Tyler O'Neill continues to troll Mariners fans with yet another Opening Day homer

The Seattle Mariners are still hours away from starting their opener against the Athletics, yet it continues to be an interesting day for the organization's former prospects.

First, it was former Mariners righty Freddy Peralta serving up the very first homer of this year's Opening Day slate. And then, it was fellow former Mariners prospect Tyler O'Neill going yard for the Baltimore Orioles in a "stop me if you've heard this one before" development:

For anyone scoring at home, that makes it Opening Day homers in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 (that one was against the Mariners, no less) and now 2025 for O'Neill. That is six Opening Days in a row, and it utterly defies explanation.

The O'Neill trade continues to haunt the Mariners

As much as Peralta is also a "one that got away" for the Mariners, at least the trade that sent him to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015 made sense. He was a middling prospect at the time, and the deal brought back a capable slugger (Adam Lind) for an offense that badly needed one.

But the trade that sent O'Neill to the St. Louis Cardinals in July of 2017? Different story.

The return in that deal for the Mariners was left-hander Marco Gonzales, who actually had a semi-decent career in Seattle. He made 151 appearances — including three on Opening Day — for the Mariners and pitched to a perfectly average 100 ERA+.

It is nonetheless fair to say O'Neill has had, shall we say, the louder career. Now 29, his accolades include far more than just the six straight Opening Day homers. He won a pair of Gold Gloves for the Cardinals in 2020 and 2021, and he came into this season off the second 30-homer campaign of his career.

Unlike Peralta, O'Neill was more than a middling prospect. Baseball America had him ranked as the No. 2 prospect in Seattle's system for the 2017 season, with praise for his "cartoonishly muscular" frame and "jaw-dropping" power.

O'Neill wouldn't necessarily still be with the Mariners if they had chosen to keep him, as it was as a free agent that he landed with the Orioles on a three-year, $49.5 million contract. But with the Mariners having shown some willingness to extend core stars, it is plausibly realistic to imagine an outfield with him next to Julio Rodríguez and Victor Robles.

Then again, it is at least as realistic to make the case that the Mariners are better off with Randy Arozarena flanking J-Rod and Robles in left field. All the same, there is a certain sort of sting that occurs whenever a team's former prospect is making waves for another club, much less in historic fashion.

Whatever the case, you have to hand it to O'Neill. If all these Opening Day dingers are his idea of trolling the Mariners, his commitment to the bit sure is admirable.