7/5/26

(Seattle, WA) It is fair to say that one series in July would not give the Seattle Mariners revenge exactly against the Toronto Blue Jays after it was the Jays breaking Mariner hearts in Game 7 of the ALCS last season. However, a good series for the Mariners over the holiday weekend would at least help blow off some steam against the only team located outside of the United States. With Toronto having a bad season, Seattle could also continue to send them towards seller territory as we get closer to the deadline.

Seattle also found themselves in a very tricky and tight race for the AL West. With four of the five teams in the division still in the race, one good stretch from any team could be what decides the AL West champion. With the upcoming six-game road trip to Florida looking a lot tougher with Miami coming off an incredible month of June and Tampa Bay leading the American League, the Mariners would need to close out the homestand to build some momentum.

Blue Jays 2, Mariners 0 (Game One, July 3rd)

Opening up the long-awaited series for the Seattle Mariners would be veteran Luis Castillo on the mound. La Piedra does have some history with Toronto after shutting them out in Game 1 of the 2022 Wild Card series in what was Seattle’s first playoff game in 21 years. For Toronto, it would be a pitcher that wasn’t on the team in last season’s ALCS as free agent signing Dylan Cease would try to end the M’s three-game winning streak.

An error in the 1st led to the only baserunner in the first couple of innings for either team. The first hit came in the top of the 3rd on a leadoff single by Sean Keys, who has seen big league playing time due to Toronto’s injury issues. Andrés Giménez would then immediately get the Blue Jays on the board with his 14th double of the season to the gap in left center, scoring Keys. A sacrifice bunt by Nathan Lukes moved Giménez to third before he scored on an RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. A little breakdown by Castillo gave Toronto the opening to take a 2-0 lead.

Seattle also managed their first hit in the 3rd with a leadoff single by Cole Young. The bottom of the order began to set the table as Victor Robles followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Dylan Cease stayed composed however and got Colt Emerson to hit into 6-3 double play to quiet down the threat. A walk to J.P. Crawford put runners on the corners, but a groundout by Randy Arozarena allowed Cease to keep the Mariners off the board.

Neither starter allowed too much traffic outside of the 3rd inning. They combined to allow just three hits in the rest of the game and each only allowed one walk. The only difference was that the M’s couldn’t string together a third hit in their big inning while the Jays did. Castillo was fantastic with six innings and just two runs allowed with one walk and four strikeouts. However, Cease was just a bit better with seven scoreless innings with one walk and nine strikeouts. It was a pitchers duel and both held up their end of the bargain but Cease just being tad bit better.

A double by J.P. Crawford was stranded in the 6th so Seattle would have to get it done against the Toronto bullpen. Former closer Jeff Hoffman was up first for the 8th and pitcher around a walk to Victor Robels despite having to throw 24 pitches. Louis Varland was on for the final three outs but the M’s didn’t just rollover. A one-out single by Dominic Canzone brought the tying run to the plate for the meat of the order. Varland would strikeout Cal Raleigh before facing Josh Naylor. The Canadian couldn’t beat his native team as a groundout to short ended it. The three-game winning streak came to an end for the Mariners as they were shutout by the Blue Jays in the opener, 2-0.

Notable Performances

Blue Jays

Mariners

• Luis Castillo (L, 3-7)- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 1-3, 2B, BB
• Victor Robles- 1-2, BB

Mariners 11, Blue Jays 0 (Game Two, July 4th)

The 4th of July had a different feel across the country this year with the 250th birthday for America adding a little bit more to Independence Day. Adding a bit more into that, the Seattle Mariners would be playing the only team from outside of the United States as they continued the series with the Toronto Blue Jays. With a packed house and special uniforms and equipment, Logan Gilbert would look for yet another fantastic start against former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber.

After being shutout in the opener, the M’s didn’t waste too much time getting on the board on Saturday despite wasting a 1st inning double by Randy Arozarena. In the bottom of the 2nd, a two-out rally was ignited by Cole Young’s 13th double of the season. Three pitches later, Victor Robles line an 0-2 slider into left to drive in Young and get Seattle on the board. Colt Emerson kept the inning going with a base hit before J.P. Crawford walked to load the bases. Randy Arozarena would then come to the plate just hours before being named to the American League All-Star team and he had an All-Star moment. The electric left fielder went down and got a slider sending it out to left field for a grand slam. It was Arozarena’s ninth homer of the season and lit T-Mobile Park on fire with a 5-0 lead for the Mariners.

Logan Gilbert was dealing from the very get go and made a terrific play on a comebacker in the 4th to retire Nathan Lukes and the look on his face told everyone that Gilbert was feeling it. What made it even better was even more run support for the Opening Day starter. In the bottom of the 5th, Randy Arozarena drew a leadoff walk to reach base for the third time. Dominic Canzone was up next and he put on his own power display. A cutter down the heart of the plate turned into a souvenir as Canzone launched his 14th homer of the season to right center. The party was on in Seattle as the Mariners had opened up a 7-0 lead.

The fireworks kept coming on the 4th of July for the Seattle Mariners as they turned this one into a laugher just one inning later. In the 6th, Colt Emerson stood on first base with two outs with Randy Arozarena stepping back up to the plate. He recorded his third hit of the game with an infield single and an error at third by Kazuma Okamoto allowed Emerson to move to third. Dominic Canzone brought him home with an RBI single but the knockout blow came next. Cal Raleigh came to the plate and put an exclamation point on this one. Raleigh sent a towering fly ball out to right field for a three-run blast and his ninth home run of the year. Toronto fans headed for the exits early as the M’s found themselves up 11-0 with three homers in the bank.

Randy Arozarena’s grand slam was more than enough for Logan Gilbert. He has taken his game to another level over the last month and a half and just continues to showcase what his very best can be. Gilbert pitched into the 8th, going 7 1/3 innings and allowed just one lone hit without a walk and seven strikeouts. The rotation has caught fire and a lot of that coincides with Gilbert’s turn around. He only needed the bullpen to get five outs and that is just what they did as Cole Wilcox retired all five Blue Jays he faced in order. It was all smiles from the Mariners as they blew out the Blue Jays 11-0 to force a rubber game on Sunday.

Notable Performances

Blue Jays

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (W, 7-5)- 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO
• Randy Arozarena- 3-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, BB
• Dominic Canzone- 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB

Mariners 4, Blue Jays 0 (Game Three, July 5th)

Just like the ALCS last season, Seattle and Toronto would have their series decided in the final game of the three-game set on Sunday afternoon. With both teams scratching and clawing for any series win they could get the pressure would be on two young starters in the finale. A breakout star of the postseason last year, Trey Yesavage would have the ball in the finale against a breakout star for the Mariners this season in Emerson Hancock.

Toronto notched hits in each of the first two innings but didn’t string anything together while Seattle stranded a Luke Raley double in the 2nd. Emerson Hancock had his first clean inning in the 3rd before the bats put a run on the board. In the home half of the inning, Victor Robles led off with a single before J.P. Crawford worked his second walk of the game. A soft chopper by Randy Arozarena moved the runners to second and third with one out for Cal Raleigh. Raleigh hit a line drive hard right at Nathan Lukes in right field. The M’s decided to test his arm and it paid off as Robles beat the throw to score and give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

Another quick 1-2-3 inning for Emerson Hancock in the 4th seemed to really have him in a groove in the middle innings. In the bottom of the 4th, Luke Raley hit a hard lineout to center before a defensive miscue opened the door for the Mariners. Cole Young reached on an error by shortstop Ernie Clement, who was manning the position with Andrés Giménez out with a hamstring issue. That put traffic aboard for Mitch Garver who fell in a quick 0-2 hole. He battled back to even the count before Yesavage tried to run a fastball in on his hands. Garver was quick to it and hammered a two-run shot out to left field for his fourth of the season. Emerson Hancock finally had a bit of breathing room as the Mariners extended their lead to 3-0.

Those two early hits for Toronto were all they could muster against Emerson Hancock on Sunday afternoon. Hancock was strong once again as he lived in the strike zone and walked just two batters, both of which came in the 6th. He got a lot of weak contact and got solid defense behind him which allowed him to just worry about throwing strikes. Hancock went seven innings with two hits and two walks allowed while striking out five but kept Toronto’s scoreless streak dating back to the opener alive.

Gabe Speier threw just seven pitches in the 8th inning and all were strikes for a quick three up, three down frame. In the bottom of the 8th, lefty Mason Fluharty came on for the Jays to try to keep the deficit at three. After J.P. Crawford went down on strikes, Randy Arozarena singled to put some traffic on. Cal Raleigh followed with a base hit to right to put runners on the corners. Josh Naylor punched a grounder the other way that bounced off the third base bag. That resulted in no opportunity to make a play for Okamoto at third as Arozarena scored to make it 4-0 going into the 9th.

Andrés Muñoz was on for the 9th despite the non-save situation just to get him in a game again for the first time since Thursday. He would give up a leadoff single to Nathan Lukes before settling down to strikeout Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Kazuma Okamoto hit a soft line drive which was caught by Colt Emerson for the second out and Alejandro Kirk coming to the plate. Kirk hit a liner to center where Victor Robles was waiting for it to close out the series. Seattle shutout Toronto for 26 of the 27 innings in the series, including the final 24 innings with a shutout win over the Blue Jays, 4-0.

Notable Performances

Blue Jays

Mariners

• Emerson Hancock (W, 6-4)- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
• Mitch Garver- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Cal Raleigh- 1-3, RBI

What’s Next

A strong 5-1 homestand comes to an end for the Seattle Mariners (47-44) and they will now head out for a six-game road trip before the All-Star Break. Elsewhere in the AL West, it was a tough weekend for the division. Only Seattle and Houston won their series as the Astros took two of three from Tampa Bay. The Athletics were swept by Miami, the Angels were swept by Boston and the Rangers lost two of three to Detroit. With those results, the Mariners are back atop the AL West, with a 1 1/2 game lead over Texas, 2 1/2 over Houston, 5 1/2 over the A’s, and 11 ahead of the Angels. Texas will host the slumping Angels for three this week while Houston visits Washington and the Athletics visit Detroit.

Before heading into the All-Star Break, the Seattle Mariners will head to Florida for a six-game road trip to end the first half of the season. First up is a three-game series with the scorching hot Miami Marlins. Miami (49-42) is coming off a record setting month where they won 20 games in a single month for just the second time in franchise history. Since June 1st, the Marlins are an MLB-best 23-8 and have surged into the NL East race and are currently tied for a Wild Card spot. It seemed like they would be sure-fire sellers including trading former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. The team has a 3.01 ERA since the beginning of June which is also the best in baseball which makes July a very intriguing month in South Beach.

Right out of the gate in this series, Seattle will have to face one of the breakout stars of the 2026 season in Max Meyer. Meyer ranks top 10 in baseball in ERA with a 2.53 while striking out 112 batters in 103 innings. Meyer has shown flashes of brilliance in the last two seasons but this season has been more than just a quick flash. He has allowed fewer runs in 103 innings this season than he allowed in each of the last two seasons with 57 and 64 2/3 innings respectively. Meyer suffered his first loss of the season in his last start on July 1st as he allowed five runs but just one earned run against Colorado. The M’s put up five runs in in four innings against Meyer last season but face a whole new version of the former Minnesota Golden Gopher here in 2026.

• Game 1, Tuesday 3:40pm- Bryan Woo (7-6, 4.17 ERA) vs. Max Meyer (9-1, 2.53 ERA)
• Game 2, Wednesday 3:40pm- George Kirby (7-7, 3.81 ERA) vs. TBD
• Game 3, Thursday 3:40pm- Bryce Miller (4-2, 1.71 ERA) vs. Tyler Phillips (1-3, 3.52 ERA)

Mariners Minor League Update

This will be a new segment each week to update what is going on in the Seattle minor league system. We will continuously give scores for each team but will also highlight some of the key players that have had strong series.

Tacoma Rainiers (Lost Series vs. Reno Aces, L 7-0, W 5-4, L 6-1, L 6-4, W 7-0, L 2-1)

Hitter of the Series

Connor Joe, OF- 9-23, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB

Pitcher of the Series

Carson Fulmer, RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 SO

Arkansas Travelers (Lost Series @ Springfield Cardinals, W 8-7, L 9-8, L 10-8, L 2-1, L 7-5, W 10-2)

Hitter of the Series

Michael Arroyo, SS- 11-29, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, BB, 2 SB

Pitcher of the Series

Ty Cummings, RHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

Everett AquaSox (Swept Series vs. Tri-Cities Dust Devils, W 3-2, W 9-5, W 4-2, W 15-2, W 6-3, W 11-6)

Hitter of the Series

Jonny Farmelo, OF- 11-24, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 7 R, 2 BB, 2 SB

Pitcher of the Series

Colton Shaw, RHP- 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO

Inland Empire 66ers (Split Series vs. Visalia Rawhide, L 8-1, W 5-0, L 14-9, W 15-3, L 3-0, W 3-1)

Hitter of the Series

Grant Jay, C- 4-13, 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 R,

Pitcher of the Series

Anderson Guevara, RHP- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO

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