iceberg. The home run was Raleigh’s 49th of the year, setting the MLB record for most home runs in a single season by a catcher. It also moved Cal Raleigh past Mickey Mantle for the most multi-home run games in a single season in baseball history. As Raleigh celebrated history, he gave the Mariner faithful a curtain call in what is just the latest historic day for the Big Dumper, but surely not the last in 2025.

Logan Gilbert got back on track with a clean top of the 3rd and the things got really ugly for the A’s. Walks to Mitch Garver and J.P. Crawford sandwiched a Jorge Polanco single to load the bases with nobody out. Victor Robles then slapped a single into left center to bring home Garver and Polanco for a two-run single to make it 7-1 and chase Jacob Lopez. Things didn’t work out much better for Eduarniel Núñez who immediately hit Randy Arozarena to load the bases once again. Cal Raleigh couldn’t make it three homers as he struck out for the first out but Julio Rodríguez got in on the offensive explosion. J-Rod drove in two more with a parachute single to make it 9-1. Josh Naylor would then cap of the inning with his 24th double of the year to drive in two more to blow it open and make it 11-1 Mariners.

While that was it for the Mariners offense, Logan Gilbert also had himself a career day that could have been lost in the shuffle. The Opening Day starter was brilliant for the Mariners in six fantastic innings of work. He only allowed the one run on three hits while walking one and striking out a career high 13 batters. While his good friend and catcher Cal Raleigh made history today, Logan Gilbert stepped in and continued the Mariners string of strong starting pitching with one of the best starts of his entire career.

The A’s would push across a few runs in garbage time to make it less of a blowout. Willie MacIver returned to Seattle as the former Husky drove in one with an RBI single while former Mariner Luis Urías got an RBI with a bases loaded hit by pitch. Jacob Wilson drove in one more with an RBI groundout before Tayler Saucedo rolled through the top of the 9th with a quick inning. It was all smiles for the Mariners as they won the series as well as the season series over the Athletics with an 11-4 blowout victory.

Notable Performances

Athletics

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
• Logan Gilbert (W, 4-5)- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 SO
• Randy Arozarena- 2-3, 2B, RBI, 3 R

What’s Next

After three consecutive series losses, the Seattle Mariners (70-61) got back on track with the series win over the Athletics and now will face two playoff contenders to close out the month of August. Houston did lose to Baltimore on Sunday, moving the Mariners to two games back of the Astros in the AL West. The Yankees salvaged the finale over the Red Sox while the Royals did the same against the Tigers and the Rangers completed the sweep of the Guardians. In the Wild Card picture, Boston holds the top spot by half of a game over New York who holds the second spot. Just a game behind the Red Sox are the Mariners who have the final playoff spot as of now with a three-game lead over Kansas City, 4 1/2 game lead over Texas, and five-game lead over Cleveland.

Seattle will now wrap up their six-game homestand with the finale of the first official Vedder Cup as the San Diego Padres come to town. Seattle swept San Diego down at Petco Park which means the M’s just have to win one game this series to win the trophy designed by Eddie Vedder himself. However, the Padres are hot right now and just took a series from the Dodgers to create a tie atop the NL West. The Padres had won five in a row until dropping the finale with Los Angeles on Sunday and their pitching has been the reason behind that win streak in which they allowed a total of eight runs.

For the first time, the spotlight won’t go to a specific player and will instead focus on an entire unit. The San Diego bullpen is absolutely filthy and if they have the lead late, you better just focus on the next game. The bullpen was already nasty with Robert Suarez as the closer along with Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada, and Adrian Morejon. Then they went out and got Mason Miller from the A’s and now there is no doubt who has the best bullpen in baseball. They have a 2.96 ERA which is the best in baseball for a bullpen and the second best is San Francisco’s 3.29 so it is not even close. Seattle did get to the bullpen once in San Diego but the weakness for the Padres is the starting rotation which the M’s have struggled with the past few weeks. Seattle has the clear edge early but if the game is tied or they find themselves down late, the series could get ugly very quick.

• Game 1, Monday 6:40pm- JP Sears (8-10, 4.94 ERA) vs. Bryce Miller (2-5, 5.87 ERA)
• Game 2, Tuesday 6:40pm- Dylan Cease (6-11, 4.71 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (8-7, 3.57 ERA)
• Game 3, Wednesday 1:10pm- Yu Darvish (3-3, 5.36 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (11-7, 2.94 ERA)

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