How the Mariners' plan to overtake the AL West finally came to fruition

The Seattle Mariners have finally gotten back to the top of the American League West after 24 years between division titles. They have been on an incredible run lately, and it has brought baseball back to the forefront of Seattle sports. Fans are packing the ballpark and celebrating the success of this team and its special group of players.

And all of this can be directly traced back to one important decision.

The Mariners' decision in the late 2010s to take a step back and rebuild for the first time was a landmark shift that has snowballed and led to this moment. The franchise had never truly rebuilt before, even though they have never had great on-field success outside of a few magical runs in the 1990s and early 2000s. After 2018, the Mariners decided that while they were a decent and competitive team, they were not a good enough team to compete at a high level.

Even though the 2018 team had a strong season and won 89 games with Mitch Haniger, Nelson Cruz, Jean Segura, and Robinson Canó anchoring the lineup, Jerry Dipoto — at the time the Mariners' general manager — knew that they were not a sustainable winner. After the 2018 team missed the playoffs, that offseason saw the franchise begin a rebuild with the goal of eventually building a deep, competitive team with a long-term window of success. The goal was to eventually overtake a Houston Astros team that at the time was at the height of their power.

The Mariners chose to play the long game in the late 2010s, and it paid off with a division title in 2025

Since then, the Mariners have focused on drafting, developing, and trading to build their team. Even though not every prospect who was drafted or acquired worked out, they gave themselves a lot of opportunities to hit on talented young players. Now, they have a core of players who have multiple seasons of experience and quality production at the big league level, plus a farm system with nine prospects in MLB Pipeline's top 100.

The Mariners were finally able to overtake the Astros in the AL West this season. Like Dipoto thought, the Astros eventually got older, were not able to pay all of their stars, and had some leadership changes. The Mariners' sweep of the Astros might turn out to be a monumental turning of the tides in the division, especially now that Houston has been left out of the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

How far the Mariners are able to go in the playoffs will have a large impact on expectations for who will run the division going forward. One thing is for certain, however: the Mariners' present and future look as bright as any team in baseball.

They have a likely AL MVP in Cal Raleigh, another with MVP talent in Julio Rodríguez, a pitching staff that is elite, and more young talent on the way. The Astros have just one top 100 prospect who is ranked 92nd overall, an aging Jose Altuve, and many players with significant injury histories.

Right now, there is nothing better to do than celebrate what the Mariners have accomplished. Even if not every move worked out — or if some fans think that this should have happened sooner — the main point is that it finally happened and the Mariners are American League West champs. As they have also secured a bye for the playoffs, they have a chance to make a special run this year in October and are set up with a great future to make many more postseason runs.