SEATTLE – Ding, dong. The marine layer is dead! Move the fences back!
The much-scorned mythical sheet of mist has borne the blame for many paltry Seattle lineups, but a sun shining bright enough for summer’s dog days burned off any nefarious fog, putting a golden glow on a sold-out park that looked, and sounded, just like it did in October when the Mariners made their playoff run.
Everybody likes Opening Day, but the Mariners absolutely adore it. The team, which hasn’t done a lot of winning in its 50 years, owns the second-best record in MLB history at 30-20, including this Thursday’s 6-4 loss. Just goes to show, math is fun and baseball is slightly more than random.
Chase DeLauter pierced the vibes with a home run to right field as the game’s second batter. Fans grumbled, rightfully, that starter Logan Gilbert’s called ball three should have been strike three and an out, but the umps aren’t automatic (or automated, yet). It was DeLauter’s first career at-bat, meaning he is currently on pace to be the greatest hitter in MLB history. Rolling your eyes? Later in the game, he hit another.
Big day for the DeLauter family. Savor it, Chase. It’ll always be this easy.
They say that baseball is great because it is the only sport in which every game you are guaranteed to witness something that has never been done before.
On Thursday, that something came courtesy of new Mariner Brendan Donovan, who became the first player in Seattle history to hit a leadoff home run on Opening Day. In that moment he was baseball operations president Jerry DiPoto’s finest transaction in a career full of them.
He followed it up with a double in his second at-bat, so the moment may last a while. May he hit .540 for the season.
The Mariners and Guardians allegedly picked their two best pitchers for Opening Day, but it was bombs-away at T-Mobile Park. Two of the first five batters hit home runs, and Dominic Canzone slapped another in the second inning. Six homers were hit in total during Thursday’s game.
Sadly, they were throwing solos, so all this big hitting led to little incremental scores.
Julio Rodriguez didn’t do much. Like a sleepy lion doing some stretches before the hunt, Rodriguez always takes a while to get going.
Gilbert is a strikeout pitcher and he did a pretty good job striking people out, generating seven whiffs in 51/3 innings. However, he also did a pretty good job of giving up a two-run double to the last hitter in Cleveland’s lineup, Brayan Rocchio.
Gilbert’s C+ outing – three runs on five hits – meant we got to see Seattle’s other big offseason acquisition, reliever Jose Ferrer, who finished out the sixth inning. Ferrer peppered Cleveland’s bats with 97 mile-per-hour sinkers, getting out of the inning with two outs but allowing a pair of singles. Maybe he was nervous.
Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee came out to pitch the sixth inning but left while warming up. Another one of those things you don’t see every day.
Star catcher Cal Raleigh was serenaded with M-V-P chants by the sellout crowd but went hitless in the first game after his 60-home run 2025 season. However, Randy Arozarena hit a double so I guess he’s winning the World Baseball Classic non-handshake feud.
Gabe Speier, one of the best relievers in baseball in 2025, got beat up a bit in the top of the seventh inning, turning a 3-3 game into a 5-3 Cleveland lead.
Canzone – checks notes – yes, Dominic Canzone got one back with his second solo home run of the game just seconds after the Seventh-Inning Stretch ended. The ball traveled 444 feet, which means it would have been Cal Raleigh’s second-longest home run last year.
Gonzaga’s Casey Legumina got the high-leverage position of pitching the eighth inning for the Mariners. He worked himself into a bases-loaded jam and then got out of it by striking out leadoff hitter Steven Kwan. Child’s play for Spokane’s finest.
The rookie DeLauter hit another solo blast to put Seattle to bed. That means he and Canzone are tied with Pittsburgh’s Brandon Lowe for the MLB home run lead.
That’s the beauty of Opening Day.