Erik Erikson describes a 10-5 Mariners loss to the Yankees

Aug 12, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Seattle Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena (56) follows through on a two run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If you don’t know about the psychologist Erik Erikson, in addition to having a pleasing name to say, he was a pretty cool guy who studied identity formation (with specific cultural contexts, way before anyone was doing that), describing eight distinct life stages, each guided by an existential question. The 2026 Mariners have been making me think about a lot of existential questions, like why baseball hurt so much? , and none so many as tonight, when they dangled the possibility of a slump-busting win only to fall in the late innings at Yankee Stadium in particularly grueling fashion.

According to Erikson, the first stage of life – infancy – is marked by the psychological crisis of trust vs. mistrust. The world is big and scary and unfamiliar, and it’s unclear as to what can be trusted. That’s a battle Mariners fans have been going back and forth on with this 2026 team, who have been seemingly unable to string together nine innings of cohesive baseball, let alone a winning streak. But lately the Mariners have been so bad it’s almost felt comforting. Familiar. Consistent, even if it’s terrible. So it wasn’t thrilling so much as it was frightening when they posted a three-run first inning against Yankees starter Will Warren. With one out, Cole Young hit an oppo ground ball single with one out. Is it time to start beating the “put Cole Young back at leadoff” drum a little more loudly? Randy Arozarena continued his homer-hitting ways, lacing a sweeper off the plate just over the right field wall for a two-run homer. With two outs, Julio Rodríguez added on with a solo homer of his own. Three runs! In the first inning! The Mariners fan mind cannot comprehend.

But for those of us torn between trust and mistrust, and heavily on the side of mistrust, it’s hard not to see another example of the Mariners not fully jumping on a pitcher early. It only took three pitches to make those two outs between the home runs, both outs pounded into the ground. Probably nothing to worry about, right? Right?

Maybe a little something to worry about, because Bryce Miller gave back one of those runs right away in the bottom of the inning. Toddlerhood, per Erikson, is marked by a struggle for autonomy – asserting likes and dislikes as a way to mark oneself as an independent entity in the world. Freed from the confines of the piggyback, these last starts down the stretch have been Bryce Miller’s opportunity to prove he deserves to stand as an autonomous unit. But today Miller’s repertoire essentially shrunk to two, maybe three pitches, as he went all fastball/sinker supplemented with the splitter. Miller didn’t throw his cutter a single time today, explaining he doesn’t like that pitch against this lineup, and he threw just two sweepers and one slider.

“I wish I would’ve thrown a few more curveballs,” he said postgame, but noted the primary thing he needed to do was execute his pitches better, especially at pivot points.

“I couldn’t execute,” he said. “I couldn’t make the pitches when I needed to. All the runs they scored on me were with two outs…I gotta execute with two outs and two strikes.”

Things got worse in the third, despite Canzone chipping in another solo homer to give the Mariners that run back. But the Yankees seemed ready for what Miller wanted to do in the third, starting with a leadoff double from Austin Wells, who dropped the head of the bat on a fastball in his lefty loop zone for a hard-hit two-bagger. It looked like Bryce might escape the inning without letting the run score, but he opted to go six straight splitters to Ben Rice, who refused to chase them, issuing a two-out walk (bad Bryce!). Miller then got into a long battle with Spencer Jones, feeding him almost nothing but fastballs (and one splitter) but unable to miss Jones’s bat. Finally, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat Miller left a 96.6 mph fastball middle-low for a two-run double that drew the Yankees within a run. The psychological crisis of toddlerhood, according to Erickson, is the tension between a desire for autonomy and shame/doubt. The psychological crisis for me watching this game is the tension between me truly, deeply believing Bryce Miller is a good pitcher, and the doubt tonight’s performance engendered.

The Mariners offense had opportunities in this game, which is the frustrating part of tonight’s loss for me. In the second, a leadoff “double” (flyball that dunked into no-man’s land) for Brendan Donovan, followed by a walk to Cal Raleigh, ultimately went nowhere after a Colt Emerson strikeout and a Taylor Ward GIDP. After Canzone’s homer in the third, Julio and Cal Raleigh worked back-to-back walks, only for Donovan to hit an inning-ending groundout. A leadoff single in the fourth from Raleigh was stranded with another Emerson strikeout and back-to-back groundouts from Ward and Young, Ward’s on a first-pitch swing.

The backbreaker for me was the fifth inning. Randy Arozarena led off with a 12-pitch walk – the longest plate appearance of his career – that bounced Warren from the game. With Fernando Cruz in, Dominic Canzone popped out on the second pitch he saw, for the second time that game making a quick out following a strong plate appearance by Randy. Julio Rodríguez then walked, and Josh Naylor singled up the middle to bring in a run and give the Mariners some breathing room, but more importantly, keep the line moving with just one out. But then a pair of Yankees fans stormed the field, causing a delay, and Aaron Boone yanked Cruz to replace him with lefty Tim Hill, and once again, Brendan Donovan went after the second pitch he saw for an inning-ending GIDP. Per Erickson, the existential question of early childhood (3-6 years) has to do with...

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