The Seattle Mariners could enter the 2027 offseason facing several important decisions after a season that failed to match the expectations created by their impressive 2025 campaign.
Seattle made a significant postseason run in 2025, advancing to the American League Championship Series and pushing the Toronto Blue Jays to a decisive seventh game. That performance raised expectations for what the Mariners could accomplish the following season.
Instead, the club has taken a major step backward.
With the 2026 season approaching its conclusion, questions are beginning to surround several areas of the organization. The future of manager Dan Wilson could become a topic of discussion, while changes to the coaching staff may also be considered as Seattle evaluates what went wrong.
One MLB analyst believes the Mariners should look beyond the manager’s position and make a change involving their hitting staff.
Hitting coach could be in the spotlight
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller recently identified hitting coach Kevin Seitzer as someone the Mariners could consider replacing during the offseason.
Miller’s argument centers on Seattle’s struggles at the plate and the inability of several important hitters to reproduce the production they showed during the previous season.
The Mariners entered 2026 with several established offensive players expected to play major roles. However, the team’s overall performance has fallen considerably short of those expectations.
According to Miller, Seattle needs to find a way to get some of its biggest offensive names back to their 2025 form. That includes catcher Cal Raleigh, outfielder Julio Rodríguez and first baseman Josh Naylor.
Randy Arozarena has been one of the more reliable offensive performers for Seattle, which makes the struggles of some of the team’s other key bats even more noticeable.
Miller acknowledged that Seitzer had done a solid job during the previous season. However, the analyst believes the Mariners have not received the offensive results they need from their lineup in 2026.
That has led to the suggestion that Seattle could benefit from bringing in a different voice to oversee the team’s hitters.
Cal Raleigh’s dramatic decline
Perhaps the clearest example of Seattle’s offensive problems has been Raleigh.
The catcher was one of the biggest offensive stories in baseball during the 2025 season. Raleigh launched 60 home runs and finished among the top two players in American League MVP voting.
Those numbers established an extremely high standard heading into 2026.
Unfortunately for Seattle, Raleigh has been unable to maintain that level of production for most of the current campaign.
There have been encouraging signs late in the season. His performance during August and September has improved, giving the Mariners some reason to believe that the version of Raleigh they saw in 2025 has not completely disappeared.
Still, the club needs more consistency from one of its most important offensive players.
A catcher capable of producing at Raleigh’s 2025 level can dramatically change a lineup. The challenge for Seattle is finding a way to make that production sustainable over a full 162-game schedule.
Whether a new hitting coach could make a meaningful difference remains uncertain, but the issue is clearly one the Mariners will have to examine.
Seattle’s overall offensive numbers tell the story
The team’s statistics demonstrate just how serious the offensive problems have been.
Seattle’s .692 OPS is tied with Cleveland for 28th in Major League Baseball. The Mariners’ .232 batting average is even lower, ranking 29th across the league.
Those numbers help explain why questions about the coaching staff have emerged.
A lineup filled with recognizable names and players who have previously demonstrated significant offensive ability has struggled to consistently generate production.
That does not necessarily mean coaching is the only reason for Seattle’s offensive decline. Baseball performance is influenced by numerous factors, including injuries, player development, opposing pitching, individual slumps and changes in approach.
Nevertheless, when an entire team experiences a significant offensive downturn, the coaching staff naturally becomes part of the offseason evaluation.
For the Mariners, the question will be whether they believe the current staff can help their hitters return to their previous levels or whether a different approach is necessary.
Julio Rodríguez remains important to the equation
Rodríguez is another major piece of the Mariners’ offensive puzzle.
Seattle invested heavily in Rodríguez’s future, and his performance remains closely connected to the team’s long-term ambitions.
When Rodríguez is producing at a high level, he gives the Mariners a dynamic presence capable of changing games with his combination of power, athleticism and speed.
The team therefore needs to determine how to maximize his offensive impact moving forward.
The same applies to Naylor and Raleigh.
If Seattle can get multiple important hitters performing closer to their established levels, the lineup could look considerably different in 2027.
That makes the offseason coaching decision particularly important.
Could a coaching change actually fix the problem?
There is no guarantee that replacing Seitzer would immediately transform the Mariners’ offense.
Changing a hitting coach can provide a different philosophy, new techniques and another perspective, but players still have to execute.
A coaching change should therefore be viewed as one possible component of a larger organizational evaluation rather than a guaranteed solution.
Seattle’s front office will have to examine the performance of individual players, roster construction, player development and the coaching structure before determining what changes are necessary.
The fact that the Mariners reached the ALCS in 2025 makes the current decline even more frustrating.
The organization has already demonstrated that it can compete at a high level. The challenge is figuring out why that level of performance has not carried over into 2026.
The offseason could bring significant changes
The 2027 offseason could ultimately become one of the most important periods for the Mariners in recent years.
If the team believes the current offensive approach is not producing enough results, changing the hitting coach could be one of the moves under consideration.
The possibility of a managerial change could also add another layer to the offseason discussion.
For now, the future of the coaching staff remains uncertain. Miller’s recommendation represents an analyst’s view rather than confirmation that Seattle has decided to make a change.
Still, the numbers provide a clear reason for the organization to take a serious look at its offensive operation.
Seattle has several talented hitters who have already shown they can perform at a much higher level than what the team has received this season.
Getting those players back on track will likely be one of the biggest priorities heading into 2027.
If the Mariners can find a way to restore the production of players such as Raleigh, Rodríguez and Naylor while continuing to receive contributions from Arozarena and the rest of the lineup, the team could put itself in a much stronger position.
For now, however, the offensive struggles have created difficult questions that Seattle will have to answer.
And one of those questions is whether Kevin Seitzer will remain the person responsible for helping the Mariners’ hitters find their way back to their best form.
