Guardians are on the verge of sending a terrible message to MLB, Mariners included

When it comes to frustration and exasperation for Seattle baseball fans in 2026, nothing is going to top the Mariners losing out on this season's AL West title to the Astros. This was the first time in Major League history that a division winner finished with a .500 record after a full regular season. However, it's tough not to have a somewhat similar feeling if you look at what's going on in Cleveland right now.

Following Thursday afternoon's 3-2 win versus the Rays in Game 3 of the ALCS at Progressive Field, the Guardians now stand just two more victories away from the World Series. It's quite easy to get caught up in the romance of it all, with a team that hasn't won a championship since 1948. Certainly, what they're doing is impressive, but how do we feel about the optics of their run?

The Guardians only won 85 games during the regular season, and yet they clinched a division title, a first-round bye and a potential trip to the Fall Classic. Sure, this might sound like sour grapes to some, given what the Mariners did -- or more to the point didn't do -- this season. Still, it's tough to see a team like the Guardians now find themselves in position to go to their first World Series since 2017.

We appreciate this type of thing happened recently before, when the Diamondbacks made it to the World Series in 2023 after winning just 84 games in the regular season. That was a fluke however, while this is a long-running project for the Guardians. One which has seen them be effective at producing good, but not quite great teams in recent years.

Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners being beaten at their own game by the Guardians

If this sounds familiar, it's because it is, and arguably providing more ammunition for those who claim Mariners fans are suffering from sour grapes.

No one will forget Jerry Dipoto's infamous comment about winning 54 percent of the time, with the implication being that doing this over an extended stretch of time typically leads to a World Series berth.

“That is true in the Wild Card era [since 1995]. It is true in the divisional format dating back to 1969,” Dipoto said. “You’ve got, I think, an 85 or 90% chance of reaching a World Series if you make that your goal. If we make winning the World Series your goal, we will do insane things that will cut the sustainability part of the project short. That’s not how we think.”

Mariners should aim for greatness rather than sustained goodness

For what it's worth, the M's actually exceeded this winning percentage between 2021-25 and were one of just four Major League teams to win 85+ games each year, and yet a World Series berth remained beyond their grasp. Dipoto's basically saying sustained goodness will eventually have an outlier great team. However, with the lack of a World Series appearance highlighting the issue of his math, why not just aim for greatness and cut out the middle man?

You can contend that the expanded playoff format gives teams the incentive to aim for the middle, with the idea that even being slightly better than average can actually be good enough. In other words, just do whatever it takes to make the postseason, then hope you capture lightning in a bottle and go on a hot streak. Along these lines, if the Guardians do go on to make the World Series, it strengthens this message as opposed to weakening it.

For a lot of baseball fans, they will be rooting for the 98-win Rays to come back and win the ALCS to join the 103-win Brewers in the World Series, as two teams which actually dare to be great. And surely this is the better message when it comes to the wonderful game of baseball. Although for Mariners fans specifically, the Guardians going to the Fall Classic would also painfully remind them of what could have been this year in Seattle.

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