SEATTLE — On the same day Seattle fired four of its coaches, following manager Dan Wilson on the blame trail out of T-Mobile Park, Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton told The Seattle Times last month:

“I am a passionate fan. I care deeply about this city, about this team, about winning a championship. I’m embarrassed that we’re the one team in baseball that hasn’t been to the World Series and one of the few that hasn’t won a World Series.”

For now, five Major League Baseball teams — the Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres — have yet to win a World Series. That ignominious club is about to contract, with the top-seeded Rays and Brewers colliding in the “Fall Classic.”

For Stanton and Co., the Mariners’ continued membership in baseball’s least-coveted club should be embarrassing in more ways than one.

Because the Rays and Brewers are proof you can win a pennant with a comparably puny payroll. While Seattle sat 16th in 2026 payroll ($169.6 million), according to spotrac.com, both Milwaukee (No. 19, $146.2 million) and Tampa Bay (No. 28, $95.6 million) spent less while winning more. Milwaukee even managed to sweep the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, firing proton torpedoes into baseball’s biggest Death Star.

They’re not one-season wonders, either. Since winning an MLB-record 116 games in 2001, the Mariners have made a grand total of two playoff appearances.

Since 2001, Milwaukee has made 10 playoff appearances, including four NL Central titles in a row and nine consecutive full seasons with a winning record.

Since 2001, Tampa Bay has also made 10 playoff appearances, including five in a row from 2019-23.

(To hammer this home: the Cleveland Guardians, who won their third consecutive AL Central title despite finishing dead last in payroll in 2026, have also made 10 playoff appearances since 2001.)

Ten playoff appearances in 25 seasons isn’t even a remarkable run. It’s a realistic bar for a functional midmarket team that the Mariners, somehow, haven’t even sniffed.

I hope Stanton doesn’t digest this and come to the conclusion that money doesn’t matter. While Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, Cleveland, etc., have maximized their limited resources, eight of baseball’s top 10 payrolls in 2026 made the playoffs. The Dodgers, who paid for a roster with more stars than the Milky Way, have unsurprisingly dominated the sport.

That doesn’t mean the Mariners need to (or even could) copy the Dodgers.

But big picture, it should be embarrassing that the Rays and Brewers have done so much more with less.

The Rays’ summer sweep of the Mariners that marred the franchise’s 50 Seasons celebration should be embarrassing. The Brewers’ 22-0 August beatdown of Seattle should be embarrassing. The last quarter-century of side-by-side results, extending beyond any one manager or record or playoff run, should be embarrassing. It sure seems indicative of systemic, cultural, organizational issues, beyond payroll.

It should be embarrassing that the only way Randy Arozarena could attend a second consecutive ALCS was with a front-row seat. After Junior Caminero’s two-run homer banged off the foul pole in a deciding Game 6, Tampa Bay’s standout third baseman crossed his arms as a tribute to his former teammate. At Tropicana Field, where he spent parts of five seasons as a member of the Rays, Arozarena returned the gesture from behind home plate.

It should be embarrassing that all five expansion teams that entered MLB at the same time or after Seattle have won at least one pennant. The Rays, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins and Blue Jays have 11 pennants and five World Series trophies among them.

The Mariners have another managerial search.

They have six playoff appearances and four division titles in 50 seasons. They have first-ballot Hall of Famers and Cy Young Award winners and bronze statues outside T-Mobile Park. They have the same president of baseball operations (Jerry Dipoto) who’s hiring another manager after firing the past two. They have hot dogs tied to parachutes and fireworks nights and people racing in salmon suits, glitter on a perpetually disappointing product.

They have, Stanton said, a commitment to develop and retain homegrown talent instead of spending to win bidding wars for aging but established stars.

“That’s the reason for the payroll that we’ve got,” he told The Times last month. “It’s the product of hiring the right players and [having] that fit.

“The other thing that I would say is, bluntly, this year’s playoffs will once again demonstrate that sometimes payroll is related to success on the field, when you look at some of the National League teams. There’s three American League teams that have relatively low payrolls that are also in the playoffs; they’ve made smart decisions to get players, and they’ve paid where appropriate. But, for us, we’re well situated with a good, young team and a middle-of-the-road, roughly, payroll.”

The Rays and Brewers are proof that a middle-of-the-road, roughly, payroll — or worse — can win a pennant.

That doesn’t mean the Mariners shouldn’t spend more money. It means the money they spend isn’t an acceptable excuse.

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