MLB

For a flash, a flicker of hope.

I saw why Colt Emerson is a $95 million man. And why he’s worth the risk that comes with his colossal contract.

They couldn’t hit Yankees ace Max Fried.

The Mariners are making an unprecedented investment in Colt Emerson to be part of their future before he’s even taken an at-bat at the MLB level.

SEATTLE – A day off?

SEATTLE – Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan met for the first time this winter. They pitched in the Mariners “Shove Camp” together in January and their lockers were next to each other in the Mariners’ big-league clubhouse during spring training.

SEATTLE – Mariners new third baseman Brendan Donovan made a costly throwing error Saturday night after charging in on a Steven Kwan bunt in the 10th inning of the Mariners’ 6-5 loss to the Guardians.

SEATTLE – With a blistering, emphatic 8-0 shellacking of visiting Cleveland on Sunday the Mariners put a punctuation mark on a scorching weekend and declared themselves a .500 team.

In this modern era of baseball where Major League teams and major college baseball programs have “pitching labs” featuring an array of coaches and analysts and state of the art of facilities to hone pitching success.

The Seattle Times reviews the week that was on the diamond and highlights key trends with the Mariners.

SEATTLE – Baseball’s beginning soon became a finish line for Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink after she suffered a stroke on Feb. 21.

SEATTLE – The joyful glee was still reverberating through T-Mobile Park when the top of the 10th inning started. A crowd of 43,283 was still celebrating Julio Rodríguez’s game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth off Guardians closer Cade Smith, scoring Cole Young. They cheered, they danced — possibly to stay warm on the chilly Friday evening — and welcomed another inning of baseball.

What lingers as one of the great hypothetical questions in Mariners history – what if Bryan Woo was healthy last October? – also bleeds into the outlook for the Mariners this year.

SEATTLE – Dan Wilson stood in the dugout, hands jammed into the front pocket of his royal blue hooded sweatshirt to keep them warm on a chilly Friday evening at T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners and Guardians allegedly picked their two best pitchers for Opening Day, but it was bombs-away at T-Mobile Park. Two of the first five batters hit home runs, and Dominic Canzone slapped another in the second inning. Six homers were hit in total during Thursday’s game.

SEATTLE – The opening game of the 2026 season provided all the pomp and circumstance expected, including the red, er, magenta carpet, ceremonial first pitch and decorative bunting placed strategically in T-Mobile Park. The Mariners made it an event. But they couldn’t make it a victory.

Opening day for perhaps the most anticipated season in Mariners history should’ve been a celebration for fans anxious to watch a team with World Series aspirations start a 162-game journey.

The New York Mets didn’t make much hard contact against Paul Skenes during Thursday’s 11-7 Opening Day win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but they were able to knock him out of the game after just 2/3 of an inning. It was the shortest start of Skenes’ brilliant big-league career, as the Mets tagged the Pirates’ ace for five earned runs, four hits, two walks and a hit batsman.

In 2024, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo combined for the best season by a Mariners rotation in franchise history, with 149 starts and a 3.27 ERA among them. Can they get back to that elite level?