Are the Mariners about to be ‘America’s team’ in the playoffs?

Sep 26, 2025, 10:03 AM | Updated: 10:04 am

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and the sixth time in their 49 seasons.

They’re also going in as the AL West champs, and as at least one of the top two seeds in the American League, both things that haven’t happened since 2001.

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And they have a swag-filled roster that includes superstar center fielder Julio Rodríguez, playoff legend Randy Arozarena, and a switch-hitting catcher nicknamed “Big Dumper” who just became the seventh player in MLB history to join the 60 home run club.

When it comes to stories in this year’s postseason field, it really doesn’t get any better than the Mariners, who stormed their way into October thanks to wins in 16 of their last 17 games. And that makes them a likely choice for baseball fans who won’t have a team to root for in the playoffs and are looking for a bandwagon to jump on.

“If you are a fan – if you are a neutral, to use the soccer term, in Kansas City, in Minneapolis, in Dallas, wherever it might be – (of) a team that’s not going to the playoffs, how easy are the Mariners to adopt right now as your team? As becoming maybe a bit of America’s team right now?” MLB Network’s Jon Morosi posed this week on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

Morosi pointed out that the Mariners aren’t the only team that will be – or could be – in the playoffs that can be seen as a “cause.” But they just might be the best cause of them all, being the only franchise in MLB without a World Series appearance to date.

“I do like it in baseball when you get to the playoffs and there are not just teams but generational causes involved,” Morosi said. “And the Mariners are a cause. The Brewers are a cause. The Tigers, it’s been 41 years (since they won a World Series), they’re kind of a cause. The Guardians are definitely a cause. So you think about the teams and what can pull in a fan base.

“I understand that big markets drive ratings, I get all that stuff, but I’m a storytelling person. Give me the best story. And Seattle right now is one of the best stories in all of sports.”

Cleveland last won a World Series in 1948, while the Detroit Tigers were champions last in 1984. Those two teams are still fighting to determine the AL Central title in the final weekend, and they’re also dealing with the Houston Astros for the last wild card in the AL.

The Milwaukee Brewers have MLB’s best record, but they have no titles and just one World Series appearance in their team history, which came in 1982 – 12 years after the franchise that began with one lone season as the Seattle Pilots hastily relocated and changed its name.

But of all those teams, it’s hard to top the story of the Mariners for Morosi.

“It’s a cause on top of a cause,” he said.

“There are layers of this. The city deserves it. I love the comments that Cal (Raleigh) has had about just how long it had been, how narrowly they missed the playoffs the last couple years.”

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The only way out is through

Morosi mentioned how poetic this Mariners season has been considering they swept the Astros in Houston last weekend on their way to clinching the AL West, a division the Astros have dominated for essentially the last decade. The Astros are also the team that swept the Mariners out of the playoffs in three games in 2022, even though each game was hard fought.

“You go back to the series against the Astros in the postseason… it was such a close series to where, yeah, I realize it was 3-0, but … there were so many plays that almost tipped that series the other way. So it’s been the story of the near-misses,” Morosi said.

“It doesn’t happen every time like this, but in some ways you need to go through the team that had been tormenting you to get to where you want to go, and this is what happened last weekend. (The Mariners) had to go into their park and show that you were the better team, and they did.”

MLB Network insider Jon Morosi is a weekly guest on Wyman and Bob. Catch Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob live from 2-7 p.m. weekdays.