The Seattle Seahawks just earned the moniker of champions of the world. Could the Seattle Mariners be next?

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After falling only one win shy of the first World Series appearance last season, the Mariners return a roster looking to take the next steps and bring Seattle its first baseball championship.

The M’s will head into this season as one of the American League favorites. MLB Network’s insider Jon Morosi believes they’re the least-flawed team in that group.

“I really think that in the American League there is not a single dominant team like the Dodgers, so there is space for a team like the Mariners to step in,” Morosi told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Tuesday. “I look at it and say the Blue Jays, I’m not sure that they are as good or better than they were when the season ended.”

Morosi highlighted the Detroit Tigers, who recently signed starting pitchers Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander, as an AL contender who may be better now than at the end of last season.

But “these teams all have their flaws,” he said. “And so the Mariners, if someone were to say today that they are the least flawed of the good teams in the American League, I would actually agree with that.”

Morosi does have a couple of questions about the M’s. One has to do with new leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan.

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“I find it a little interesting the idea that he’s gonna start the year at least playing third base, given that that he hasn’t had a lot of experience there at least in recent years in the major leagues,” he said. “But again, that’s why you have spring training. He’s not gonna play in the World Baseball Classic, so he’s gonna get a lot of repetitions with his new team and make sure that he has his feet under him before the season starts.”

The bullpen is another area Morosi is unsure of. Last year’s playoff run showed the M’s needed to add another high-leverage arm, which they believe they now have in left-hander Jose A. Ferrer.

“But that is typically the thing that you can address as the season gets underway,” Morosi said. “And (president of baseball operations) Jerry Dipoto and (general manager) Justin Hollander have shown themselves to be quite good at bringing along some of the unheralded names and making them into really good bullpen components by the time the season is over.”

A team to keep an eye on

The Mariners’ main competition in the AL West over the past few seasons has been the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. The Astros had won seven of the past eight division titles before the M’s captured the AL West crown last season. The Rangers were World Series champions just three years ago.

However, Morosi thinks the Athletics could surprise some people this season, even going as far as saying he could see them finishing with a better record than the Astros.

“They haven’t done a ton in terms of adding to their club from the outside, but they’re committing in a way they haven’t,” Morosi said. “You look at guys like (Nick) Kurtz, like (Jacob) Wilson, like (Lawrence) Butler for example, they’re players that – (Shea) Langeliers – that are so young and yet already so good that you can envision them improving while at the Major League level, and that’s a pretty scary notion if you’re another team in the American League West.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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