Returning to the postseason after a two-year absence, the Mariners utilized the trade deadline to emerge as perhaps the league’s most complete team heading into October.
This is far from the first time someone wrote an article proclaiming that the Seattle Mariners are finally going to break through and win it all, or even get to the World Series – feats that have never been accomplished in the franchise’s history.
Disappointment and heartbreak in the sport’s biggest moments are par for the course for Seattle baseball fans – and that is in the rare instances where the team has made it far enough to crush their fans in heartbreak beyond the year-to-year mediocrity that has defined much of the team’s history.
One can look back at finally making the playoffs in 1995 and coming back to triumph over the New York Yankees, only to be dispatched by the then-Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.
Two years later, an MVP Ken Griffey Jr. wasn’t enough to scrape past a Baltimore Orioles team in the AL Division Series, with only more playoff disappointment to follow after Griffey left the Pacific Northwest for Cincinnati.
After a two-year absence, the Mariners returned to the playoffs in 2000 and swept the favored Chicago White Sox in the ALDS – only to fall to the Yankees in six games in the ALCS, which included a one-hit complete game shutout at the hands of Roger Clemens.
The following season, the club made history as Ichiro Suzuki took the league by storm as a rookie, winning a MLB-record 116 games in the regular season. After getting by Cleveland in five games in the ALDS, Seattle once again fell to the Yankees in the ALCS, this time in just five games.
It would be another 21 years until Seattle would sniff playoff baseball again.
Now three seasons removed from a playoff run that saw a triumphant Wild Card Round sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays before getting swept themselves by the division rival and eventual World Series champion Houston Astros, the Mariners look perhaps their most formidable heading into October.
Established in 1977, the Mariners have had several incredible teams throughout the club’s history, with many of them failing to make the postseason entirely. Ask the Seattle teams of 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
No, not all of these clubs were World Series contenders – but they all did win at least 85 games, either affected by late-season mishaps or a strong division that negated the record and caused the club to miss out on October.
Mariners fans themselves will certainly point the finger at the team’s front office, which was notoriously resistant to making significant trade deadline acquisitions that could have given fans and the clubhouse a needed boost for the home stretch.
Those worries were put to rest in 2025 with a thunderous trade deadline in Seattle that has appeared to pay dividends in the weeks since.
Armed with a solid rotation and one of the best bullpens in baseball, the Mariners shored up an offense that already improved upon an anemic unit from the season prior, adding both Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez, perhaps the deadline’s two biggest offensive targets.
The addition of two more sluggers has made a fearsome Seattle lineup appear deadly, with solid offensive campaigns from Jorge Polanco and Randy Arozarena complementing a stellar season from Julio Rodríguez and historic power output from Cal Raleigh.
Though Seattle’s rotation isn’t as strong as it was in 2024, it remains a solid unit packed with arms who are all capable of performing like an ace on any given night – the kind of high ceiling that opponents are especially afraid of in the postseason.
While a pec injury to Bryan Woo will appear to keep him out of his next start, the Mariners are not placing their ace of the season on the injured list as fans hope the All-Star can stay in line for a Game 1 postseason start.
If Woo is in line to start a Game 1, the Mariners appear to be well-positioned to next hand the ball to Luis Castillo and Logan Gilbert, both of whom weathered slow starts to 2025 with excellent Septembers, posting ERAs of 2.86 and 2.01 in the season’s final month, respectively.
If Seattle were to opt for a four-man rotation, it would likely be George Kirby for Game 4, the righty who figured to be the Mariners’ ace heading into the season before struggling compared to the other M’s hurlers.
The strong rotation is backed up by one of the league’s finest bullpens, headlined by All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz, who has posted a 1.47 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 61.1 innings of work alongside 38 saves.
Muñoz is typically preceded in relief by a corps that includes Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas, Matt Brash and Gabe Speier. Bazardo, Brash and Speier all hold ERAs of 2.55 or lower, while all four primary non-closer relievers have appeared in at 52 games or more this season.
Seattle’s most significant weakness that does penetrate the image of a complete team is their overall lackluster defense – while Julio Rodríguez has been among the best defensive outfielders in baseball, that output has not been matched by most of his teammates.
At -30 outs above average, the Mariners figure as the third-worst defensive team in all of MLB, with only the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels falling below Seattle. One of the more noticeable defensive weak links on the club has actually been former Gold Glove shortstop J.P. Crawford, who ranks among the sport’s least efficient defenders with a -11 outs above average.
With that said, the M’s remain fairly well-equipped to combat this weakness, with a pitching staff that boasts the fourth-most strikeouts in the American League, showcasing an ability across the staff to keep the ball out of play.
As the Astros and Detroit Tigers scuffle down the stretch, the Toronto Blue Jays appear as another club that is relatively complete heading into October, but I personally would still take my chances with the Mariners in a potential playoff meeting.
Though the Blue Jays offer the highest team batting average in the league at .266, their comparative lack of slug to Seattle and measurably more vulnerable bullpen can give the Mariners enough opportunities to neutralize this difference.
With a four-game division lead and just five games remaining, Seattle appears poised to win their first division title in 24 years while also remaining in good position to secure a Wild Card Round bye, offering home-field advantage in the ALDS.
It’s no secret that anything can happen in October – late-season rallies and slumps can be neutralized within moments once the postseason begins. But that doesn’t mean that momentum isn’t a real thing that players, fans and cities feel.
As the Emerald City rallies around their team with hopes of a first-ever AL pennant, the power of momentum will soon be put to the test.
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