How the Mariners can fix their defensive struggles

If baseball is a copycat sport, then everyone in the game this winter is going to be working on copying what the 2026 Brewers did on their way to the championship. That’s probably going to lead to some misconceptions – no, they didn’t necessarily win with small ball or making elite levels of contact – but it’s hard to ignore that over the course of the season, both Milwaukee and AL champion Tampa Bay rolled out youthful, fast lineups who could play strong defense.

That’s how we land in the Pacific Northwest, where the 76-86 Mariners weren’t only arguably the most disappointing team in the sport, but also finished exactly last in two important stats that point pretty directly to, well, speed…