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MLB.com writer Anthony Castrovince has picked the Seattle Mariners to win the AL West in his early division winners picks for 2021. Yeah, you read that right.
As we are now knee-deep in free agency and the Mariners have not really had any big rumors, we as Mariners fans know that we must patiently wait for GM Jerry Dipoto to make his moves. While we are waiting we can enjoy some of the predictions that MLB writers always make, with their “Way too early predictions.”
The one that we have enjoyed the past few days comes from Anthony Castrovince, a writer for MLB.com and contributor for MLB Network. Last year in his way too early predictions he predicted 3 of the 6 divisions correctly, and one of his incorrect predictions was the Astros which he later switched to the eventual AL West division winners, the Athletics after the sign-stealing scandal came out.
This year he has made his predictions and he has the Mariners as his pick to win the American League West. Yes, you did indeed read that right.
“Will this really happen? Well, no, probably not. But honestly, I’m not 100 percent sure anybody is going to win the AL West next year.” -Anthony Castrovince
He explains that he doesn’t know if anyone will win the west with how crazy the division will be. The Rangers are rebuilding, the Astros have their problems, the Athletics are set to lose 10 free agents, the Angels are the Angels, and then there’s the Mariners.
Castrovince says that with Seattle played better than expected in 2020 and with number 9 prospect Jarred Kelenic set to debut and just $43.5 million in guaranteed salaries, he might as well take the longshot gamble of predicting the Mariners win the west since the division is so up in the air.
Obviously, Anthony does not decide how Jerry Dipoto will spend his money and make moves, and he is not Nostradamus, but as Mariners fans starved for playoff baseball let us dream. It also never hurts to know that some experts of the game see what that Mariners are building, cough cough, Jon Heyman.