Mariners’ league-best leadoff hitters are ironic with mediocre start to 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Seattle Mariners are off to a very mediocre start to the 2026 MLB season, at 16-19, and not far out of the top spot in the AL West.
While things aren’t going well to start the season, the same cannot be said for how the Mainers typically begin their games this season.
Seattle’s offense typically gets the ball moving, as Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report identified how great the Mariners’ offense can be right from the beginning of games this season, thanks to their league-best leadoff hitting.
“Seattle’s first batter of the game – a role that has bounced around between J.P. Crawford, Brendan Donovan, Rob Refsnyder and Luke Raley – has gone 7-for-25 with three home runs, eight walks, two HBPs and just four strikeouts, good for a 1.246 OPS,” Miller writes.
Miller notes how that’s over 200 points higher than the next-closest team’s production from the leadoff spot. No team in baseball has been better from their first batter of the game than the Mariners.
Mariners’ elite leadoff hitting is ironic with mediocre start to 2026
While Seattle’s offense can get the ball moving right at the start of games better than any team in baseball, the production afterwards leaves a lot to be desired.
At 16-19, the Mariners have a losing record in the first month of May. For a team with World Series aspirations, this is a major let-down.
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No team has hit more leadoff homers or had more leadoff walks than the Mariners this season, but it has not turned into positive outcomes this season.
Ironically, the team with the best starts to games from their leadoff hitters is off to such a mediocre start to the regular season.
Seattle’s offense getting such great production from the leadoff spot is far from a guarantee this season, and things could easily change for the worse.
But, as long as the Mariners win games going forward, the production at the start of games won’t be a big deal. It’s clearly not turning into wins this year, as they should be a lot better than they are so far this season.
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