Starters key Mariners' return to postseason: 'We are formidable in a way we've never been before' (2024)

SEATTLE — Late September is no time to hit the skids when you’re chasing a postseason spot, but that’s precisely what happened to the Mariners.

Seattle had dropped eight of 11 games during a fitful stretch when they hosted the Rangers on Sept. 28. They needed to turn things around, and quickly. The Orioles were nipping at their heels in the wild-card chase and, according to some fans, the sky was falling.

What they needed was a stopper.

Rookie George Kirby bailed them out, allowing one run over five innings as the Mariners went on to win, 8-4. Starting pitching got this team going in the right direction again, and two days later, after another gem by starter Logan Gilbert, the Mariners punched their ticket to the postseason.

This is a scene that has been repeated over and over in 2022, especially after the Mariners caught fire in mid-June following a 29-39 start.

If you’re looking for one singular reason why the Mariners are back in the postseason for the first time since 2001, look no further than the team’s starting pitching, a daunting unit that is among the top rotations in baseball.

“You can talk about our season, big home runs, the big clutch things we’ve done, but it’s been the consistency of our starting pitching,” said Seattle manager Scott Servais. “The teams that have had sustained success, it’s driven by consistent starting pitching.”

Seattle finds itself among those teams today thanks in large part to a revamped rotation that looks little like the unit that finished the 2021 season.

The Mariners signed American League Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray last winter to a five-year deal worth $115 million. The team brought up Kirby from Double A in May and he flourished. Then just prior to the trade deadline, the Mariners landed a whopper, trading for the Reds’ Luis Castillo to fortify the rotation.

Logan Gilbert took a step forward from his rookie season of 2021 and Marco Gonzales continued to be steady. So deep was the Mariners’ rotation that the club bumped Chris Flexen (3.64 ERA) to the bullpen even though he could be starting for several other clubs.

So just how formidable is this group? Entering play Wednesday, the Mariners had the 11th-best starters’ ERA in baseball (3.75). More than that, there’s been a prevailing sentiment each and every game that no matter who is starting, the Mariners are in a good spot.

The Mariners rank third in the big leagues in quality starts (78). That starting staff went 11-3 with a 1.68 ERA in a 20-game stretch from Aug. 23-Sept. 14. That was the best 20-game stretch for starting pitching in club history.

“You go from having a good chance to expecting to win,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who was in Seattle this week with his team. “When you are winning the starting pitching matchup many times before you are starting the game, there’s an expectation to win … not just a chance.”

A year ago, the Mariners leaned heavily on their bullpen (and success in one-run games) in surprising everyone with 90 victories. But in terms of the rotation, starter James Paxton went down with a season-ending elbow injury in his first start. That sent the team scrambling.

Robert Dugger (7.36 ERA) got four starts, Justus Sheffield (6.83) got 15 starts and the team had to keep running Yusei Kikuchi out every fifth day because they didn’t have a better in-house option. The rotation roulette did not stop spinning until the team finally acquired Tyler Anderson from the Pirates at the trade deadline.

This season, though, the Mariners haven’t had to sweat about starting pitching. Ray, Gilbert and Gonzales have made all 32 of their starts and Kirby has made 25. He won’t reach 30-plus starts because he began the season in Double A.

“I’ve been around baseball a long time now, and I’ve never been with a team either as a player, scout or executive that had this kind of depth of starting pitching,” said Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. “I feel like every day someone runs out and takes the mound for us who gives us a chance to win on that day. And that is an exciting thing. We are formidable in a way we’ve never been before.”

The starters’ ability to pitch well and, generally, pitch deep into games has allowed Servais to set up the team’s stout bullpen more often than not.

“Now you’re able to line your bullpen up and get deep in games with guys you can trust,” Servais said. “The key is to stay healthy and of course they’ve got to be good. We’ve had both things.

“Last year at this time, I’d say the anchor of our team was our bullpen. This year, our bullpen has still been good, but it’s been our starting pitching that has carried us all year.”

The ability of those starters to work deep into games — Seattle is third in the big leagues in average innings per starts (5.58) — has allowed Servais to line up and utilize those relievers in the best spots possible. It doesn’t hurt that the Mariners have one of the best bullpens in baseball.

Servais points to the work done by bullpen coach and director of pitching strategy Trent Blank and pitching coach Pete Woodworth in helping this staff get better.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job,” Servais said of Blank and Woodworth. “Even though they’re young, and they don’t have a ton of experience in professional baseball, they’re very smart. They know how to connect to players, to message things to certain players. That’s an art.

“I’m a little older and have more experience than they do, but I have learned a ton from those guys. There’s a trust factor there. When you trust people in your organization, you can go fast. When you don’t, things slow down.”

This weekend, the Mariners enter the best-of-three Wild Card Series. They won’t change who they are because they’re in the big dance, nor do they expect their strengths to change. They will, as always, lean heavily on their starting pitching.

“In a short series,” Dipoto said, “we line up pretty well. We have the personnel to make anyone nervous.”

(Photo of Robbie Ray: John Froschauer / Associated Press)