The reasons ESPN’s Passan ‘firmly’ believes Mariners can win it all

Jul 22, 2025, 11:52 AM | Updated: 12:02 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners are right in the mix to return to the postseason for the first time since 2022.

Entering Tuesday, they’re tied with the Boston Red Sox in the standings for the last two of the American League’s three wild cards to the playoffs. They’re also five games back in the AL West of an injury-riddled Houston Astros team.

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This is also a year in MLB where, as ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan points out, no teams have emerged as true front-runners for the World Series.

“I look at the Mariners and I believe that in this environment right now, where the best baseball team in 2025 on July 22 is the Milwaukee Brewers at a .600 winning percentage – which equals a 97-win pace – there is no dominant team this year,” Passan said during his weekly Tuesday conversation with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

When you combine that with the opportunity presented to the Mariners with the upcoming July 31 trade deadline, Passan sees a potentially monumental next few months in Seattle.

“It is a wide-open landscape in Major League Baseball. There is no dominant team. And if you can put yourself in the position where you get one of those golden tickets to get into October, and you have the starting pitching and you have the bats, then you can win a World Series,” Passan said.

“I firmly believe the Seattle Mariners can win a World Series this year.”

ESPN's Jeff Passan had a lot to say about the #Mariners as the team heads into the July 31st trade deadline. 👀@BrockHuard x @MikeLefko

FULL video 📺: https://t.co/WU6KZfurAE https://t.co/harcZZToGp pic.twitter.com/JsvCt42h6b

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) July 22, 2025

The reasons

That’s a pretty strong statement by Passan, and one that comes with the caveat that the Mariners need to use the trade deadline to get better. Luckily, they have a fully-stocked farm system considered to be the best in baseball that they can deal from.

Passan’s belief also has to do with a few things going right for the Mariners, and another aspect of the team that could get back to the high level it has played at before.

First, the Mariners are getting strong contributions from a lineup that has more to its credit than just a record-breaking season by All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh.

“I think I said it last week, I will reiterate it every day until the end of the season: You can’t waste a Cal Raleigh season like this,” Passan said. “You just can’t waste a historically great season, when it’s not just him but you also have guys around him who are having good years.

“I look at Randy Arozarena – what a great pickup that was last year, and how good has he been this season? And Julio (Rodríguez) has been what he’s been for the last couple of years, but that’s still really good. And J.P. Crawford is having a sneaky excellent season. Having him toward the top of the lineup, knowing he’s getting on base at the level he is, it’s great. But man, you add (Arizona Diamondbacks sluggers Eugenio) Suárez and/or Josh Naylor to that lineup and it looks way different.”

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Second, the Mariners’ starting pitchers haven’t been at their best in 2025 as they’ve dealt with some injuries, but they still are perhaps the most formidable five-man rotation in the game when fully healthy.

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“I think we’ve taken for granted what the Mariners’ rotation has been in recent seasons,” Passan said. “They’ve gone out there and they’ve just put up innings, and they’ve put up numbers, and they’ve put up quality starts, and they’ve been consistent and reliable. If the Mariners’ rotation can get back to what it has been and can be at that top five in all of baseball level consistently, that’s where this team goes on a rocket ship. That’s where they take off.

“It is in the consistency of that starting pitching, because I think they are – after the trade deadline – going to have the bats to sustain that.”

Now with the Mariners at 53-47 on the year and the deadline fast approaching next week, Passan said this is as big as it gets for Mariners general manager Justin Hollander and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.

“There’s such variance in baseball right now, and the group of contenders is just flattened to the point where the trade deadline is of paramount import,” Passan said. “Like, if the Mariners want to be more the top-five team than the top-15 team, they need to go out and do work over the next nine days.

“This, to me, might be the most important time of Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander’s tenure as the executives running the Seattle Mariners. And I think they have the opportunity to do something really good this year.”

ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan joins Brock and Salk at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday during the baseball season. Catch Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays.