An open plea for the Seattle Mariners to stop screwing up the 2026 season

People often say that sports are just meant to be fun, but try telling that to Mariners fans, who've mostly only ever known heartache during the franchise's 50 years of existence. Now though, there's a genuine chance the M's can finally win it all. And the fanbase is scared to death their beloved team is going to find a way to hurt them more than ever.

To be clear, this is not about taking an unnecessary shot at the Mariners. No, this is about a sense of impending doom being woven into the very fabric of the fans' DNA, no matter how old or young they are. After all, this is a team which has only qualified for the playoffs six times in 49 years. A team which is the only one of the current 30 MLB franchises to never even play in the World Series.

What makes it worse and actually convinces some Mariners fans that the team is cursed, is how even when everything seems set up to succeed, things still somehow go wrong. Arguably the biggest example of this is the 2001 team which equalled the all-time record of 116 regular season wins, but fell short in the ALCS to the hated Yankees.

There's been plenty of other examples of course, with the most recent one coming just last season, when the Mariners won the first two games of the ALCS on the road. The fans could almost feel the warm, welcoming embrace of that first World Series berth as they returned to Seattle with the Blue Jays on the ropes. And then they did what they always do, ruining the shift in homefield advantage to have glory snatched away from them in Game 7.

An excruiatingly long rebuild which has been rewarded with a model Major League franchise

Not long into the Jerry Dipoto era in Seattle, the decision was made to undergo a full rebuild of the organization from top to bottom. It took longer than anyone anticipated, and was excruciatingly frustrating at times, but no one can deny the patience paid off. The Mariners shine brightly as a prime example of a model franchise in Major League Baseball.

The Mariners are one of only four teams to win 85-plus games every season since 2021. They finally returned to the playoffs after a 20-year absence, and last season won their first division title since 2001. They have as much star power as any team outside of the Dodgers, with the likes of Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena, as well as arguably the top rotation in the majors. Meanwhile, the farm system is one of the best in baseball and should continue to be for years to come.

Yet this is about the here and now. This is about a team which came closer than ever to that first World Series berth last season, and is set up to finally take the next step this time around. And yet the way the Mariners have played so far in 2026 is falling far short of expectations, with that dark cloud of seemingly inevitable failure looming overheard.

Sure there's been more injuries to key personnel than the majority of teams. A 'who's who' casualty list that has at different times included Raleigh, Arozarena, Brendan Donovan, Matt Brash, Gabe Speier, Bryce Miller and J.P. Crawford. However, a team with the sixth-best run differential in the majors has repeatedly failed to step on opponents and finish them off when they're down, hence why they're still hovering around the .500 mark at 41-39.

Mariners need to find that killer instinct or there will be no tomorrow

We've never been big fans of the whole 'It's still early' and 'It's only one game' philosophies. Sure it's a 162-game slog where you can always bounce back tomorrow, but that lack of urgency and killer instinct in the early going can build up negative equity and prove costly come September, bringing an abrupt end to those tomorrows. The Mariners should know this better than anyone after finishing just one game out of a playoff position in both 2023 and 2024.

Hopefully as the injured players return, this added experience will help the Mariners become more clinical. Hopefully the likes of Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert will stop with the up-and-down performances which are almost insulting to their respective talent levels. And with young guns like Colt Emerson and Cole Young proving they belong, hopefully this is a roster that lives up to its full potential of being a truly dangerous opponent.

Baseball is quite rightly referred to as a romantic sport, probably the most romantic of them all. It's a special game which can grow, sustain and repair relationships with loved ones, or have you speaking to virtual strangers like long-lost friends. It can bring people together who have little else in common, to build fond and lasting memories at a ballgame on a sun-drenched afternoon.

For Mariners fans specifically, those family members, couples, friends and strangers alike have been waiting far too long to share the ultimate fond memory of winning it all. Yet here we are, with the team now primed better than ever (helped by an underwhelming American League) to provide that truly special moment which would be talked about for decades to come.

Dear Seattle Mariners: Please, PLEASE don't screw this up.

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