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Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford celebrates after hitting a double against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 11 at T-Mobile Park. Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Takeaways From Seattle Mariners Series Loss Against Toronto Blue Jays

Originally posted on Seattle Mariners on SI
By Teren Kowatsch | Last updated May 12, 2025 9:48 AM ET

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners returned home on May 9 for the first of a two-leg homestead that began with a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mariners had won nine consecutive series for the first time since the 2001 American League Championship Series team. Toronto put a stop to all of that and swept Seattle, avenging an series loss to the Mariners earlier in the season.

Here's the takeaways from the Seattle's dropped series against the Blue Jays:

George Kirby's return needs to come soon

The Mariners starting rotation hasn't been at its usual level of dominance this season. Kirby began the season on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation and Logan Gilbert landed on the 15-day IL April 26 with a Grade 1 right flexor strain. Seattle has brought Luis F. Castillo, Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock from Triple-A Tacoma due to the injuries, and the rotation has struggled as a result.

The Mariners' weekend series against Toronto was the first time the starting rotation was bad throughout the entire series. Luis Castillo's streak of two quality starts was snapped, Logan Evans had a solid first four innings in his outing but was tagged in the fifth and Bryce Miller's early-season struggles continued Sunday.

Sundays are for Springer Dingers pic.twitter.com/6yELtkzVKy
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 11, 2025

The offense has been able to make up for the starting rotation's struggles more often than not this year. But it wasn't able to do so this weekend, and the bullpen isn't at a level where it can afford to take on extra innings.

Kirby made his second rehab start for Tacoma on Saturday and is due for at least one more before being activated off the IL. And this weekend's series proved how critical his pending return is.

Mariners margin for error is thin

Seattle's starting rotation arguably bears the biggest share of the blame for the sweep, but the offense wasn't too far behind. The lineup strung together just seven runs in the trio of games. A lot of the struggles were simply bad luck. Julio Rodriguez had several hard-hit balls that, against many other teams, would have gotten the franchise superstar on base. Ben Williamson was robbed of a home run by Daulton Varsho and neither team got consistent strike zones.

Even considering all those factors, the offense's job is to produce runs, and it didn't do that. When comparing their performance over the weekend to their nine-series streak, there's a clear floor and ceiling with the lineup. There aren't many opponents left that are "easy" wins on the Mariners' schedule for the rest of the month. With how the rotation has been struggling, Seattle's advantage in the American League West could evaporate if the offense has more games like it had over the weekend.