Does Mariners' Game 7 beat Seahawks Super Bowl for the worst loss in Seattle history?

The question every Seattle sports fan was asking after the Mariners' brutal loss last Monday in Toronto was simple. Was that the most devastating loss in Seattle sports history? More devastating even than the Seahawks' Super Bowl XLIX loss to the New England Patriots?

Both games hurt, and both games probably led to a lot of nightmares and bad dreams in the following weeks. But which was worse?

The short answer is that, yes, for now, the Mariners' ALCS Game 7 loss is the worst in Seattle history. The long answer is that it's complicated, and won't be settled for years.

Was the Mariners' Game 7 loss really worse than the Seahawks' Super Bowl loss?

Why is the Mariners' loss currently the worst in the cities near-50 year history of pro sports?

For one, the Mariners led for most of the game. While the Seahawks' failure to score at the goal line was incredibly devestating, and the game-sealing interception was a crushing blow, Seattle was playing from behind for most of that game.

The Seahawks were trying to steal a win from the Patriots, and were on the doorstep of doing so, but the truth is, the Patriots were probably the better team in that game. The Mariners, on the other hand, were outplaying Toronto for most of the game, until the bottom of the seventh, when George Springer hit the go-ahead home run off Eduard Bazardo.

It's painful just to write those words a week later. George Springer, a former member of the 2017 cheating Astros team, hit the home run that buried the Mariners in 2025.

The Seahawks lost to a dynastic Patriots team; the Mariners lost to a Blue Jays team that was not picked by a single analyst in the preseason to win their own division, and had the eighth-longest World Series odds in March.

What really softened the blow for the Seahawks loss was that they had won the Super Bowl in dominant form a year previously. While the Super Bowl 49 loss certainly hurts, and might prevent stars such as Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, and Marshawn Lynch from being first-ballot Hall of Famers, it would have hurt a lot more if the Seahawks had not blown out Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.

However, that's also where the complicated nature of the Game 7 loss comes into play. The loss stings, but it will sting a lot less if the Mariners build on the 2025 season by winning a World Series in 2026, 2027, or sometime in the near future.

If Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez leave the Mariners without winning a World Series title together, the 2025 season might go down as an all-time missed opportunity. But it is too early in their careers to assume that won't happen.

At the moment, the Mariners hold the title for the most disappointing loss in Seattle sports history. But destiny is still in their hands, and they can change the narrative by going the distance in 2026.