The Seattle Mariners are compromising their own playoff chances, hitting themselves in the foot with their own bats as they post a disappointing season on offense. Their once-promising lead in the division is gone.

Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has been the lead architect of each Seattle team since the 2016 season and really liked the team coming into the season. But he’s almost at a loss for words trying to diagnose where it has gone wrong, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

“Coming into the season, we all thought this was the most talented group that we’ve had,” Dipoto said, via The Athletic. “We’re looking at everything. There is no stone unturned. We’ve talked about getting back to grassroots with what our hitting philosophy is and what we are about, the way we message it to our players. Or, are we overcomplicating it with the information we provide and the strategies we employ?”

Mariners' offense struggling as postseason race heats up

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By OPS+, the Mariners are the 11th-worst offense in MLB. That’s not a truly terrible mark — at 95, they’re just below the league average — but it’s certainly not what was expected from such a talented group. Their on-base percentage is one of the five worst in MLB and their batting average is the very worst by .05 points. T-Mobile Park is hard to hit in but Seattle's struggles have been too severe.

For the whole season, Julio Rodriguez is producing at a rate that’s just above average, which is a far cry from his previous seasons. He has dealt with some injuries along the way but his 2024 season has still been a bummer. Victor Robles has performed very well at the plate for the Mariners, as has Cal Raleigh, Luke Raley and midseason addition Randy Arozarena. Outside of them, the roster has been rough.

The Mariners have plenty of great pitchers that can help them be dangerous in the playoffs but unless their hitters make abrupt improvements, they’ll be bounced in the postseason — if they even get there at all.