Olney: Mariners may be American League’s most dangerous team
Sep 12, 2025, 10:11 AM
The past six weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for the Seattle Mariners.
It began with an eight-game win streak in early August. That was immediately followed with a 6-15 slump, which included both a five-game losing streak and a four-game losing skid.
M’s in 1st place in AL West after another walkoff win
And then, just when things were getting bleak, the the Mariners immediately bounced back with a six-game win streak – capped by a pair of walkoff extra-inning victories on Wednesday and Thursday that vaulted the M’s into a first-place tie with the Houston Astros atop the American League West.
As longtime ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Friday, the Mariners’ dramatic peaks and valleys are emblematic of the overall landscape across a wide-open American League.
“People have asked me in recent days, how is this going to play out with the American League wild card and the American League West?” Olney said. “And I’m like, man, I don’t know, because all these teams have had these zigs and zags the whole year. And I don’t think there’s more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde team than the Mariners.”
But what about when the M’s are at their best? Olney said the perception within baseball is that the depth of the Mariners’ lineup and the potential of their starting rotation make them perhaps the most dangerous team in the American League.
“This is just based loosely on conversations I’ve had with executives around the sport and evaluators from other teams – If you were to ask the simple question, which team gives the American League the best chance to win the World Series? I think the Mariners would finish first,” Olney said.
“And yet, they’re incredibly vulnerable, which says a lot about how the American League has played out and the general mediocrity of the American League.”
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