Mariners swoon: When did it all begin?

Published 8:40 pm Monday, June 27, 2016

Not that long ago the Mariners were tied for first place in the AL West. Today they find themselves at .500, in third place in the division, and 11 games behind Texas. What’s happened?

Let’s start with when things took a turn for the worse. On May 23 the Mariners were 28-18 and had just come off a stretch in which they were the hottest team in baseball, going 26-12 for a .684 winning percentage.

Everything started to change on May 27. That was the first game of a three-game home series against the lowly Minnesota Twins. Minnesota has the worst record in baseball, and ace Felix Hernandez was on the mound for the opener, so the series should have been a continuation of Seattle’s positive run. Instead, the Mariners were swept, and that began the downturn. Shortly after Seattle was swept in a three-game series at Texas with first place on the line, and it’s all been downhill since as the Mariners have won just 10 of their past 30 games.

That game on May 27 was also Hernandez’s last start for the team. He was placed on the disabled list on June 1 because of a calf injury and hasn’t pitched since.

So if you’re looking for a specific moment when Seattle’s season turned, look no further than May 27 as the culprit.