The Seattle Mariners are on the precipice of punching their ticket to the 2025 MLB playoffs. And as one of the hottest teams in baseball, it’s fair to ask if this could be the year they finally reach the World Series for the first time in team history.

Drayer: The first-place Mariners explain why it’s all coming together now

It’s a fair question because some in baseball are talking about it, as ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan relayed on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

During his weekly conversation on the show, Passan took us behind the scenes of an upcoming article for ESPN.com.

“The whole baseball writing staff has been asked to just go around and chat with sources and pick their brains about the playoffs,” Passan shared, “and first question: What’s the boldest prediction you’ve heard from an MLB executive or scout?”

Passan’s answer in the article? “The Seattle Mariners are going to win the World Series.”

What to watch during the final week of MLB regular season

While that’s categorized as a bold prediction, Passan was quick to point out the bonafides of where it’s coming from.

“This is an evaluator who has been around for a very long time, has seen a lot of things and whose opinion I trust,” Passan told hosts Brock Huard and Mike Salk. “But the other part is he’s not the only one who thinks that.”

Passan detailed a pair of reasons that explain the belief in the Mariners in October. One is that the American League doesn’t appear to be especially strong this season, but the other is what’s behind the M’s winning 14 of their last 15 games with just six to go in the regular season.

“I think it’s a function certainly of the American League being a festival of mediocrity,” Passan said, “but it’s also if you just objectively look at what the Mariners are doing right now and the talent that they have, they have had the best offense in Major League Baseball in terms of runs scored as well as peripherals in the month of September. They have a rotation where as long as Bryan Woo is healthy – Bryan Woo followed by Logan Gilbert, followed by whether it’s George Kirby or Luis Castillo, that’s a lot of good starting pitching. And then you kick Bryce Miller over to the bullpen in the playoffs and add him to Caleb Ferguson and Gabe Speier and Matt Brash and Eduard Bazardo and Andrés Muñoz.

“All of a sudden, it’s like you add that together with the quality defense that they play and you can make an argument that they are actually the most complete team left right now.”

The AL West-leading Mariners (87-69) go into a series opener against the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies (43-113) at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday with a three-game lead in the division and two-game lead for the No. 2 seed to the playoffs in the AL, which comes with a bye through the wild card round straight to an AL Division Series. The M’s could clinch a postseason berth Tuesday with a win over the Rockies as well as a New York Yankees win over the AL-worst Chicago White Sox earlier in the day, and could clinch the AL West title as soon as Wednesday.

Radio coverage on Seattle Sports of Tuesday’s Mariners game against the Rockies begins at 5:30 with the pregame show.

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

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Salk: Four players have put the Mariners in their prime position
• Morosi: M’s showing designs on ‘winning the whole darn thing’
• ESPN’s Ravech: Mariners sweep of Astros ‘a very loud statement’
• Job ‘not finished’ for first-place M’s after huge sweep of Astros
• Dominic Canzone’s breakout a key to Seattle Mariners’ success