TLDR: From most to least responsible...

Ownership

Coaching

Players

Front Office

Fans

It's a team effort to underachieve this bad, but I've been really trying to figure out who's at fault most, so here's my take. I would love to hear your ratings as well.

Ownership - 10: If ownership's primary focus isn't winning, then you don't win. Ownership creates a winning culture. I believe the Seahawks are a good example of this. They don't "rebuild;" they retool and "put a team together again" because they have a compete every year mindset that they equip management with.

Front Office - 6: I believe Jerry has built a good roster (not great) or at least a team that should be playing better than they are. Jerry has definitely missed on some major moves but at the end of the day built a solid team to this point.

He built our phenomenal pitching staff. He stole France, Munoz, and Brash from the Padres. He's worked around White and Lewis injuries. He's dumped large contracts. He's made us relevant with Julio and established a rotation that's exciting to watch no matter who's pitching. Jerry, though, has been passive with free agency bats and I think his biggest flaw is not holding his coaching staff accountable.

Coaching Staff - 9: Every single year, despite the record, it's been the same issue. Great pitching, bad hitting (specifically not getting on base and striking out a lot). Why do batting careers seem to die in Seattle? We can't just blame it on the marine layer. (Judge, Ohtani, and Trout seem to hit fine here).

It's gotta be a coaching philosophy, and I believe this year has really highlighted it because of the strikeouts. For the past 5 years, I've been more concerned about the Mariners hitting against a spot starter than an all-star. That shouldn't be the case. Good teams hit when they should. I believe we've pulled off just enough good situational hitting the past couple years that we've masked our chronic hitting problem that we've never been able to fix even when we have a more talented team.

The players - 7: We're not a bunch of spring chickens anymore. Players such as Ty, JP, Geno, and Teo have been in the league long enough to hold themselves and others accountable. I think Castillo and Sewald have done this nicely on the pitching end which helps take the pressure of the younger guys, but we haven't seen reliability from the veterans from the batting side (besides JP). This puts a lot of pressure on a Julio, Kelenic, or Cal who are underperforming for the most part and pressing (Kelenic being the exception who has drastically improved and carried the offense in the first couple months).

I'm not giving the young guys a pass, but it would be nice if the weight of the team didn't depend on our 22, 23, and 26 year olds. The reason why I don't put more responsibility on the players is because I think they're simply mismanaged. For example, every player seems to have the same approach which seems like a coaching issue.

Also, I think fatigue could be a real factor. I recognize our bench sucks, but it's hard to perform at the highest level when you absolutely get no breaks. It's also hard to come off the bench when you only pinch hit like once a series.

The fans - 1: We probably should've started booing a bit earlier, but otherwise, we’re great