The Mariners got swept by an old man.
The sources of embarrassment in this 2026 Mariners season keep getting weirder and less likely. Max Scherzer, the oldest player on any active roster in the majors — and perhaps the worst — dominated the Seattle lineup for seven innings on Sunday, wracking up 10 strikeouts and allowing just one hit. The Mariners didn’t pitch well, continuing a months-long trend as the worst pitching staff in the majors. But it ultimately didn’t matter how many runs they gave up (it was seven runs) because they got blanked by a pitcher who, as staff writer Eric Sanford put it, grew up with a rotary phone.
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Scherzer entered the day with a 7.02 ERA and 6.32 FIP in 2026. That’s understandable, because he’s 42. But he’s clearly not a good pitcher anymore, and the only reason he’s still employed is because Hall of Famers generally get to dictate when they hang it up, even if that’s a bit too late (something the Mariners are entirely familiar with).
Whatever it is that motivates Scherzer to keep pitching, to take the weekly punishment from batters two decades his junior, he found it on Sunday. He struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing just one hit and one walk and no runs. That’s good for a Game Score of 84, which makes it the 30th best performance of his career in start number 487. The performance set all sorts of obscure age-related records. Most importantly, Scherzer passed Gaylord Perry for the ninth most strikeouts of all time at 3,535. I also thought this was a neat from Sarah Langs:
Scherzer did all this primarily with a 93 mph fastball that generated eight whiffs on 19 swings. I’m not sure it would have mattered how hard he was throwing, as the Mariners lineup looked pretty lifeless on Sunday. The top three in the order struck out nine times in 15 plate appearances. The only hit of the day came in the fourth, when Cal Raleigh doubled off the top of the wall in right field. A Taylor Ward walk in the eighth is the only other base runner the Mariners would manage the rest of the way.
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Logan Gilbert got the ball to oppose him. He struggled out of the gate, walking Brett Bateman to lead off the first, then giving up a two-run homer to Alejandro Kirk. Gilbert needed 32 pitches to get out of the first. This was concerning. Mariners starters have failed to get through five innings in six of the last 14 games, including Saturday’s start by Kade Anderson. An already bad and shallow bullpen has been severely overworked while being forced to cover those innings. The Mariners have far and away the worst pitching staff in the majors since the All-Star break, all but ending any notion of finishing this season above .500. I’m less concerned about the starters pitching well at this point, so much as surviving in games long enough to avoid position player pitchers and the “can you believe how bad the Mariners lost” headlines in the national media. It’s OK to lose, just do it quietly. (Unfortunately, the offense was the one to make headlines Sunday.)
Gilbert, to his credit, ultimately settled down and made it through five. I almost wonder if he knew this was the task, because really started pounding the zone and ramping up his efficiency. That worked for a couple quick innings and got him into the fifth. This is where the Mariners defense reminded us of their role in the staff’s struggles. Myles Straw got on with a seeing-eye single, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a grounder that J.P. Crawford simply whiffed on, which somehow turned into a double to make it 3-0. Gilbert finished the inning, and his day was done. It wasn’t a great performance, but he did the bare minimum, which is a lot more than his teammates have done in recent weeks.
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On came the bullpen. Gabe Speier was up first, he gave up a very high but not very deep homer to Kazuma Okamoto that Julio nearly caught. I’d stepped away for a moment to tend to a pork shoulder in the kitchen, and I’d asked the commentariat what happened, seeing some groaning. I liked this decsritpon from commenter andrewgolfsalot:
Were I describing it in baseball terms I’d say that he took a pretty good route to a moon ball. He got to the wall, timed his jump rather well, and then the ball ticked off the pinky edge of his glove as if he somehow misjudged left to right.
Were I describing it in camping terms, I’d say that he woke up right on time to make a hike to a slightly above average attraction. He packed the exact right amount and type of snacks for the hike. His pace was perfect. He kept himself hydrated throughout the journey. And then when he got to the destination and took out his phone to take pictures of the attraction, he dropped his phone and the camera broke.
And yeah, that’s about right.
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At this point, the game was over, though Nick Davila, who returned to the roster this morning with Emerson Hancock placed on the IL, got in the game and gave up three more runs. I don’t really know how because of the aforementioned pork shoulder, but I see two doubles, two walks, and a hit by pitch on his line. I imagine it wasn’t pretty.
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The loss for the Mariners caps a sweep in Toronto and sinks them to 64-73. This feels… final. It’s the type of loss that has me working on my Dan Wilson obit. I don’t think he makes it home from the road trip. I’m not even sure whether he shows up in Boston on Monday. I’ve been pretty up front about my feelings on this issue. I hold Wilson harmless for most of the season, and I’m far more likely to blame a team building philosophy that led to Crawford whiffing on that grounder in the fifth inning. Regardless, nothing is going well at the moment. We still have another month of this.
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