The path to Mariners chairman John Stanton backing up his talk is extremely clear

Heading into the 2025 season, you could make the case that faith in and support of Mariners ownership was at an all-time low. The previous season had seen the team waste the best (at least statistically) rotation in franchise history, and the offseason proved to be yet another case of not spending much money on improving the roster.

Opinion finally started to change (at least a little bit) as a result of this year's trade deadline, which saw the Mariners bring in Josh Naylor and reunite with Eugenio Suárez. Naylor in particular proved to be a galvanizing influence as the team then embarked on a magical run which saw them come up eight outs short of finally playing in their first ever World Series.

The Game 7 loss to the Blue Jays still hurts a week later, but the Mariners have a lot to be proud of, as does a fanbase which has been through more than most over the decades. As such, it was a nice touch when Chairman and Managing Partner John Stanton took out a full-page ad over the weekend in The Seattle Times to thank the fans and share his vision moving forward:

For us, this was the key part of what Stanton wrote: "The Northwest deserves a World Series. I know we are going to get there. This is the beginning of a special era of Mariners Baseball. There is work to do to take that final step. That work starts now."

Certainly this was positive for Mariners fans to hear and the early rumblings on payroll seem to be encouraging. As per SoDo Mojo's Zachary Rymer, the club's 40-man payroll of $165.2 million to end the 2025 season was the highest in franchise history and Jerry Dipoto has indicated it will be similar next year.

Chance for the Mariners to spend like never before

However, even this isn't going to be enough for everyone, with plenty of Mariners fans remaining unconvinced that the owners will do everything it takes to finally get this team over the hump now that it's closer than ever to the ultimate goal in baseball. In short, talk is cheap and it's now time for Stanton and company to put their money where their mouth is and prove just how committed they really are to helping the M's win a World Series.

We know the Mariners need to do whatever it takes to bring Naylor back next season, with him being truly beloved by the players, fans and even the local media. However, why stop there if ownership wants people to genuinely believe they are focused on making this franchise a winner?

Here's an interesting observation from blogger and Mariners fan Colin O'Keefe:

As much as it might seem like the stuff of fantasy to imagine a Mariners lineup which includes Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman and Naylor, it is indeed true that the Mariners would still be $20 million below the first luxury tax of $244 million. As per FanGraphs, the M's tax payroll for the 2026 season is projected to be at $138.4 million and the combined AAVs mentioned above come to $85 million.

Of course we appreciate it's hard to imagine the Mariners spending so much during this winter, but it's not unreasonable to think that they can afford it. That's because their revenue for last season is more than double what their payroll was this year, as noted by Blake Harris on X:

What will make this even more interesting is when we eventually find out what the Mariners' revenue figure is for this season. Not only did they make the playoffs unlike in 2024, but they had six postseason games at home in total with no lower than 46,471 in attendance at T-Mobile Park for any of those contests.

Pure and simple, while the Mariners' payroll for the end of this season was the highest in franchise history, we're going to go out on a limb and predict their 2025 revenue is also going to be pretty significant as well. In addition, as bad as we feel about what happened to Root Sports, this is one less cost the M's now have to cover.

Even after arguably the best season in Mariners franchise history, fairly or not there are still those who doubt ownership is fully committed in helping this team win. So go ahead, Mr. Stanton, prove all those doubting fans wrong by surprising them with a financial blitz on the likes of Tucker, Bregman and of course Naylor.