Last Night in Baseball: The Mariners Need More Series Like That One to Hang On

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball:

The Mariners took care of business

The Mariners are in a tough spot. Among the AL’s wild card teams, they have had the most difficult road: the Red Sox stumbled a bit, sure, but have more than recovered and have been among the league’s best over the summer, while the Yankees have seemingly rebounded from their midsummer mediocrity. Seattle, though, has one month in the entire season in which they were great. Through April, they were 18-12, and are 57-56 since. They were outscored in May, and sat a combined +8 in July and August combined.

They also began their September with an 0-4 run, but over the weekend remembered that they are supposed to be holding onto a wild card spot rather than losing it to  the likes of the Rangers (1.5 back), Royals (two back) and Guardians (2.5). While Seattle lost the first of a three-game set to the Braves, they paid Atlanta back for that and then some in the next two contests. The Mariners won on Saturday in a 10-2 romp featuring Cal Raleigh’s MLB-leading 52nd home run of the year…

…and then on Sunday the beat down intensified. The Mariners took down the Braves, 18-2, with Raleigh hitting his 53rd shot of the year.

Of course, there was a lot more offense than what two homers could provide. Seattle picked up a combined 31 hits and 12 walks in these two games, to go along with the 28 runs: the Mariners walked all over Atlanta on Saturday, with “just” 11 hits and nine free passes, then went almost all-hit on Sunday, knocking out 20 of them against three walks. Julio Rodríguez hit a pair of dingers on Saturday, Eugenio Suárez added his 43rd of the year and Josh Naylor went yard, too, in addition to Raleigh’s blast. On Sunday, Jorge Polanco went deep, Naylor hit another, Suárez hit another two, and there was the aforementioned Raleigh long ball, too. 

The Mariners don’t need to score 29 runs per series to win two of three from here on out or anything, but they do need to shake off their months of mediocrity if they are to survive September with a postseason spot in their grasp… and then do anything with it if they can manage that. They need to beat teams like the Braves when they get the chance, because the end of the season is going to be brutal: the Mariners close with consecutive series against the Royals (Kansas City is chasing Seattle and within striking range), the Astros (the Mariners are 2.5 back of Houston in the AL West), the Dodgers (it’s the Dodgers) and the Rockies (could be one of the worst teams ever, sure, but this is the Mariners, meaning that’s actually a cause for alarm in games that matter to them). 

Orioles’ improbable comeback

Yes, the above paragraph did contain an “it’s the Dodgers” parenthetical, because it is, in fact, the Dodgers. While they aren’t quite mired in mediocrity like the Mariners have been, there are still plenty of causes for concern and heartbreaking losses that could probably have been avoided in some way, if only for X, Y, and Z happening instead of what actually transpired. Saturday’s game against the Orioles is a prime example. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning. Los Angeles was up 3-0 on Baltimore, on the road. The Dodgers ended up losing, and not even in extras. The Orioles attacked all at once, and the Dodgers couldn’t stop it.

Even worse is that all of this happened with two outs. Yamamoto was a single out away from a no-hitter — it would have been the first in MLB this year, somehow — and then Jackson Holliday struck. 

That’s just one run, though, no need to panic. Except then Blake Treinen came in, and pitched in a way that made you wonder if maybe Yamamoto going past 112 pitches was actually the better play. Jeremiah Jackson doubled on a 96-mph sinker that caught too much of the plate, then Treinen hit Gunnar Henderson with a pitch. He then threw a wild pitch to advance both runners into scoring position, and walked Ryan Mountcastle to load the bases before walking Colton Cowser to allow a run. Tanner Scott would come in to relieve Treinen, who clearly did not have it, but it was too late. Emmanuel Rivera took care of the rest.

A bases-loaded single plated two more runs, and Baltimore would win, 4-3. The Dodgers would end up winning on Sunday — more on that in a moment — but did lose a game of ground over the Padres in the NL West because they dropped a series to the Orioles — they also lost to Baltimore on Friday via walkoff. San Diego sits just one game back with 18 to go.

At least there’s Ohtani

The Dodgers had a tough weekend, but Shohei Ohtani wasn’t responsible for it, at least. After he was scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday with a chest cold, he made a surprise and necessary fill-in start for Tyler Glasnow, who was dealing with back tightness, on Friday. Ohtani didn’t have his recent longevity on display, going just 3.2 innings, but he held the Orioles scoreless and struck out 5 batters without allowing a run. The real problems came later after he had already left the mound. 

Then, on Sunday, Ohtani’s bat did its thing. He hit a leadoff homer in the top of the first inning…

…and then provided a bit of insurance after that in the top of the third with a second blast, No. 48 of the season.

The Dodgers were able to provide some additional help this time around, with Los Angeles avoiding a sweep and another walk-off loss with a 5-2 win. 

Rafaela’s absurd grab

It’s been mentioned in this space before, but MLB’s outfielders are fantastic at robbing home runs these days. You can see by looking how well-practiced they are at camping underneath a ball and timing their leap to make the perfect grab. Which is what makes Ceddanne Rafaela’s grab on Saturday night all the more impressive. He did not have time to camp or time. He did not have time for anything besides what he did, which was to fun full bore from center field to nearly right field, leap and stick his glove out exactly where the ball was landing. The most he allowed himself was a fraction of a second beat to check where the wall was in relation to himself, so he would be able to time when to leap rather than crash.

That is, without a doubt, one of the great catches of 2025, if not even longer. It’s a beauty — Rafaela started out in center, saw where the ball was going, and booked it to right-center. The ball hung up in the air for about five seconds total, which is not all that long when you need to run across an outfield, and Rafaela was exactly where he needed to be when he needed to be. It was all so surprising that you can see a table full of fans seated beyond the wall jump with surprise when his glove reached over the fence and snatched the ball out of the air.

Verlander moves on up (again)

Justin Verlander has been feeling it lately, flashing back to a much younger version of himself in a noticeable way. He has spent most of the season either struggling just a little too much for the Giants’ offense to save him, or not getting any help from them at all even when he does pitch well. In his last three starts, however, he has struck out 21 batters in 17 innings while allowing just 2 earned runs. 

The Giants did lose on Saturday, 3-2, so in a way that was the same old problems he’s dealt with all year, but this game, at least, had another reason to pay attention to it. Verlander struck out 6 Cardinals, giving him 3,536 career strikeouts. His fourth of the game tied him with Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry for eighth all-time in MLB history:

Verlander would punch out another two batters, giving him sole possession of eighth place and then another strikeout for cushion. He’s going to have just a few more starts in 2025 before the season ends, so he’s not going to move up again this year, but Don Sutton’s 3,574 is next up on the list — if Verlander decides to return in 2026 — he’s 42 years old and on a one-year deal — then that will be within reach, as well as Tom Seaver’s 3,640, and even Bert Blyleven’s 3,701 is a possibility if Verlander looks more like he has of late than he did during his earlier struggles.

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