Seattle Mariners Make History: Zero Singles in First 2 Games

Baseball history was made this Opening Weekend in Seattle — and it has nothing to do with wins, losses, or standings. The Seattle Mariners have entered the 2026 MLB season with one of the most statistically bizarre offensive profiles ever recorded, becoming the first team since at least 1900 to begin a season without recording a single single through their first two games. Every hit the Mariners have collected has left the infield with authority, and fans, analysts, and statisticians are all taking notice.

Zero Singles: Understanding the Historic Stat

Through two games against the Cleveland Guardians — played on March 26 and March 27, 2026 — the Seattle Mariners have collected exactly nine hits. All nine are extra-base hits. That breakdown includes six home runs, two doubles, and one triple, with not a single ground ball sneaking through the infield or a flare falling into shallow outfield territory.

This isn't just unusual — it's unprecedented in the modern era. According to Yahoo Sports, no MLB team has opened a season without a single through its first two games since at least 1900, when comprehensive baseball records begin. Over 125 years of professional baseball, with thousands of teams and tens of thousands of games, no club had ever done what the 2026 Mariners have done in their first series.

The oddity is even more striking when you consider context: Seattle holds a .155 team batting average through those two games, yet has scored nine runs and reached base 18 times. They're hitting for almost no average — but hitting for historic power when they do connect.

Game-by-Game Breakdown: How It Happened

The historic streak didn't feel like history in the making on Opening Day. On March 26, the Mariners dropped their season opener to the Cleveland Guardians 6-4. Despite the loss, Seattle's offense was already showing its all-or-nothing personality, connecting for four solo home runs with absolutely nothing in between. No singles, no inherited baserunners from soft contact — just boom-or-bust swings.

Then came March 27, a 5-1 Seattle victory in Game 2. The Mariners again refused to produce any singles, instead delivering multi-run home runs that made the box score look more like a highlight reel than a standard baseball game. As MyNorthwest reported, the team split the series 1-1 while maintaining their unprecedented zero-singles streak heading into Game 3.

The result: a 1-1 record that looks perfectly normal on the surface, but beneath it lies one of the strangest offensive stories in baseball history.

Who Is Hitting the Home Runs?

The power has been spread across the roster rather than concentrated in one bat. Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley each launched two home runs through the first two games, forming the backbone of Seattle's extra-base explosion. Brendan Donovan added a home run as well as a double, showing versatility in his extra-base production.

But the most talked-about swing of the young season may belong to Cole Young, who delivered a three-run blast that provided a massive emotional lift for the club. As MSN Sports noted, Young's home run came as an ideal response after the team's struggles on Opening Night, injecting energy and confidence into a lineup still finding its footing.

On the gap-shot side of the ledger, Randy Arozarena and Brendan Donovan each hit doubles, while Leonardo Rivas contributed the team's lone triple — the only hit of the bunch that didn't clear the outfield fence.

The Cal Raleigh Elephant in the Room

Any conversation about the Mariners' 2026 offense must acknowledge the stunning early struggles of catcher Cal Raleigh. Last season, Raleigh was arguably the most productive hitter in the American League, launching an eye-popping 60 home runs — a number that rewrote expectations for what a catcher could do at the plate.

Through the first two games of 2026, however, Raleigh is 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts. Every plate appearance has ended with the bat on his shoulder or a swing-and-miss. It's a cold start that would be notable for any hitter, but for a player of Raleigh's caliber coming off a historic season, it stands out even more sharply against the team's otherwise power-heavy performance.

Small sample sizes in baseball are notoriously unreliable, and two games mean almost nothing in a 162-game season. But Raleigh's early-season struggles are a storyline that won't go away quickly, especially as the team's singular offensive narrative continues to dominate headlines.

Notably, the Mariners also entered 2026 with some roster reshaping after losing Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suarez in the offseason — two veterans whose absence has shifted the lineup construction and forced newer contributors to step into larger roles.

What Does This Mean Statistically and Historically?

Baseball analytics have long grappled with the tension between batting average and power production. Singles, while devalued in many modern offensive frameworks, remain critical to run production in a conventional sense — they advance runners, extend innings, and relieve pressure on a lineup that might otherwise go quiet between extra-base bursts.

What the Mariners are doing is making bizarre MLB history that somehow makes contextual sense for their roster construction. Their lineup is built around power hitters who draw walks and hit the ball hard — a profile that often results in streaky production. When the power is working, runs come in bunches. When it isn't, the offense can go quiet for long stretches.

Whether this trend continues is another question entirely. The laws of baseball probability suggest that singles will eventually fall — a chopper through the left side, a bloop over a drawn-in infield, a hard liner that finds a gap. But for now, the Mariners exist as a genuine statistical anomaly, a team whose hit column reads like a home run derby leaderboard rather than a standard lineup card.

Looking Ahead: Game 3 and the Rest of the Series

The spotlight shifts to Bryan Woo, who is scheduled to take the mound for Seattle in Game 3 of the series against Cleveland on Saturday night. Woo will face the Guardians' Joey Cantillo in what figures to be a compelling pitching matchup as the series concludes.

Meanwhile, reliever Eduard Bazardo brings some fresh momentum to the bullpen after winning the World Baseball Classic with Venezuela in March 2026, adding an international storyline to the team's early-season narrative. The Mariners also made roster news just ahead of the series, with Heavy.com reporting the release of a 7-year MLB veteran before the Guardians game, a move that reflects the ongoing roster calibration any team undergoes in the early going.

The questions heading into Game 3 are clear: Will the singles drought end? Will Cal Raleigh break through? And can Seattle continue to generate runs on power alone against a Guardians pitching staff that has held them in check for parts of this series?

Frequently Asked Questions

Have the Seattle Mariners ever gone a full game without a single before?

While it's not unheard of for a team to go a single game without recording a single, going two full games to open a season without any singles is unprecedented in MLB history since at least 1900. The Mariners' streak through the first two games of 2026 is a modern baseball first.

How are the Mariners scoring runs without singles?

Seattle has relied almost entirely on multi-run home runs and extra-base hits to generate offense. With six home runs, two doubles, and a triple in their first two games, the team has scored nine runs by hitting for power rather than manufacturing runs through baserunner advancement.

Is Cal Raleigh injured or just in a slump?

There has been no official injury report regarding Cal Raleigh. His 0-for-7 start with seven strikeouts appears to be an early-season cold streak rather than a health issue, though the numbers are certainly a talking point given his 60-home run campaign in 2025.

Who has been the Mariners' best hitter to start 2026?

Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley lead the team with two home runs apiece, while Cole Young's three-run home run in Game 2 was arguably the most impactful individual swing of the young season. Brendan Donovan has also contributed with both a home run and a double.

When is the Mariners' next game?

The Mariners are scheduled to play Game 3 of their series against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night, with Bryan Woo taking the mound for Seattle against Cleveland's Joey Cantillo.

Conclusion

The 2026 Seattle Mariners have done something no MLB team has done in over a century: played through two full games to open a season without recording a single single. All nine of their hits have been extra-base knocks — six home runs, two doubles, and a triple — producing nine runs and a 1-1 record against the Cleveland Guardians in a stretch of baseball that defies statistical probability.

Whether this becomes a trivia footnote remembered only in deep baseball history circles, or the opening chapter of a genuinely unusual offensive season, remains to be seen. What's certain is that right now, on Opening Weekend 2026, the Seattle Mariners are making history with every swing — even the ones that don't quite connect.