Shohei Ohtani keeps reminding Mariners to be grateful he left the AL West

Even allowing for whatever concerns people might have about the quality and health of the Seattle Mariners roster, they still have a genuine shot at finally winning their first AL West title since 2001. This is helped by the deficiencies of the other teams within the division, whether it be their own respective roster injury or talent issues.

On the subject of talent, the Mariners must be eternally grateful they no longer have to face Shohei Ohtani as often, after his decision to leave the AL West and sign a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The three-time MVP wasn't too much of a nightmare for the M's in his first two seasons with the Angels, but then he began to terrorize them on a regular basis.

Shohei Ohtani did it all for the Angels against the Mariners

Between 2020 and 2023, Ohtani was a real pain in the derrière for the Mariners, with no other major league player hitting as many home runs as the 14 he managed against them, while also being second with 39 RBI. This contributed towards a .945 OPS and, even though the Angels weren't a contender, he helped them at least compete against the M's. The Angels had a 28-33 record vs. Seattle over the time period in question.

(We're focused on Ohtani's hitting in this article, but it is also worth noting his success pitching against the Mariners while he was with the Angels. He went 5-0 in nine starts and produced a 1.87 ERA, 1.000 WHIP and 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.)

Now that the three-time Silver Slugger is with the Dodgers he's even better, reaching levels that have people beginning to include him in the debate for the greatest baseball player of all time. He was ridiculously good last season as he set career-bests of 54 home runs, 130 RBI, 189 OPS+ and a 9.2 WAR, resulting in getting the monkey off his back as he finally won a World Series championship.

This year could see the best yet of Shohei Ohtani

Interestingly, 2025 seemed to start kind of slowly for Ohtani — at least by his high standards — but he's caught fire of late and at his current pace he might actually end up having his best year yet. Ahead of Saturday's slate of MLB games his 16 home runs lead the majors and even though we're only just past the quarter way mark of the season, his .316/.416/.690 slash line, 1.106 OPS, and 209 OPS+ are all projected to be career-highs.

We can objectively understand the argument of those who will claim the 30-year-old four-time All-Star is helped by playing on such a loaded team with seemingly no financial limits, but there's more to it. Heck, we all saw what he achieved with a non-contender, so it shouldn't be held against him in some way just because he's now with the Dodgers.

Baseball is not the type of sport where individuals can dominate games a la the NBA, but Ohtani is as close as you can get to it. (Which will be even more the case when he finally gets back to pitching.) He's in the prime of his playing career and he's truly embraced his talent, yet you still feel like there's even more to come from him, so you better believe the Mariners are thankful each and every single day that he decided to leave the Angels, the AL West and indeed the American League as a whole.

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