Mike Vorel: Mariners expectations should be simple: World Series or bust

Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times on Mar 25, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — Julio Rodríguez was right.

On Oct. 20, 2025, Seattle’s star center fielder stood in an eerily quiet clubhouse, digesting the shards of another shattered dream. Rodríguez was a fitting symbol for how unforgivably a game — and a season — can flip, from euphoria to this franchise’s most excruciating almost. The 24-year-old doubled and homered in his first two plate appearances that night, then struck out to end Seattle’s season.

Minutes after the Mariners’ 4-3 loss to Toronto in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, a stoic, resolute Rodríguez said: “There’s no [other] expectation for us than this. I know it just got over, but I know we all have something to look forward to next year.”

The 2026 Mariners have expectations.

Not excuses.

An absence of postseason experience is not an acceptable excuse. Pitching injuries are not an acceptable excuse. World Baseball Classic beefs — i.e., rejected handshakes— are not an acceptable excuse. A frustratingly frugal budget is not an acceptable excuse. The marine layer is not an acceptable excuse. An angled batter’s eye is not an acceptable excuse. A dynastic division rival is not an acceptable excuse.

A haunted, hapless past — 43 empty Octobers, 14 seasons before the franchise’s first winning record, a two-decade postseason drought, a parade of underperforming prospects and fizzled promises, Hall of Famers who made beautiful music aboard sinking ships — is not an acceptable excuse.

Those were excuses once, but not anymore. This team is too talented. Too hardened by its heartbreak. Too tested. Too determined. Too complete.

There is, however, one acceptable expectation.

You heard Julio.

It’s World Series or bust.

That might sound like an impossibly audacious dream. It might sound cocky, the column cart coming before the horse.

But not when you have catcher and undisputed clubhouse leader in Cal Raleigh, who slugged 60 homers last season and remains in his prolific prime. Not when you have Julio, a three-time All-Star, who somehow still seems to be scratching the surface. Not when you have three starting pitchers — Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby — who could conceivably end the season as Seattle’s ace. Not when you have two other prized pitching prospects, Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan, waiting in the wings. Not when you have one of baseball’s best closers (Andrés Muñoz) and three additions (do-everything All-Star Brendan Donovan, southpaw reliever Jose A. Ferrer and lefty masher Rob Refsnyder) geared to fix last season’s flaws.

Not when you have something more concrete than hope.

“We have a different set of expectations now,” Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller said after making his second start of the spring Feb. 26. “Last year, we were coming off back-to-back years missing the playoffs by one or two games. We felt like we should be there, but it was still a little bit of hope. Like, we think we’re good enough, but two years in a row we hadn’t proven it.

“Last year, we had a really good team. We proved that. We got deep. We didn’t get as deep as we wanted. But I think this offseason we got better. We added to what we already had, and I think a lot of us also got healthy and are feeling really good.

“Expectations are different. It’s no longer, ‘We should win the West,’ or ‘Hopefully we’re in the playoffs.’ Now it’s like, ‘We’re going to win the West.’ That’s the standard. We’re going to get deep, and we’re going to make a run. It’s definitely a little bit different mentality this year in camp.”

Granted, expectations aren’t guarantees. Converting words into wins will not be easy. Case in point: The same day Miller said “a lot of us also got healthy and are feeling really good,” Seattle’s 27-year-old starter suffered an injured oblique. After overcoming a bone spur to stabilize the rotation last October, Miller enters the season as a concerning question mark.

There are others. Like whether 22-year-old Cole Young can cement himself as Seattle’s starter at second base. Or if J.P. Crawford, who was limited this spring with a shoulder issue, is still a capable starting shortstop at age 31. Or if leverage relievers Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier can return to form after faltering in October. Or if the Victor Robles/Luke Raley right-field platoon will produce.

Or if the Mariners can bear the weight of elevated expectations.

What happens when a perpetual underdog earns pole position? When an oft-forgotten franchise becomes the favorite? Will the accompanying pressure create a diamond or another shattered dream?

We’re about to find out.

Because next year is here, and Rodríguez was right.

The Mariners earned these expectations. Now, it’s time to earn everything else.

Believe it. Embrace it. It’s World Series or bust.

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