PEORIA, Ariz. — No ballclub is perfect. There are nits to pick with every major league roster. Maybe even one or two for the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers and their (gasp!) $395 million payroll.

It’s just, finding the flaws in this Mariners roster isn’t as easy as it has (almost always) been. Take a few minutes to scan the field during spring training drills and even the most hardened critic would have to come to this conclusion:

This team is loaded.

Loaded, perhaps, like no team the Mariners have ever had.

For a franchise that has historically fallen short of expectations, for a fan base that has been conditioned for 50 years to brace for certain disappointment, that might be an uncomfortable statement.

But I’m here to tell you: The talent is real. The October aspirations are warranted. The dreams are justifiably bigger and bolder than ever.

Seven years after initiating the first full-fledged rebuilding project in the organization’s history, the Mariners came within eight outs of their first World Series five months ago.

Now they enter 2026 as the prohibitive favorites to repeat as division champs and, on paper, look like the favorite across the American League.

There has never been a better time to be the Mariners.

This roster features a half-dozen future Mariners Hall of Famers … five All-Stars atop the lineup … one of the sport’s most well-rounded pitching staffs … an elite closer … and several promising prospects poised to break through this summer.

The Mariners are in the prime of their competitive window. They know it and they embrace it.

In that spirit, here’s my annual bold predictions about the state of Mariners, culled from observations and conversations through the first several weeks of spring camp. Bigger and bolder than ever:

95 wins is the floor

The projection algorithms are quite bullish on the Mariners. You should be, too.

The Mariners won 90 games last season to claim their first AL West crown in 24 years. This season, they should win the division by 10 games, they should close in on 100 wins and they should hold the AL’s No. 1 seed in October.

Julio 40/40

Book it. Julio Rodríguez, at age 25, will have his best season yet — poised for his first 40-homer, 40-steal season. He’ll close in on his first 10-WAR finish and join Aaron Judge and teammate Cal Raleigh in the AL MVP discussion.

Much has been made of Rodríguez’s first-half struggles over his first four seasons, and the numbers speak to that. He has a .737 OPS collectively in the first half and a .902 OPS in the second half. Certainly, playing home games in baseball’s most pitcher-friendly park is a factor. But there does seem more to it.

Rodríguez opted to skip the MLB All-Star Game last summer, an important time, he has said, for him to step back and evaluate himself. He’s talked about having a better sense of self, knowing who he is and what he’s capable of.

He returned for the second half and posted a .290/.341/.560 slash line (.901 OPS) with 14 doubles, 18 homers and 13 stolen bases. Over 162 games, that paces out to 43 homers and 31 steals.

This spring, he appears at ease with who he is and what he’s capable of. And perhaps for Team Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic should serve to kick-start his swing into midseason form right out of the gates this season.

Cal won’t repeat 60-homer season

Womp. Womp.

OK, that’s hardly a bold prediction. Raleigh did something no catcher in MLB history has ever done in 2025 — and will likely never do again — and there’s hardly any shame in suggesting he’d only hit 40 homers this season.

Because of what Raleigh did last season, pitchers simply won’t give him as many pitches to hit this season. (Which is another reason why Rodríguez, hitting behind Raleigh in the lineup, will get more opportunities to reach another level of stardom.)

Even so, Raleigh is a lock to be the most valuable catcher in the game again this year, and by this time next year, we can start to have serious conversations about the possibility of the first Mariners catcher as a future Hall of Famer.

Kirby’s Dream (Season)

Pitcher health is paramount for the Mariners this season. That’s obvious and that’s true for any team in any season. But it is especially so for the M’s after three of their five starters missed significant time last season.

Bryan Woo, coming off his first All-Star season and a top-five AL Cy Young finish, is one of the most important figures on this roster. If he continues his ascent as a bone fide ace, the Mariners will find themselves right where they want to be.

George Kirby is the X factor for this team.

An All-Star in 2023, Kirby had a delayed start to his season a year ago because of shoulder inflammation. He had an up-and-down season from there — he was more hittable than ever and walked more batters than ever — but it’s worth remembering that the team handpicked Kirby to start Game 7 of the ALCS in Toronto.

He’s as talented as anyone the Mariners have. He’s entering his age-28 season — the peak of his powers — and the prediction here is he ends up as the most valuable pitcher on this M’s staff in 2026.

Seattle’s own Donnie Baseball

Brendan Donovan, acquired in a trade from St. Louis a week before the start of spring training, was the perfect finishing touch for this roster. A left-handed hitter, he will bat atop the lineup and likely will open the season as the starting third baseman (though he can play just about anywhere on the field).

“Donnie” has a chance to win a batting title someday soon. He’s exactly what the Mariners needed — on-base threat and grind-it-out hitter who will wear down opposing hitters before they have to face the likes of Raleigh, Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena.

Amid all this over-the-top optimism, a word of caution: Don’t be surprised if Donovan and Naylor need some time to acclimate to T-Mobile Park.

Naylor, we all know, was the ideal trade-deadline acquisition last summer. Seattle has never fallen in love with a player so fully as it did with Naylor in September and October — and the feeling from him was mutual.

Naylor, though, hasn’t had to hit regularly through April and May at the most daunting hitter’s park in the game — and, obviously, Donovan hasn’t either — and the colder-weather months have broken many a big league hitter new to Seattle (Jesse Winker and Teoscar Hernandez being the two examples in recent memory).

Point is, if Naylor and Donovan do slump to start the season, don’t panic. They’re bound to settle in eventually.

The next deadline blockbuster

Over the past handful years, the Mariners front office has been the most active club at the MLB trade deadline, acquiring the likes of Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash, Luis Castillo, Randy Arozarena, Eugenio Suárez and Naylor.

One name to watch for at the deadline this summer: Cleveland closer Cade Smith.

He would come at a steep price — as in, multiple high-end prospects — but he’d be worth it for the Mariners to bolster a championship-caliber roster.

Prospering prospects

Colt Emerson, Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan have been the talk of Mariners camp this spring, and rightly so. They’re three of the very best prospects in all of baseball.

As things stand, none of them will make the opening day roster. But the prediction here is all three will play into the Mariners’ October plans in some fashion.

Emerson, 20, ought be the third baseman by midseason, pushing Donovan to either second base or the outfield (Arozarena to DH, anyone?).

Anderson, 21, is as polished as any college pitcher drafted. His floor is incredibly high.

Sloan, 20, throws two fastballs at upwards of 100 mph, stands 6-foot-5 and says his change-up (a change-up!) is his best pitch. His the Mariners’ best 20-and-younger pitching prospect since Félix Hernández. His ceiling is incredibly high.

Look for both pitchers to be in the mix for a bullpen spot late in the summer.

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