Seattle Mariners 2020 wins goal? Let’s say 75 wins.

The 2019 Mariners finished with a record of 68-94 but it didn’t feel that way. Much of that was skewed by the 13-2 headstart. 94 losses is horrible, there’s no beating around that bush. But does anyone else agree that 68 wins exceeded their preseason 2019 expectations also?

The 2019 Mariners were essentially a Triple-A team for most of the campaign. Even more so with Mitch Haniger and Domingo Santana being hurt for significant parts of it. While it’s great to be optimistic and hopes the 2020 team will contend and win a lot of games, we have to be realistic as well. Anyone who thinks this team will finish at .500 or above should probably confirm that they’re talking about the Seattle Mariners.

If you’re a fan who gets way too frustrated about your team, you either need to get a life and remember it’s just a game or lower expectations. There’s a difference between being surprised about a team’s performance and being accepting of it. Becoming a broken record, winning 85-90 games this year would be fun. Surprising yet still fun.

Let’s make a 2020 prediction here based on realistic expectations and the developing players that the Mariners have. Unless Vegas has already picked this number for their projected W-L record, let’s make it 75-87. Is that not more doable, folks, a little less of a stretch? If the 2019 team won 68 games with mostly a Minor League squad, what’s a seven-game improvement?

Next year’s team can definitely do it. Let’s compare next year’s team to a past Mariners club. For a trip down memory lane, the Mariners began a steady decline after the 116-win season. In the next two seasons, the 2002 and 2003 teams both won 93 games. They contended the entire year but just fell short and were cold at the wrong time.

So after Bill Bavasi replaced Pat Gillick as general manager, he slowly began a rebuild for the next several years. 2004 and 2005 were the last years of the Golden Age veterans, except Ichiro. To go younger, the team quickly saw the departure of John Olerud, Bret Boone, Edgar (retirement), and Dan Wilson.

And 2006 officially made Ichiro the last holdover of those early 2000s teams as Jamie Moyer took a waiver trade to the Phillies for two prospects that August. The team was officially turned over yet gradually improving during that three-year span. From 2004 to 2006, the new-look Mariners went from 63 wins to 69 and then capped off by 78 in 2006.

In case people forgot, the 2006 Mariners flirted with .500 most of the year. They were also right there in the playoff hunt until a killer losing streak in August, losing every game of a long road trip against division rivals.

So what happened the next year? The Mariners were again official contenders in 2007, falling short but they were good again despite having a new identity and all new players (except Ich). The point here is that hopefully, 2020 will be a little more enjoyable than 2019 so that by 2021, this team is actually ready to contend again.