Wilting 1st-place Mariners must hear a clear warning from their history

The 2025 Seattle Mariners find themselves in a familiar yet precarious position — first place in the AL West, holding a slim 1.5-game lead and a 48.8 percent chance to win the division. If that sounds like good news, it is, but not without some level of doubt from Mariner fans, and rightfully so.

The scars of the 2024 collapse still linger. A year ago, Seattle was sitting atop the division with a commanding 10-game lead and an 86.3 percent postseason probability. What followed was one of the most crushing meltdowns in franchise history, involving an uninspired September, costly bullpen blowups, and offensive droughts that ultimately left the Mariners watching October baseball from home.

The Mariners can't let 2025 turn into a repeat of 2024, resulting in yet another soul-crushing collapse

This year must be different. The 2025 Mariners have an opportunity to rewrite the script, and the key lies in maintaining urgency. There is no room for complacency, not in a division this competitive and certainly not with last year’s collapse etched into every returning player’s memory. Manager Dan Wilson and his staff know that a strong start means nothing without a strong finish.

On the heels of a sweep by the Toronto Blue Jays and with losses in six of their last nine, this is a pivotal moment for the Mariners. While Seattle is still a really good team, it doesn't take much (as we saw last year) for everything to completely fall apart.

President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto and the front office would be wise to start calling on or acquiring some reinforcements, mainly for a bullpen that has struggled and been called upon way too much for how good this pitching staff was expected to be.

But internal urgency may not be enough. A “big swing,” as Seattle Times reporter Adam Jude put it, might be the difference-maker. Dipoto has never shied away from bold moves, and 2025 may demand one.

Whether it’s a veteran bat to bolster a streaky lineup or a high-leverage arm to reinforce the bullpen, the Mariners need reinforcements — not just for depth, but to send a message: This year is about finishing the job.

The Mariners have the talent to win the AL West. But talent alone doesn’t clinch divisions — resilience, aggression, and timely reinforcements do. Last season’s collapse was a painful lesson. This season is the test of whether they truly learned from it.