Seattle Mariners third baseman Jorge Polanco (7) is greeted in the dugout after scoring during the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on May 3. Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Something Very Interesting is Now Happening with the Seattle Mariners' Lineup

Originally posted on Seattle Mariners on SI
By Brady Farkas | Last updated Jun 29, 2025 12:15 PM ET

The Seattle Mariners will finish out their series with the Texas Rangers on Sunday morning at 11:35 a.m. PT, and when they do, they will do so with something very noteworthy happening in the starting lineup.

Dominic Canzone is getting his third straight start in this series and will play right field. This means that Luke Raley is at first base. Given that Mitch Garver is catching, Cal Raleigh will move to designated hitter.

Jorge Polanco is on the bench, and this makes sense, given the desire to get Raleigh a break from catching, and keep his bat in the lineup.

Rubber match on deck with La Piedra on the hill pic.twitter.com/xFZZFOR6Ih
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 29, 2025

However, there's something a little deeper here worth monitoring. This is the second straight day that Polanco is on the bench. And while he's struggled to the tune of a .181 average over his last 30 games, this decision isn't necessarily because he's "bad." It's more positive affirmation for Canzone.

The team clearly wants to keep him in the lineup as he remains hot at the plate. They started him in right field on Friday night, with Polanco serving as the designated hitter, but they kept him in right field on Saturday, moving Julio Rodriguez to the DH-spot. They clearly want to find at-bats for Canzone, and given that they want to play Raleigh, Randy Arozarena and Rodriguez every day, there's less at-bats for Polanco right now. They will likely to continue to want to get Canzone repetitions in the outfield or at designated hitter himself.

Cole Young is also the long-term solution at second base, so Polanco likely won't see much time there.

We'll discuss more of this on the Monday edition of the Refuse to Lose podcast.

The Mariners are 42-40 on the season.

This article first appeared on Seattle Mariners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: