Writing the script for the Seattle Mariners' perfect 2026 season

Welcome to 2026, which is bringing the most hotly anticipated Seattle Mariners season since 2002.

It wasn't a 116-win romp through the regular season, but in many ways the Mariners' 2025 season was even more satisfying than what happened in 2001. Cal Raleigh hit 60 dang home runs. The Mariners won the AL West for the first time since that '01 campaign. And in the end, they came closer than ever to finally making it to the World Series.

That the Mariners didn't make it to the Fall Classic is where one can begin to imagine how things might be better in 2026. And if we're going to go down that rabbit hole, we might as well write the entire script for what a perfect year would look like.

Writing the script for the Seattle Mariners' perfect 2026 season

Cal and Julio do it all over again

Is asking Cal Raleigh to hit 60 homers again asking too much? Well, duh. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are the only hitters to ever clear the 60-homer threshold more than once, and they A) didn't play catcher and B) played in an era in which both the balls and the players were juiced.

Still, one is inclined to say "never say never." Raleigh is in the prime of his career, and he did have a secret sauce for hitting the ball over the fence in 2025. He got his left- and right-handed swings to mirror each other — hat tip to Foolish Baseball — and the result was the steadiest stream of pulled fly balls in recent history. If there's a home run hack, that's it.

As for Julio Rodríguez, he's fresh off his second 30-30 season even though he once again took three months to get his bat hot. If he finally has a season of wire-to-wire hotness, he could even go past 30-30 and make it to 40-40.

The rotation turns the clock back to 2024

Remember how ridiculously good the Mariners' starting rotation was in 2024? Maybe you do, but here are a few reminders anyway: it led the majors in innings, ERA and WHIP.

Last year was… not as good. The rotation took steps back in every one of the aforementioned departments, owing in no small part to injuries. Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller all missed long stretches of time, and Bryan Woo's absence for most of the playoffs after his breakout year proved crucial.

And yet, some sort of turnaround for 2026 should be in order. None of the injuries that hit Gilbert, Kirby, Miller and Woo should carry over, and each of the four has No. 1-level upside with a full year of health. Luis Castillo doesn't at this point, but the dude remains an innings machine even with his general productivity trending toward league average.

A youth movement takes hold in the starting lineup

The lineup the Mariners are carrying into 2026 mostly resembles the one that ranked fourth in the American League in scoring last year, but with a few obvious differences. Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez are out at second base and third base, and in their spots are two question marks.

Nonetheless, the Mariners have faith in Cole Young at the keystone, and not undeservedly so given his recent status as a top-50 prospect. And if Ben Williamson's glove doesn't earn him the third base job in spring training, it may only be because Colt Emerson simply refuses to be denied. He's the best prospect the Mariners have, and he has little left to prove down in the minors.

The other iffy part of the lineup concerns right field, but it may not be long before Lazaro Montes is ready to assert himself out there. Coming off a 32-homer season in 2025, he's set to be banging on the door at the outset of 2026.

They go even further, obviously

As amazing as 2025 was for the Mariners, it's still hard not to despair at how it ended. They needed just eight more outs to come out on top in Game 7 of the ALCS… and then George Springer vs. Eduard Bazardo happened.

Even so, you can come down on the side of it being amazing that the Mariners made it that far. The 2025 team had talent in all the right places, but it never truly felt like things were clicking on all cylinders. The rotation never really lived up to its billing, and the offense largely struggled to put more than one run on the board at a time in October.

Hence the obligatory question: What if more things break the Mariners' way in 2026?

Even as is, they already project to be one of the elite teams in the American League. Their roster has a healthy mix of reliable stars and legitimate upside, even apart from the young guys we talked about. And after learning some hard lessons on the job last year, Dan Wilson should have a better idea of what mistakes to avoid as manager.

Clearly, this is a "World Series or bust" team. And after 49 straight years of misses, the law of averages is frankly overdue to deliver the good side of that equation to Seattle.