2 MLB insiders bullish on Seattle Mariners' October hopes

It shouldn’t be all that surprising that the Seattle Mariners are in first place in the AL West over a month into the season. But what is a surprise is the way they’ve taken the early lead.

Based on AL rankings, Mariners made right call with offense

The Mariners are down the top two pieces of their starting rotation, which has been their strength ever since the 2022 team that ended a long postseason drought. The numbers for Seattle’s pitching staff reflect those absences, too.

That means the offense has been picking up the slack, which is part of the reason that two MLB insiders – ESPN’s Buster Olney and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi – have optimistic reads of the Mariners’ hopes to return to October this season.

The other reason? Well, the American League isn’t looking so good.

“In the time that I’ve covered baseball, I’ve never seen one league so much better than the other league. The National League is staggeringly better than the American League,” Olney told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Friday. “… The National League is like the Justice League. … I mean, they are just stacked with the Dodgers, the Padres, the Mets, the Phillies. The American League is the land of opportunity.”

And the Mariners seem primed to take advantage.

“You look at the American League West right now,” Morosi said during his weekly Thursday conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, “and I know it’s hard to say this on the first of May, but here among friends, it’s the Mariners’ division to lose. I really believe that.”

Applying pressure

Morosi acknowledged the injury-related issues the M’s pitching staff is dealing with, but he pointed out how a bullpen led by closer Andrés Muñoz, April’s AL Reliever of the Month, is teaming up with the offense to keep the M’s moving in the right direction.

As for that offense, Morosi explained the difference he’s seeing this year compared to 2024.

“When you’ve got a team that can slug and you’ve got a team that can run the bases well, it just puts pressure on the opposition,” he said. “And I think too often a year ago, pitchers were comfortable going against the Mariners. … They’re just a harder team to game plan for.”

Olney related these M’s to the teams that bashed home runs left and right at the Kingdome in the 1990s.

“The idea that the offense is a strength, that is a different type of Mariners team,” Olney said.

Path to October

Olney explained why the Mariners have opportunity in front of them not just in the division, but in the entire AL.

“The Rangers thought coming into this year that they were really going to hit. Joc Pederson went 21 days without a hit. Marcus Semien has been dropped into the middle of the lineup,” Olney said. “We saw the Houston Astros on Sunday Night Baseball two weeks ago – guys, it’s not the same team, because there’s no (Carlos) Correa, no (George) Springer. Yordan Alvarez doesn’t have nearly the sort of support around him.”

If Seattle can get healthy on the mound, things could really take off if it matches up with the improved offensive production.

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“The Mariners, when healthy, they probably have the best starting pitching in the league. Their offense is, at the very least, comparable to some of the teams that they’re going up against. And if they continue this production, if this is a sign of what’s to come, Julio gets hot – yeah, you can paint a reasonable path into October and through October.

“… If you are an American League team and you are leading your division, as the Seattle Mariners are, or even if you’re in second place or third place, the league is generally down so much (that) you can paint a reasonable path to playing the World Series.”

2 MLB insiders bullish on Seattle Mariners’ October hopes

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