Mariners finally playing up to lofty expectations with a six-game winning streak

SEATTLE (AP) — When Bryce Miller was relegated to watching Seattle Mariners games on television from the team’s spring training complex as he rehabbed a left oblique injury , the right-hander was left with frustrating viewing.

The Mariners spent most of April and May mired in mediocrity, twice falling five games below .500 less than a year removed from being eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series .

Seattle’s top talent entered the 2026 season hungry for the first World Series appearance in franchise history . But, simply qualifying for the postseason when the Mariners owned a 10-15 record in late April seemed unlikely.

“The first however many games, (we) never really played to our potential, I don’t think,” Miller said. “We knew even the games that we won, either we wouldn’t pitch that well, or we wouldn’t hit that well.”

After their sixth straight win, a 3-2 walk-off victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, it has become clear the Mariners are finding their groove. Over their longest win streak of the season, Seattle has yielded just 12 runs, only allowing more than two in a game once in a 7-6 win on Friday night .

Simultaneously, the Mariners – who had the third-most home runs as a team last season (238) — are leaning more into their power stroke despite the continued absence of last year’s AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh , who is still sidelined with a right oblique strain . All-Star utilityman Brendan Donovan has been out, too, since May 15 with a left groin muscle strain .

The Mariners finished the month of May with 42 home runs, tied with the Chicago White Sox for the most in the major leagues. Center fielder Julio Rodríguez , notorious for his slow starts, chipped in 10 of those on his own.

“I just really feel like things now are trending (up) for us,” Rodríguez said. “The hits are falling. The guys who can hit home runs are hitting the home runs. And, I feel like everything’s coming together now.”