Why Mariners can handle pressure of high expectations

The goal for the Seattle Mariners this season is simple: win a World Series.

Now, achieving that goal won’t be simple, but the belief – and the expectations – around baseball are they’re capable of doing it.

Will the weight of those expectations prove to be too much? ESPN MLB reporter Alden González doesn’t believe they will be and explained two reasons why during a conversation with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Friday.

“I think experience helps in this. I think when you have younger teams, they could struggle with this,” González said. “… This is a group that the vast majority of these guys have been the big leagues now a long time, and they’ve all been in the big leagues together for a long time. I think being in the pressure-packed moments of last October helped them.”

Another reason González is confident in the Mariners is he sees a clear path to another title in the American League West.

“At the end of the day, they’re just more talented than everybody else,” González said. “I think when you take their roster and their team compared to everybody else in the American League West, in my mind, it’s not close. It really isn’t.”

“The Mariners have so much more pitching depth than anybody in their division,” he added. “Their lineup should be so much better than everybody else’s in the division. This is their year.”

Seattle will get a good early look at how it stacks up against the division over the next few weeks. Friday’s series opener against the Angels began a 19-game stretch with 16 against AL West squads, including at least one series with each.

“In my mind, something would really have to go wrong for them not to finish at the top of the American League West, because I think the Rangers are very flawed, I think the Astros don’t have anywhere close to the starting pitching depth that they need (and) they have an older lineup, and I don’t think the A’s are ready, and I don’t think the Angels are a good team. The Mariners are the class of this division, and I expect that to show itself before the season ends.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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