The Mariners having the AL's best lineup isn't actually a hot take

A lot would have to go wrong for the Seattle Mariners not to be an offensive powerhouse in 2026. There's still plenty of connective tissue with the 2025 offense, and that one was top-10 in scoring and top-five in home runs and stolen bases.

Do the Mariners have the best lineup in the American League? That's what Bradford Doolittle of ESPN ran up the flag pole on Wednesday, and we're not thinking twice before saluting it.

Granted, we're biased. Also granted, right behind the Mariners in Doolittle's rankings are the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. They were the two highest-scoring teams in the AL last year. The Yankees were fueled by their Aaron Judge-led home run barrage. The Blue Jays just plain did everything well offensively, as the Mariners know all too well from the 2025 ALCS.

So, yeah, the Mariners having the AL's best offense registers toward the "a hot dog is actually a taco" end of the hot take spectrum. And as Doolittle points out, Cal Raleigh regressing from last year's historic 60-homer season is the big threat at play.

Even so, his notion is defensible in all sorts of ways.

If the Mariners are going to have the AL's best offense in 2026, here's how it will happen

Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez are the superstar duo at the heart of it all

No, Raleigh is probably not going to hit 60 homers again. But even he seems to know that, and the reality is that he doesn't need to hit that many to be a superstar-caliber hitter.

He's already shown early signs of being able to adapt his slugging approach for new challenges. As he's also alluded to taking more walks in 2026, one can picture 40-plus homers with a higher OBP than last year's relatively mid mark of .359.

Julio, meanwhile, recorded his second 30-30 season in 2025 even though he didn't get going until mid-July. A season in which he actually hits in the first half is his white whale, and there's every reason to think it could finally happen in 2026. If so, 40-40 might be his floor.

Full seasons of Josh Naylor and Brendan Donovan

The offense the Mariners had in 2025 was explosive, but also prone to stretches of ineptitude. They were just plain short on hitters who could grind at-bats and get on base.

The addition of Naylor at the trade deadline shifted things in the right direction, and he's back for five more years after signing a $92.5 million contract. And albeit with less power, fellow relative newcomer Donovan is cut from the same mold: a low-whiff, high-contact hitter who doesn't give away ABs.

These two alone should give the Mariners offense better situational hitting than they had last year. And if Donovan lives up to his career .361 OBP, he'll be a boon for a No. 1 spot that only posted a .311 OBP in 2025.

No drop-off after Randy Arozarena

It says a lot about the sheer excellence of the top half of Seattle's lineup that Arozarena is likely to be the No. 5 hitter. He's a two-time All-Star who fell three home runs shy of a 30-30 season in 2025. And this time, he won't have to worry about being miscast as a leadoff guy.

Save for J.P. Crawford and his set-it-and-forget-it OBP in the mid-.300s, there isn't much in the way of certainty after Arozarena. What there is a lot of, however, is upside.

Health permitting, Luke Raley could get back to being the guy who posted a 129 wRC+ and 41 home runs across 2023 and 2024. In the DH slot is a Dominic Canzone-Rob Refsnyder platoon, which will be dangerous if they both land in the 150 wRC+ range in platoon matchups like they did last year.

Further, at least one of Cole Young and Colt Emerson is likely to make an impact. The Mariners remain high on Young, who has potential as a high-OBP guy with decent power. They're even higher on Emerson, a plus-plus hitter whose power really came along in the minors last season.

In all, what Seattle could have is a versatile, nine-deep starting lineup with stars in at least five spots. That sounds like an elite lineup on paper, and that's all we have until the games get going.