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Former Seattle Mariners Slugger Offers Shocking Opinion on 2023 Team
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Former Seattle Mariners Slugger Offers Shocking Opinion on 2023 Team

The 2024 playoffs have been littered with former Seattle Mariners players.

During each round of the playoffs, several competing players suited up in the clubhouse at T-Mobile Park. And that was also the case during the World Series.

Current Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Teoscar Hernandez and Chris Taylor, as well as New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes are among the former Mariners players competing for a championship.

Hernández played with Seattle in 2023. He hit .258 with 26 home runs and 93 RBIs.

Hernandez hasn’t always had the kindest words about his time in the Pacific Northwest. During the All-Star break, he talked about his bad season with the Mariners and said he was having a hard time getting comfortable.

Seattle was eliminated in the final week of the season in Hernandez’s only year with the team. The Mariners did not extend him a qualifying offer at the end of the year, leading him to become a free agent. Hernandez signed a one-year contract. $23.5 million deal with the Dodgers this offseason.

Hernandez talked more about his time in Seattle in an article published by ESPN on Monday.

“It was a really good team, really talented,” Hernández said in the article. “But we were missing something. And I think it was about playing as a group, not individually.”

Hernandez’s comments since leaving the Mariners don’t portray the organization in the best light. His comments during the All-Star break helped affirm the perception that T-Mobile Park is a bad ballpark.

Implying that Seattle’s 2023 team wasn’t playing consistently isn’t necessarily a shock. But it’s still disappointing. This is the same team that had three All-Stars: pitchers Luis Castillo and George Kirby and outfielder Julio Rodriguez.

Hernandez had a bounce-back season with Los Angeles in 2024 and hit .272 with 33 home runs and 99 RBIs. He made his impact felt in the World Series and hit a two-run homer in the Dodgers’ 4-2 Game 2 win over the Yankees on Saturday.

Many Mariners fans are probably disappointed to see Hernandez continue to speak badly about his time with the team.

This will likely hurt more considering Hernandez will likely be vindicated in his feelings with a long-term, big deal this offseason.

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