Amsinger: Why the Mariners will win the AL West title

The 2026 season certainly hasn’t gone the way the Seattle Mariners had envisioned.

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After last year’s run to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the Mariners had their sights set on a second straight AL West title and first-ever trip to the World Series when they reported Peoria, Arizona, for the the start of spring training February.

With 29 games remaining in the regular season, the club finds itself five games below .500. However, a weak AL and particularly feeble AL West have kept Seattle in contention. So, despite the many valleys of a disappointing year, the M’s are still within striking distance of a playoff berth at 2.5 games back in their division and three games back of the AL’s final wild card berth.

Some good news for the Mariners is that after the current challenging stretch of games they are playing, which concludes with a three-game series in Boston against the Red Sox from Aug. 31-Sept. 2, the remaining 22 games on their schedule are against teams with below .500 records.

But that’s not the reason MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger is confident the Mariners will still win the AL West. He pointed to Seattle’s record against division opponents as the reason why when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Tuesday.

“The number that I like to point out: In the AL West, who’s got the best divisional record? It is the Mariners by a long shot. They’re 20-13,” Amsinger said. “So, as they face their own in the AL West, I like their chances. It adds up.”

That stretch of 22 games the Mariners play against teams with below .500 records to end the regular season includes 19 against the AL West: two against the Astros, three against the Rangers and seven apiece the Angels and the Athletics.

Amsinger added in that Cal Raleigh’s breakout three-homer game against Philadelphia on Monday only adds to the reason to believe the M’s can pull out another division title.

“I want to see what he’s capable of, cause if Cal Raleigh gives you 80% of what his best month was in 2025, all (heck) could break loose in Seattle and they can run everybody down and win the division again,” Amsinger said.

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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