{"id":504718,"date":"2026-01-04T00:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/504718\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T00:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T00:36:12","slug":"buster-olney-makes-bold-mariners-world-series-prediction-for-2026-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/504718\/","title":{"rendered":"Buster Olney Makes Bold Mariners World Series Prediction For 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/teams\/mlb\/seattle-mariners\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Seattle Mariners;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Seattle Mariners<\/a> delivered a memorable 2025 campaign, securing their first American League West division crown since 2001 through an early surge, midseason struggles, and a late push. They locked in a playoff berth on September 24 and battled through 173 games, the longest season in franchise history. In the playoffs, Seattle edged the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in an intense ALDS before dropping a tight Game 7 in the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays. Cal Raleigh starred with record-setting home runs, adding to the excitement.<\/p>\n<p>Mariners wasted little time this offseason inking Josh Naylor to a five-year extension to keep the lineup strong. They also signed catcher Andrew Knizner and former Boston Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder to one-year pacts, picked up pitcher Cole Wilcox in a cash deal, and claimed reliever Ryan Loutos off waivers.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Will the Mariners take another step forward in 2026, building off of their historic \u201925 season? ESPN\u2019s Buster Olney certainly believes so. On January 2, in a piece dedicated to bold MLB predictions, Olney forecasted that Seattle will win it all next season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be the year that Julio Rodriguez fully emerges as one of the game\u2019s best players, Cal Raleigh continues his reign as the best catcher in the majors and Colt Emerson is promoted to the big leagues in May and wins the AL Rookie of the Year Award,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/47445503\/mlb-2026-predictions-bold-picks-orioles-mariners-world-series-wbc-tucker-skubal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Olney wrote;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Olney wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe Mariners are early in an extended period of dominance that will resemble what the Astros accomplished from 2015-24.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>More MLB:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/12\/should-red-sox-sign-2-time-all-star-slugger-as-alex-bregman-replacement\/\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Should Red Sox Sign 2-Time All-Star Slugger As Alex Bregman Replacement?;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">  Should Red Sox Sign 2-Time All-Star Slugger As Alex Bregman Replacement? <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Mariners delivered a memorable 2025 campaign, securing their first American League West division crown since 2001&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2392],"tags":[3236,12643,42,5,48,6453,3297,47880,53,6469,94,3992,620,4,8544,12476,1070,619,65,3235,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-504718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-mariners","8":"tag-american-league-west","9":"tag-andrew-knizner","10":"tag-astros","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-boston-red-sox","13":"tag-buster-olney","14":"tag-cal-raleigh","15":"tag-cole-wilcox","16":"tag-detroit-tigers","17":"tag-franchise-history","18":"tag-josh-naylor","19":"tag-julio-rodriguez","20":"tag-mariners","21":"tag-mlb","22":"tag-playoff-berth","23":"tag-rob-refsnyder","24":"tag-ryan-loutos","25":"tag-seattle","26":"tag-seattle-mariners","27":"tag-seattlemariners","28":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115834033506703956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}