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Twenty years is a long time. That is how long it has been since the Seattle Mariners have tasted the playoffs. You have to hop into your DeLorean and travel back to 2001, Ichiro’s rookie year. At that time, Alicia Keys “Fallin” was at the top of the charts, and Lifehouse was actually still a thing. Yeah, I know.
The drought the Mariners are in is good for the longest active in the four major North American sports. However, I believe the tide finally turns.
Oddly enough, Seattle had some solid teams in the mid to late 2010’s when Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Jean Segura, and Kyle Seager were running point on the lineup. Coming off a 2021 campaign that shocked most of the league and its fans, the 90-win Mariners took their playoff hopes down to the wire battling the Toronto Blue Jays for the last Wild Card spot in the American League.
Fans were disappointed because Seattle sat basically silent at the trade deadline last season. There can be no complaints about their offseason as they look to get over the hump. In a potential fleecing of the Cincinnati Reds, they brought in two huge bats to the lineup with LF Jesse Winker and 3B Eugenio Suarez. These are two players who could easily combine for at least 50 bombs. Additionally, they broke open the piggy bank for reigning AL CY Young winner Robbie Ray to the tune of a 5-year/$115 million dollar contract. The Arizona Diamondbacks are somewhere chugging bleach through a funnel right now. Combine these star-studded scoops with an array of young talent like Jarred Kelenic, Ty France, Adam Frazier, and a returning bright spot in Kyle Lewis and there is a potential gold mine in the Emerald City.
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In looking at their foes in the West Division, let us start with the obvious non-contenders. Oakland has shipped its top established talents to other ports. Texas may have spent in an effort to improve on its 102-loss 2021 season, but the improvement will not be drastic enough to contend. The LA Angels yet again lack quality pitching and depth, not to mention are likely to receive lengthy injury news about one of their top players at some point this season. It leaves the Houston Astros as the only true adversary of Seattle. The defending AL champs lost SS Carlos Correa and SP Zack Greinke and have no idea how Justin Verlander will respond after a two-year plus absence. They will still likely be a great team, but the Astros are beatable.
While it is no given the Seattle Mariners will take the ALCS, or even AL West, there is reason to throw a couple fazools on them to reach the World Series (+1700) or even back them as the AL West champs (+450). My true love and heart is with the Blue Jays in 2022 (even before Matt Chapman), but with the now dried-out price and wide open AL landscape, there is value in backing the Seattle Mariners in 2022. They stand as the true dark horse of the American League this year. Maybe that 20-year drought ends in the Great Northwest.
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