The Mariners boldly answer the question “how can it get any worse” with loud, unhinged laughter and a series loss to the Angels

Having now dropped five games in a row to the division rival from Anaheim, and their core players dropping like flies, Seattle continues to sink to unknown depths while still somehow maintaining first place in the division.

“It always gets worse before it gets better.”

A phrase I am not fond of, despite sometimes saying I am, and it is one I find myself using quite often. When something in my life goes sour, or I experience a setback, I apply those words internally to the wound in an effort to make coping easier. On the very surface the phrase is fine, a simple reminder of the ebb and flow of things, and that no matter how far out the tide is at the moment, the waters will at some point return to shore with their bounties.

The frustration from the phrase comes the moment you stop to think about it beyond that. Better? Worse? Relative to what? And just how much worse before it gets better? And will the net gain of “better” actually be a net loss? And on top of all that, there is no actual promise that things will get better. Life is not the tide, nor do its waters offer any inherent buoyancy.

Despite holding first place for an extended period of time, the 2024 Seattle Mariners have been plagued with things getting worse. Two days ago, Julio injured his ankle attempting a catch against the wall, and things became a little worse for the Mariners. Yesterday, JP Crawford was hit by a pitch that fractured his hand, and things became a little worse for the Mariners. Two days ago, Ty France was placed on irrevocable waivers, and even though that might amount to the Mariners getting better at first base at some point, for now, the vibes at the very least became a little worse for the Seattle Mariners.

Vibes getting worse, and they were already not great. Coming into today’s game against the Angels, the Mariners had lost four games in a row against their division rival, including yesterday’s series opener. Every loss was a heart-breaker, every one dared you to leave thinking “surely now, things will get better, because how could they be worse?”, and every time you fell for that dare the next game showed up and humbled you. The tide can get so, so far from shore sometimes.

Today continued the pattern, as Seattle utilized good-to-elite pitching only for the offense and defense to sabotage any advantage gained. What if I told you Logan Gilbert lasted 6.2 innings, only allowing four hits and one earned run, only walking one and striking out eight? That would feel good right? That’s good. Great, even! In fact, that one earned run was the only earned run the Angels scored all night. Now for the part where things get worse, where I tell you that even though they only earned one of those runs, the Angels beat the Mariners today 5-1.

Now, from here, I could tell you all the ways the game became and overall was from the beginning a large leap in the “worse” direction. I could give you a detailed breakdown of the fifth inning where the Angels scored all five of their runs, one earned and the rest coming off of the back of two errors, and how that inning unfortunately came after LoGi cruised through the minimum in the first four. I could expand on telling you about how as a team they walked five times and only struck out six, but also how every single Mariner was hit-less tonight except three, all of whom were added to the roster this morning, with Tyler Locklear, Jason Vosler, and Cade Marlowe all collecting one hit apiece. Or how the only run the Mariners scored came on a ground ball hit into a double play lucky enough to be coupled with no outs. Together, we can painfully watch the water against the horizon, looking for signs the waves are beginning to build and not recede.

Or we can take the wider view, like Logan Gilbert seems to be, given his post game comments. “If you had told us that we’d be right here with 60 games left, I would take that every time and I would take a chance with what we got right here in this clubhouse.”

Tomorrow may not be better for the Mariners. It may, in fact, be worse. As a team they have a lot to figure out. Today they weren’t just beaten, they were broken. You could see it in their play, on their faces. Tomorrow, maybe they are a little more broken, or, maybe they heal and are a little less. Maybe they flinch a little less with the next step. In this spot on the shore, the beach has been washed away, and we can never return to this spot. But the coastline remains, the Mariners remain, and so do we. If tomorrow the waters push out, just know someday they will come back in. For better, or worse, onward goes the first place Seattle Mariners.