3 safe and 3 bold predictions for 2026 Mariners before Opening Day

For the Seattle Mariners, spring training is over and Opening Day is on deck. It is therefore that special time of year when predictions must be offered up to the baseball gods, and let everyone be warned: we've got some doozies this year.

We are, however, going to try to have it both ways by setting up our bold predictions for the 2026 Mariners with a few safe predictions. Perhaps it sounds like a cop out, but rest assured that the first of the safe predictions would have been a bold prediction this time last year.

Here are 3 safe predictions for the 2026 Mariners

They'll repeat as AL West champions

In 2025, the Mariners had to fight tooth and nail to win their first AL West title since 2001. And while nothing in baseball should ever be taken for granted, it's fair to expect the experience to be a little easier this time around in 2026.

The Mariners are clearly the best team in the AL West on paper, and projections reflect as much. FanGraphs has them winning the division by seven games over the two Texas clubs, while Baseball Prospectus does them one better with a final edge of nine games.

They'll have more All-Stars than any other team

The Mariners came close to achieving this last year, when they had five All-Stars to the San Diego Padres' six. All five of those guys — Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Bryan Woo and Andrés Muñoz — are candidates to repeat as All-Stars in 2026.

The Mariners also now have two former All-Stars in Josh Naylor and Brendan Donovan, and Logan Gilbert and George Kirby have been All-Stars in the past. There are also first-time All-Star candidates in Bryce Miller, Matt Brash and perhaps especially Cole Young.

They'll have at least one Cy Young Award finalist

To be clear, you have to finish in the top three of the voting to qualify as a finalist for any of the major awards. No Mariners pitcher has finished that high in the AL Cy Young Award voting since Félix Hernández was the runner-up to Corey Kluber in 2014.

Even so, Kirby (8th in 2023), Gilbert (6th in 2024) and Woo (5th in 2025) have gotten the Mariners progressively closer over the last three years. Any of them could crack the top three this year, and a healthy Miller shouldn't be ruled out either.

Here are 3 bold predictions for the 2026 Mariners

Julio Rodríguez will win AL MVP

Maybe this is a little too safe for a "bold" prediction… but then again, Aaron Judge still exists and it was Cal Raleigh who nearly toppled him in the AL MVP voting last year. Julio finished sixth after not getting his bat going until July, which has been a theme throughout his career.

However, Julio putting it all together for a season of wire-to-wire excellence feels inevitable. And if he could go for 30-30 and 6.8 rWAR despite his first-half swoon last year, his ceiling may be nothing less than 40-40 and 10 rWAR if he's hot from Day 1.

They'll win over 100 games

A 100-game winner? In this economy? It's a fair gripe, as no team has eclipsed 100 wins in either of the last two seasons. And apart from their 116-win season in 2001, the Mariners have never gone higher than 93 wins.

Yet this is easily the best roster the Mariners have had since that 2001 season, and it's come together at a time when the competition in the AL West is fading. After running roughshod over (34-18) the AL West last year, even more dominance could push the Mariners toward 100 wins this year.

They'll win the World Series

Oh, yeah. We're going there. And accusations of wishful thinking are fair, given the whole never-been-to-the-World-Series thing that everyone knows about this franchise.

But if ever there was a year that should be the Mariners' year, this is it. What's there in Seattle is an elite roster stacked with stars and colored by the experience of coming closer than ever in 2025. The hype is real, and has crept into seemingly every corner of the baseball ecosystem.

Besides, the law of averages has never been more in the Mariners' favor. A half-century is a long time to go without so much as a World Series appearance. And while the Los Angeles Dodgers are indeed out there, well, there's a reason that only two franchises have ever won three World Series in a row.