The Mariners vs Guardians series starts with Seattle stuck in a two-week offensive slump. The Mariners have not scored more than three runs in a game since June 12, and that has left them searching for a clean swing in Cleveland.
That drought began after the Mariners scored 10 runs against the Nationals on June 12. Since then, they have gone 4-7, dropped from second in the AL in wRC+ to eighth, and slipped only 0.5 game in the standings because the AL West and the American League have been soft enough to limit the damage.
José Ramírez and Cleveland
The Guardians enter the series with their own pressure point. José Ramírez fractured his hamate bone in his left hand on June 13 and is expected to be out until August, and Cleveland has already lost all three series it has played without him.
That absence has forced the Guardians to lean on a different mix in the middle of the lineup. Travis Bazzana has answered with a 125 wRC+ and seven home runs in 50 games, while Brayan Rocchio has taken a pretty big step forward at the plate. Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo have struggled this year, which puts more weight on every run they can scrape together in a tight AL Central race and a crowded AL Wild Card race.
Joey Cantillo's changeup
Joey Cantillo is a useful test for a lineup that needs to break out. He posted a 2.96 ERA and a 3.21 FIP across 13 starts after moving to the rotation in July last year, and his changeup produced a 49.4% whiff rate last year.
The Mariners have seen him before. In April, they scored two runs in 3.2 innings against him in his first start of the season, and his numbers since then have shifted after a 3.57 ERA and a 4.53 FIP through the end of May gave way to rough outings against the Yankees and Rangers at the start of this month that pushed his ERA to a hair over four.
Slade Cecconi in Cleveland
Slade Cecconi gives Cleveland another layer. He came to the Guardians last offseason in the December 2024 trade that sent Josh Naylor to Arizona, and he spent the first two years of his career as a swingman in Arizona's bullpen.
This weekend's stop in Cleveland closes the Mariners' Midwest road trip, and the matchup reads like a problem both clubs need to solve fast. Seattle needs the bats to carry more than three runs again; Cleveland needs enough offense to survive without Ramírez while staying attached in the AL Central and AL Wild Card races.
