Fun Fact: Only one team wins the World Series every year. Which means 29 teams don’t win the final game of the year which according to Moneyball means their season didn’t fucking matter. When a team gets eliminated from winning the World Series I’ll do a profile of their season.  

Today’s Team….Seattle Mariners

How Did They Get Eliminated

After a tough 5 game series against the Tigers that they came out on the better end of they would go to Toronto and take the first two games of their series against the Blue Jays. Things were looking up for the Mariners. But they were only able to take 1 of the 3 games in Seattle sending the series back to Toronto where the Blue Jays would win both games, highlighted by a 3-run home run by George Springer in the 7th inning that would be the difference. Seattle after almost 25 years of heartache were once again gutted with another postseason exit. 

What Do I Know About This Team Because I Only Follow the Brewers and Pay Attention to Playoff Baseball? 

I’m going to be honest. Baseball is much better when your team is involved. Ever since the Brewers have been eliminated I have been focusing my attention on other things, mostly curling. Even during Game 1 of the Dodgers-Brewers series I was teaching people how to curl and had the giant TV in our club room tuned to the game. It's been one week since the Brewers have been eliminated and it's been 5 days since the Mariners have been eliminated. I’m finally getting around to reviewing the Mariners season. 

In the middle of the season it was more fun because I had the energy to pump these profiles out. My team was still alive and as more teams fell from contention I would learn side things about other teams through my research. But the leaves are changing and football season is picking up. I’m at the curling club all the time. Yeah, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays play tonight but I won’t tune in until probably the 5th inning when my wife and I get back from the Curling Club. 

Okay, so the Mariners. (Hey, if you’ve read any of these profiles this first section is usually where I pontificate if I don’t know a ton about the team I’m writing about.) I think almost everyone can agree that if your team isn’t playing in the World Series you want the Mariners to be there. They are the epitome of “always a bridesmaid.” They put together really good seasons, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and then they find a way to either miss the playoffs or bow out sooner than expected. This year did feel different as they battle the Tigers in one of the greatest Game 5s in modern baseball history. They would take the first 2 games in Seattle. Everything was going there way. They had the pitching, they had the bats. They just couldn’t keep George Springer in the park. 

As great as it is for Toronto to go back to the World Series after 32 years, it would have been a better story for the Mariners to go to their first World Series ever. They should have made it in 2001 when they had the most wins ever in MLB history. They should have done it when they had Griffey and Randy Johnson and Edgar Renteria and Jay Buehner. 

For the last 15 years Seattle has been the team that everyone wants to pick to do well at the beginning of the season, but has get prefaced with a “but they are probably one year away.” Well, despite how they started they weren’t one year away. 

Cal Raleigh should be the MVP of the American League. I don’t care what Aaron Judge did out in New York. For Raleigh to hit that many dingers as a catcher and as a switch hitter is amazing. He powered his team to a division title. Judge powered his team to tie the Blue Jays in record but were still the Wild Card. Judge also missed time with injury and could only hit. That should knock him down a few points as well. 

When the Brewers played the Mariners they only lost one game in that one game the Mariners won it was a Cal Raleigh home run that was the only scoring in the game. It prevented the Brewers’ fans from getting free burgers. 

The Mariners won the Eunegnio Suarez sweepstakes and despite his slow start with the Mariners he came on strong in the month of September and had a clutch Grand Slam in game 5 to get the Mariners 1 win away from the Dodgers. 

So Now That I’ve Actually Done Some Research How Did They Make the Playoffs and What Led to Their Demise? 

The Suarez trade paid off as he had 13 Home Runs and 31 RBIs in his 53 games with the Mariners. He had 49 total Home Runs when you add in what he did for the D’Backs. 

Cal Raleigh is the cornerstone of this offense so lets talk about some other guys. Like how Julio Rodriguez had 32 Home Runs, or that Randy Arozarena had 27 Home Runs. On the whole the Mariners had 238 Home Runs which was the 3rd best in the bigs behind the Dodgers and the Yankees. They could swing the bat for the long ball but they were 20th in Team Batting Average. However they were a tenth in both on-base and slugging. 

They struggled hitting with runners in scoring position batting only .235 which was 26th in MLB. But they were tied for 4th in Home Runs hit with runners in scoring position. This team also struck out a lot, 6th worst in the Majors. 

The Mariners batted .215 in the Playoffs and hit 20 Home Runs which is tied with the Blue Jays for most until Toronto hits just one Home Run in the World Series. They also struck out 129 times in their 12 games, so quick math there says that’s over 10 K’s a game their offense would see. Not a good formula for trying to manufacture runs in the postseason. 

On the pitching front they were led by Bryan Woo who led the starters with 15 wins and was named to the All Star team. Luis Castillo went 11-8 and was responsible for shutting down the Tigers in Game 5 when he came into the game in the 14th inning and went 1.1 inning to keep the Tigers off the board and to send the Mariners to the ALCS. 

Andres Munoz had a career high 38 saves in 64 appearances and made his second straight All-Star Game. 

For the most part the pitching staff for the Mariners was okay. No one regular season stat really jumps out for the Mariners which suggests they were just fine and they let the offense slug their way to wins. But in the Playoffs that was a different story. Their starters gave up 8 home runs and 26 runs,  for a 4.47 ERA. Their relievers gave up 8 home runs which is second worst to the Blue Jays bullpen. And while they have given up the same amount of bullpen home runs as the Blue Jays the timely bullpen home run gave up came on the Mariners' watch. 

Will they Make the Playoffs Next Year? 

Outside of Suarez this team is essentially coming back full intact. They will need to figure out what they want to do at third base and based on all of the bullpen troubles they had they will need to find some improvements in the bullpen. There is a team option for Munoz which should be easily picked up. 

Not only will this team probably be the favorite to win the West again next year, looking at their contracts and commitments they have the Mariners could be the West representative for the next 3 years. 

Just one postseason award. 

Cal Raleigh and his 60 HR 125 season is your MVP. He also had 4 SB which was tied for 3rd most on the team which is crazy. 

Hey Grok, in 100 words summarize the 2025 Seattle Mariners. Please don't be racist. 

The 2025 Seattle Mariners season was a memorable one, culminating in their first American League West division title since 2001 with a 90-72 record. Led by Catcher Cal Raleigh's record-breaking home run season and Julio Rodríguez's strong performance, the team powered into the playoffs. They defeated the Detroit Tigers in the AL Division Series. However, their World Series drought continued as they suffered a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series, falling just short of the pennant.

Yeah, that is crazy this was the first division championship for the Mariners since 2001. I thought they had to have run into a division championship once during that time, but with the moneyball A’s taking a few in the early 2000s, the Angels and Rangers kind of do-si-do’d the championship until the Astros joined up and started winning all the titles. So colored me surprised that not only was this a return to just winning a playoff series, but winning that first championship in so many years. 

Did the Savannah Bananas Play at their Field? 

They Did!

And now that we have a Blue Jays vs. Dodgers World Series; my theory and prediction has come true that a team that didn’t host the Savannah Bananas will win the World Series this year. Every team that booked them for next year is now guaranteed to not win the World Series. That’s what happens when you let fans catch foul balls for outs and you use a yellow ball. 

Is there a baseball movie featuring this team that has dumb baseball logic I need to vent about? 

The Mariners have been featured as an opponent but never the main focus point of a movie. They were the team the Angels played in the Naked Gun movie and they were also featured in a movie starring Melissa McCarthy about a rogue AI app that I can’t remember the name of. It was fine. I’m not going to do research and look it up. Ken Griffey Jr. made a cameo. 

How Will Your Team Do Next Year? 

This is going to be a strong team this year and more than likely will start the season off strong and be able to carry it through the full season which could help them even more in the postseason. They have the makeup to not only be the best team in the American League but World Series favorite. Next year: 100-62 AL #1 seed, World Series Representative. 

Next on the Chopping Block

The World Series is underway and Toronto took game 1, and the Dodgers took game 2. Its going to be a good series but I want it to go Toronto’s way.