Thanks to the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals winning their respective games, the Seattle Mariners have been eliminated from the postseason conversation. In what’s been a roller coaster of a season, seeing this team miss the postseason is unfortunate.

This is a team that’s been in the drivers seat for a good portion of the season. Thanks to a poor start by the empire that is the Houston Astros, the Mariners built themselves a ten game cushion as of June 18. The Astros not only stormed back to take the division, but also marched into the postseason.

For the Mariners, this is a tough pill to swallow. What’s to blame? What was the downfall? The easy answer, the offense.

A Putrid Offense was the Mariners Downfall

There is no easy way of putting it, but the Mariners offense was bad. They struggled mightily in almost every facet of the game. As a collective unit, the lineup had trouble just making contact with the baseball, as they had the second lowest batting average (.224) only ahead of the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are one of the worst teams in the history of the sport, so to be right in line with them speaks volumes. When it came to hitting for power, the Mariners rank 24th in slugging and rank 23rd in OPS. The Mariners are also 21st in runs and the offense just never seemed to be able to provide any support.

Thats not to say that they don’t have premiere players at the plate. Big Dumper aka Cal Raleigh capped off his second consecutive 30 home run season. However, he was batting .218. Here’s some other players with their respective batting averages:

Mitch Garver (DFA): .171

JP Crawford: .202

Mitch Haniger: .209

Jorge Polanco: .214

Ty France: .223

Randy Arozarena: .234

Luke Raley: .241

Justin Turner: .263

Julio Rodriguez: .274

Victor Robles: .327

Not bad, but not great. And for a team that’s contending for the playoffs, they need to be sharper and need to be better. Trading for Arozarena made sense, despite having a down season. He is a threat at the plate and when on the base paths can cause chaos and uses his speed to his advantage. Rodriguez is the focus point and leader of this offense.

Why this is unfortunate is because of the pitching staff. The Mariners pitching staff is arguably the best in the sport and they delivered on all fronts.

The Pitching Staff Deserved Better

It was extremely unfortunate that the Mariners offense was as bad as it was. On any given night, the Mariners pitching staff gave the team a chance to win. Furthermore, each starter could legitimately be an ace on most teams in the league. One of them is for sure in the AL CY Young conversations. Also, no Mariners pitchers has a batting average against north of 1.10, which is absurd. Here’s the rotations output and how elite they’ve been this season for the team.

George Kirby: 3.53 ERA. 1.07 WHIP. One of the best command pitchers in baseball, ranking in the 99th percentile for BB%.

Logan Gilbert: 3.33 ERA. 0.91 WHIP. 94th percentile in BB% and 89th percentile in chase rate. His ability to limit traffic on the bases was huge.

Luis Castillo: 3.64 ERA. 1.17 WHIP. He’s the veteran of this rotation. Still an elite presence on the mound.

Bryce Miller: 2.94 ERA. 0.98 WHIP. Career high in strikeouts (171). 98th percentile in pitching run value and 97th percentile in fastball run value.

Bryan Woo: 3.02 ERA. 0.90 WHIP. Command is on point with Kirby. 100th percentile in BB%. Came into his own this season.

Overall, the Mariners rotation has the best ERA in baseball (3.41) and the lowest WHIP (1.03). Those are elite numbers and postseason worthy numbers. This team and the way the rotation is set up is constructed to go on a deep run into October. As for the bullpen they sit 8th in ERA, which is still very good.

It’s very unfortunate that the Mariners are not in the playoffs because this rotation is must watch. With that being said, where do they go from here and how can they get back to the playoffs?

What’s Next for the Mariners?

They have pieces on offense to build around and shape their lineup around. However, they need more offense. There is no way you can roll this thing back and add nothing to the lineup. Yes you added Arozarena, but you need more than just him.

Do they spend big in free agency? Do they trade from a position of strength? So many questions and what will be a good assessing offseason for the Mariners front office.

Truly a shame they didn’t make the postseason. This team and this pitching staff deserved better.