Sep 12, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez (44) reacts after hitting a single against the Los Angeles Angels during the seventh inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
The concerning Mariners stat that jumps out to ESPN’s Passan
The Seattle Mariners have gotten off to an uneven start for the 2025 season, going 2-3 through their first five games.
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It’s always tough early in the season to get a gauge on what will be long-term trends for teams, but there is some thought you might be able to read into the Mariners’ early results more because of how similar the roster looks to the end of last season.
ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan isn’t fully in agreement with that line of thinking, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t see potential reasons for concern with the M’s, as he said Tuesday morning on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
“I definitely look at the (early-season) numbers just to see if there are any any trends worth following,” Passan said, “and the one number for the Mariners that stood out to me is 50. That’s 50 strikeouts in 149 at-bats.”
That’s not exactly a new concern.
Mariners hitters were on pace for much of last year to break the MLB record for most strikeouts in a season, and while they were able to curb their strikeout rate later in the campaign to avoid making ignominious history, they still had eight more strikeouts than any other MLB team at season’s end.
Passan said there’s usually a correlation between strikeouts and team standing, and so far that’s the case as the teams with the five highest strikeout rates so far this season are all under .500 (the Mariners are fifth at 28.4%). In fact, the M’s are the only one of those teams with more than one win.
