Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners get BIG SERIES WIN vs Atlanta Braves

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

Anders and Chris break down the final game of the series vs the Braves in Atlanta. The offense seems to have truly awoken with home runs from Jorge Polanco, Josh Naylor, and Eugenio Suarez.  Julio Rodriguez also continues his fantastic stretch of play with two doubles.  Luis Castillo had a bounce back effort as well in the win. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025. NutrafolSee thicker, stronger hair with less shedding in just 3–6 months with Nutrafol. For a limited time, get $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code LOCKEDONMLB. ZippixGo to https://ZippixToothpicks.com and use promo code LOCKEDON for 10% off your first order. Zippix Toothpicks—energy and focus, anytime you need it. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONMLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.PrizePicks — Run Your Game.Click Link Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LO... Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is the Mariners Postcast. Your instant game reaction for the Seattle Mariners. Part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Wow. You remember when last road trip, we said that 3 and 6 felt so much different than 2 and 7? Yeah. I think this is the exact representation of that. Because the Mariners went 3 and 6 on this road trip.

But this feels so much different. different than the last one. And that one game is huge. It's so different. The Seattle Mariners score three touchdowns, but miss all three extra points. And the Atlanta Braves get the safety for all of their offense. No, I'm just kidding on this opening NFL Sunday. Anderson Hurst, you're Chris Crawford with you, the Mariners Postcast. They, uh, wait, I saw it. Jason, prove us wrong. They proved us wrong. They proved us wrong. After the game on Friday night, It was like, hey, prove us wrong. Why, like, tell us we should not be as worried as we are.

They still have work to do in that department, I think, but this is a great step in the right direction these last two days. We're going to talk about Castillo's bounceback effort. We'll talk about the offensive just explosion. And then we'll get to our unsung hero. But first, let's get Chris Crawford's initial thoughts on the game. I didn't watch it. And here's what I'll just say. I couldn't get Roco to work.

So I followed along. I listened to the game on the radio. I watched highlights of everything, but I am not going to pretend that I watched all of this. Here's what I'll say. You could have been told this over a freaking scripture or tablet or whatever. It doesn't matter. This is massive.

Just absolutely massive to get back on track. to be able to score the amount of runs that they've scored over the last two games. And sure, some of them come off of Vidal Bruhan. But what, just two of them, right? Yeah, just the two. So 26 of 28 against real pitchers. Sure. None of them particularly great, I would say, outside of Hurston Waldrop.

But hey, who cares? Beggars cannot be choosers, folks. Absolutely not. And this is such a great end to this weekend after, that Tampa Bay series took a lot out of me. Just trained me. This has me feeling great. I wish I could have watched all of it.

I really do. But unfortunately, the 9 a.m. time I woke up at 8.58, got everything ready to go. And it just, it wouldn't load. It just flat out wouldn't load. So I listened to the game on the radio. I love the dulcet tones of that booth. And, you know, so that wasn't so bad. And every strikeout from Luis Castile,

I watched the replay of, every big hit for the Mariners I watched the replay of. I just can't go over like the entirety of this thing. The intricacies as the intricacies of the game. But you know what? You're not really here for the intricacies of the game anyway. But I do want to make it abundantly clear. Great win. Great end to the road trip.

Didn't watch it. Okay. So let's start with the start. I will start with Luis Castillo's outing if you don't mind. Of course. did watch every out today. It was on the legs. I woke up at 9.57 instead of 8.57 like you.

But I'm MLB TV. Reminded at the beginning. Skip the commercials, yada, yada. What a lot. It's a great way to do it. It's a great way to do it. It was a huge bounce back effort from Luis Castillo, honestly. And I get it.

Like, the Braves are 64 and 79th this year. So you have to put it in perspective. But seeing him do that against anyone, any major league lineup is huge for me. And the line off, the line drive off of his wrist scared me a little bit. But I'm taking some silver linings from it. After that happened, I believe it was the third inning after the Mariners scored the eight runs. He started to use his secondary stuff more. I don't know if that was just because, hey, I'm feeling a little weird. I'm going to, you know, try and get them off pace and off speed. But dude, that change up looked way better. The sloth.

lighter looked way better. And he stopped trying to just throw fastballs by everyone. I don't know, like, if that's what he needed to kind of change his style of pitching, because I get it, like the Mariners have changed him into a fastball heavy pitcher on the top rail and it's worked for the past couple years. I think they need to adjust because he just doesn't have the VLO anymore. He's a 94-95 fastball guy now. And if you start to, you know, throw in that change up that he used to be so dominant

with before he came to Seattle, that fastball looks a lot better. So I don't know if that's the reason why, but I started to see it way more. I haven't looked at the stack cast numbers yet, but I don't know. Like maybe this is a good thing for him. Maybe him getting hit in the arm, obviously barring any injury concerns, which I don't think there are two. He came back out and looked fine. I think that's a good thing.

It forces him to pitch in a different way. And I think he could still be effective if he does that. So I would agree. I agree with everything you're saying. And the fact you generate 19 swings and misses today, I believe on 88, 82, excuse me, pitches, which is over a quarter of the pitches that you throw are generating swings and misses. Really good. Of his 54 strikes, 19 swings and misses, so nearly a third there.

What I will say is the version of Luis Castillo that was working worked for a lot of 2025, too, more than a lot of 2020. Absolutely. But there's also no question that he's not at 100%. He can't be at 100% because his fastball velocity has fluctuated so much. Not a single pitch today, I believe over 97 miles per hour. I'm taking a look at the savant page right now to confirm that. Yeah, the highest pitch, three highest pitches today were all from Emerson Hancock. And then he also has the fourth highest.

So just having that secondary stuff. Now, Atlanta did not have a great game plan today, if I'm being completely honest with you. But Castillo took advantage of it. And that secondary stuff, and again, didn't watch every pitch, but watched every strikeout. There's the ability for me to go and look at highlights of that type of stuff. Ooh, filthy. Filthy secondary stuff today. And very encouraging going forward.

I'm not saying that Luis Castillo was fully back. I'm not going to do that. Not at all. But I will say this. We may have jumped the gun a little, and not us. The fan base may have jumped the gun on Luis Castillo's worthless. I saw some nasty stuff. Yeah, yeah.

I saw some nasty stuff from Luis Castillo to kind of shut up some haters. Yeah. Some haterade, some hater tots. I don't know what the kids say anymore. They probably never said those anyway. But Luis Castillo was really good today, and they needed it. We needed, not only did the Mariners need it, just to get a series win. The first series win that they've had on the road since the All-Star Break,

but also just the confidence, right? It's the confidence for you and I and the 179 people in here right now to be like, all right, we know Luis Castillo can get that done. We know that Luis Castillo could be effective. let's see it happen in a second start before we get too crazy, you know, because this is the tinkerer Luis Castillo that we saw. Let's see how that works against the Angels. It should work fine.

You know, that team can hit some home runs and all that stuff. But all that stuff, that's a weird way to put that. Luis Castillo was good. Yeah, I agree. I'm interested to see if that kind of style of pitching continues into his next start or if he goes back to kind of his fastball heavy workload. I'm not, we'll see what happens. But I think, I think he can extend his career a little bit if he, you know,

decides to lean on the secondary stuff a little more, pitch backwards to a few guys. And then that fastball seems a lot more effective. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm not saying, this isn't even saying that he's, you know, back to being one of our top three guys. No. No, he's still a fourth or best, fourth or fifth best starting pitcher. No question. And that's all that you need him to do right now.

If your fourth or fifth best starting pitcher goes six innings of what, one run baseball? Or did they get, they got one run off? They got one run. So like with six Ks, no walks, absolutely. We'll take that every time. So cool, good stuff from him. Much needed. It gives me like, if this was one of those games where he kind of struggles to get through five

and then your bullpen just shuts it out because you're off. offense kind of is way ahead. I'm feeling a little different, honestly, but to have him pretty much dominate the Atlanta lineup and to have your offense do what it did today, it makes me feel a whole lot better about this game. I've just seen the highlight of this Juarez's run right now. Vidal Bruhan. I know. Thanks for, they all count, man. Thanks for making the effort. But like, my God, I'm so glad. I'm so glad big dumpers, Homer came off of a real pitcher. Let me just say that.

I wouldn't have, I would have had a long feel about how it doesn't matter, but I'm glad that it came off of very bad Roderry Munoz instead of Vidal Bruy on. How many of the top five home run hitters in baseball have hit homers off of position players? I've got to think at least, almost all of them have at least one. I don't think so, though, Anders, because this is a fairly new thing. The position play, like Barry Bond certainly wasn't fixing. No, no, no, I'm not saying all time. I'm saying this year.

Oh, this year. Fair. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. I would have to do research that I don't know how to do, but that's fair. That's fair. So, like, in terms of the whole run race, I wouldn't care. They all count, man.

Like, just let him go. Pump those numbers. I don't care. Pump them up, baby. And it's not like Eugenio Swar has struggled until that. He was really good today. We had a great day today. We can talk about the offense a lot today.

Let's do it after this quick break here on the Mariners Post. Most people can't name all their financial account. or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties or investments, and when you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. And that's why there's monarch money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together and one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or on your phone. Huge thing for me is like, I'm just not a finance guy.

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Did they take a run away from the Seattle Mariners? It's 18 to 2. And then if you look at the box score, it says 17 to 2. But man, what a fun end to that baseball game. Yep, absolutely. And fun beginning, too. Let's talk about the offense a little bit. Welcome back to Mariners Postcast, Interson, Hurst, Chris Crawford with you.

We go live right after every single Mariner baseball game. Rob says, Chris, what's your favorite baseball card in your collection? It's a recent one. I have a Cal Raleigh, First Bowman Refractor autograph. those go for quite a bit of money. Did you pack or buy it? But I just got to keep it. I just got to keep it.

PSA 10. I also have a autographed Ken Griffey Jr. Mike Trout card that holds a little special appeal into me as well. That's pretty much. Yep, it's an expensive hobby. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Zig, get Zippix toothpicks before you get baseball cards. I'm telling you that. Especially if you're a smoker. Yeah, exactly. Welcome back to Mariners Postcast, Anderson Harris, Christopher Crawford. Like the video if you haven't already. Helps us out a ton. It's the easiest way to support us.

Just subscribe and like the video every time you see us, if you like our stuff, obviously. I think it's pretty good. But you guys, tuning in makes it all the better. Having people come and hang out with us is so much fun. Mariners win this one, 18 to 2, win the Atlanta Brave series. 3 and 6th road trip doesn't look good, but we talked about it at the top of the show. 3 and 6 is so much better than 2 and 7. Man, look at that card.

That's the Cal Raleigh First Bowman, isn't it? Yeah. So did you buy that or did you pack it? I got it. I got lucky and packed it. And then I got it graded. And I was super nervous because these things tend to not grade super well. Yeah.

It's beauty. Perfect. Let's talk about the offense here in the last few minutes. Just great day. You have a seven run inning and an eight running run inning as well when you have two of those in one game. You score 18 runs. You hit 20 hits. I mean, what can you say?

It's fantastic. It's fantastic. And, you know, I have to be honest with you. I was really nervous about Spencer Strider getting right against the Seattle Mariner offense. But of course, he ends up getting scratched. The fact that he's even still pitching is malpractice. I don't know what the Atlanta Braves are doing. Normally a really smart organization. I don't get it. I don't get it whatsoever. But you took advantage of Joey Wentz today, not a very good pitcher. But, you know, I think the biggest thing for me was that second inning because you get that run from Garver on the triple, maybe not the biggest thing, but like two scoreless innings there wouldn't have felt great, you know, and then all of a sudden the floodgates open. My one complaint about this game was going to be, you score 18 runs or at the time, you score 11 runs and you don't get any homers from Julio or Cal. Really? that's kind of oh oh never mind 53 homers guys i'm sorry that's just in a number i never thought i'd see a seattle mariner reach again i mean i didn't think we'd ever see another mariner get to 50 so every single one of these is special every even if they come in 28 to three losses yeah they are going

to be special things to see can he get four more can he get those four more and break Griffey's record. I'd be surprised if he didn't at this point. It's just special stuff, man. I'll give you my unsung hero. Some people were suggesting Mitch Garver. I think that's a really good call. Absolutely. I'll go with Randy. Randy Rosarina, man. Like, just a really solid day at the plate. I can't go with Julio because his day, boy, getting that three-run double was so many as well. The fact that he's getting those doubles now is big, too. Yes. The homers, you know, they are what they are, and they're wonderful. Extra base hits.

I want to see more extra base hits. Julio should be a 40 double guy. He's not going to get there this year, but he's going to get probably to 30. He's got a good shot at it in anyway. This was a terrific offensive effort, but Randy Rosarina set the table really well again. And let's not do any more Roku games. That's all I have to say. Question for you.

I asked about, you know, Julio's game yesterday and being, you know, the best that he's had in a marrying uniform. If this, if the season ended right now for everyone, not like, if the season ended right now, would this be Julio Rodriguez's best season since his book year? Oh, boy. Probably. Probably. I know he has a few points below in the OPS from the second year, but yeah. I think he's elevated defensively. Oh, I think so too.

And he's come up in big moments. And it wasn't just like one month from him like it was in 2023. No, it's been his most complete season by far. And, you know, that's not to say that there weren't times where Julio frustrated. Every hitter is going to frustrate, guys. Yes. It happens. It happens.

I talked about this on social media again yesterday that some of the compliments to Julio Rodriguez come across is extremely patronizing. Yes. Oh, he figured it out. Guys, he's going to finish in the top 10 in MVP voting for the third time in four years. Yeah. I think he's figured some stuff out. Might be top five this year, too, by the way.

I think he will be top five. I think he will, especially some of that standing with Faint PRAs a little bit. This is not the strongest American League. No, it's not. But still, like, the top three is great. And then, you know, but Julio Rodriguez absolutely deserves to be in that. He's going to finish with like six wins above replacement. That's a fantastic season.

That's a Hall of Fame season. So, yeah, I would probably call this his best season. And it's super encouraging, not just for now, but it's super encouraging going forward because. So, yeah, no, go ahead. Let me clarify, best season including his rookie year? No, his rookie season, I think is still his best season. Just making sure. Just making sure.

But boy, it's close. It is close. close. I mean, he was a slight uptick offensively. Yeah, let's be honest. Absolutely. And, um, you know, that 2023, I know it's a lot based on one month, but that's one of the greatest months anyone has ever had. You can't completely disway that. The only argument you can't make is 2024. Like that clearly is not his best season. He wasn't healthy. He missed 30 games. And there were some really, really long stretches of bad. But boy, oh boy. He's just been so.

special lately and it's been so fun to watch and um for me it's the consistency with him yeah absolutely it's it's not been like a one absolutely white hot torrid stretch it's been he's been really good for the past two plus months now three plus months yeah where like he's just been a solid two or three hitter wherever you want to put him uh he's getting on base uh at a higher clip than then i'm used to seeing him he he's driving the baseball his contacts is is just, I think he's the best contact center on this team pretty significantly. And he's, and he now has 30 home runs. Like, it's so fun to watch.

Add in his elite defense, guys, I know PCA is kind of enamored. I see him make some weird mistakes. I still think Julio's the best defensive center fielder in the game. Just throwing it out there. I do too. I honestly, as good as PCA is, he's fantastic. Yeah, he's great. His range is unreal.

Like I would say he has the most range of any outfielder in baseball. All due respect to Julio. I think second right now, Sadane Raphael. If anyone wants to go watch one of the greatest catches of all time, check out the home run that he made and robbed of Corby Carroll. That is running full speed like that in making that catch. I don't want to talk about Sadane Raphael. This is a Mariners channel.

But this is a Mariners channel. He's just a fantastic baseball player. By the way, another thing to keep an eye on here, A. E. Oh, Hennio Swarres hits home runs in bunches. It's five away from 50. Five away from 50. Having two Mariners hit 50 home runs, now I realize that most of Hainio's home runs came as a diamond back. But still, having two 50 home run guys on your team is crazy. Yeah, he gets the deuce, and, you know, he's going to face some pitchers,

and he's going to play in some parks that are homer-friendly to be sure down the stretch. and also faces the Rockies. You know, it's just something I'm going to be keeping an eye on. Obviously, the most important thing is winning baseball games and all that crap. But individual stuff is cool. You play 162 games. The individual stuff is really, really cool. And the Mariners have a chance to have two guys in their lineup with 50 homers.

And a guy with 30 and they have a chance with a couple other guys to get to 32. Randy Rose Arena and Jorge Polanco. both have a chance. Another terrific game from Polanco today, by the way, as well. He's been so good, man. And like, this is why it's frustrating when the offense kind of goes through lulls. But I don't think it's going to be extended periods. That's why the biggest thing, the biggest worry for me when they were struggling was the pitching, because I still believe this lineup is absolutely good enough and it'll come around. And it's shown to do that in the last couple games. No doubt. There's win this one, 18 to 2. Tomorrow they start a three game.

series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Miles Mikolas versus Brian Wu, 640, first pitch, back home Seattle. Let's continue this kind of good feeling at the end of the road trip, into the home stand, and not take care of business, because there's some big series coming up. You got some against the Royals and then the Astros. Like those are two of the biggest. I'm sorry to interrupt. The road trip in two weeks is going to kill me. It's going to kill me.

It's the, it is without question, the biggest road trip in Seattle Mariner history. It's not even close. It's not even close. We'll be with you the whole way. Mariners Postcast, we go live right after every single Mariner baseball game. We're here for the good. We're here for the bad.

Myself, Chris Crawford. We just love hanging out with you guys. Really appreciate it. If you haven't already, like the video. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow after the St. Louis game. Hopefully we're continuing the good vibes from there. If you want some Seahawks content before their first game today, Chris and I will both be on the Locked on Seahawks channel right after that game

for a post-game show. Come check it out. It's so much fun. Let's go beat the 49ers. Any last word from the Mariners game, Mr. Chris Crawford? No more Roku.