Could the 2025 Dodgers really join the 2001 Mariners in the 116-win club?

The Seattle Mariners have been around for nearly 50 years and there are a variety of contenders for the biggest achievement in the history of the franchise. However, it really is tough to go against the 2001 team which won 116 regular season games.

In what was a truly special season, the 2001 Mariners' 116 victories equaled the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the most ever wins in Major League history. Making this achievement even more impressive was that they accomplished it without quality talent including Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, and Randy Johnson.

It helped that a certain Ichiro Suzuki signed with the team ahead of the 2001 season and the Mariners never looked back, as they went on to both score the most runs in the Majors and allow the fewest. Yes, they ultimately lost to the hated New York Yankees in the ALCS, but they still stand atop the list for most wins in a season along with the Cubs.

Dodgers could be set to challenge the Mariners ' record

Now, though, there is the question of if another team has a genuine chance of also reaching — and possibly even surpassing — the magic 116-win mark? The team in question is none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have one of the most loaded teams arguably in Major League history and with seemingly few — if any — faults.

It obviously all starts with Shohei Ohtani, who last season won his third MVP award in four seasons and led the Dodgers to their eighth World Series championship in franchise history. He hardly did it alone, though, with major credit also going to Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Tyler Glasnow, former Mariner Teoscar Hernández and so on.

As if the Dodgers weren't already good enough, they went out during the offseason and signed two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, while also winning the sweepstake for the latest Japanese phenom in Roki Sasaki. Oh, and on the subject of Japanese phenoms let's not forget Ohtani is expected to return to pitching at some point this season, to further boost the rotation.

There is no denying that the Dodgers have the best roster in all of baseball right now, with FanGraphs projecting them to win 10 more games than anyone else in 2025. And the team is indeed off to an excellent start, going 8-0 to begin the regular season.

Good luck needed by even great teams such as the Dodgers

We appreciate some people will point out that even though FanGraphs has them winning the most games this year, they are projecting them to "only" reach 99 victories. This is where we bring in the element of good luck which even great teams need.

In this respect, the need for good luck begins with having a healthy roster throughout the season. As noted by Will Leitch of MLB.com, the likes of Betts and Freeman have already needed time off this year, which also alludes to the age aspect of the Dodgers.

When Tommy Edman turns 30 on May 9, Andy Pages will be the only position player on the active roster who is under 30. The point is that no matter how talented a team is, players will always be more susceptible to injuries and needing breaks over the slog of a 162-game marathon season.

Good luck also extends to actually winning games, with the Dodgers already having some close calls through their first eight games. And nowhere was this good luck more evident that in their latest game, when they recovered from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat the Atlanta Braves walk-off style, courtesy of that man Ohtani.

Bringing the Mariners back into the equation, they themselves experienced some good fortune on their way to that 116-win season back in 2001. According to Baseball Reference, the M's had a luck factor which contributed to seven of their wins, although that means they still would have paced the Majors with 109 victories.

As a final thought for anyone questioning the Dodgers' ability to win 116 games, it should be noted they did win 111 as recently as 2022, which is tied for the fourth-most in Major League history. It must surely be a sobering thought to realise this was achieved without the likes of Ohtani, Hernández and Snell, so expect people in Seattle to keep a nervous eye on results in Los Angles over the coming months.

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