Seattle SPORTs Now 3/24/26

 

The long-awaited 2026 baseball season begins this week with Seattle Mariner fans having high expectations for the coming season. The M’s came within a game of making their first ever World Series in 2025 and are trendy pick to make-and possibly win- the Fall Classic this season.

Will 50 be the magic number for the Mariners who begin their 50^th year of existence?

Seattle returns most of last year’s squad and there’s cautious optimism that the team has made some improvements. Reigning home run champ Cal Raleigh returns along with the M’s highly regarded starting rotation except for number-five starter Bryce Miller who begins the season on the disabled list Emerson Hancock replaces him in the rotation for now.

The rotation of Logan Gilbert- Thursday’s opening day starter against the Cleveland Guardians- Bryan Woo, a team-high 15 wins, George Kirby and Luis Castillo with Andre Munoz (38 saves) coming out of the bullpen is the jewel of baseball. Arguably, the rotation was better in 2024 when the M’s just missed the playoffs, so there should be good stuff in store this season.

Good news for Mariner fans was the re-signing of first baseman Josh Naylor, who quickly became a fan-favorite after being acquired at the trade deadlines. Along with some big hits down the stretch, Mariner fans marveled at Naylor’s stolen base prowess. He finished the year with 30 stolen bases- 19 with the Mariners- despite being considered one of the slowest players in the league. Plus, he looks like he’s really having fun on the field.

Outfielders Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena look like they’re having fun on the field as well. Truth be told, Rodriguez is often the first Mariner (ahead of Raleigh)  taken in Fantasy League drafts. He’s a 30-30 man, with 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Arozarena was close behind with 27 homers and 31 swipes.

Arozarena was apparently displeased that he felt Raleigh dissed him (and Naylor as well) at the World Baseball Classic. Not surprisingly all is well, now that the players are back wearing the same uniforms. For his part, Cal said he didn’t shake hands with Arozarena while in uniform because the United States braintrust didn’t want their players fraternizing with the opposition.

That seems to jibe with criticism of the US team- that they acted like soldiers heading into war while members of the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez’s team and Venezuela which won the tournament, looked like a bunch of guys having a good time. After all, it is a game.

The newcomers are headed by Brendan Donovan, who takes over third base as Eugenio Suarez’s second tenure with the Mariners was a brief one (although he still bopped 13 homers in 220 plate appearances).

Donovan actually played mostly second base for the St. Louis Cardinals (with Nolan Arenado manning third) but is versatile enough to play several positions. He hit a robust .328 the first two months of last season before tailing off in the middle of the season when he was hampered by turf toe and groin injuries. He then rebounded to hit .378 in the final eight games of the season.

Cole Young, a former first-round draft pick, takes over fulltime at second base. Young had 224 at-bats last season and chipped in with four home runs.

Another youngster, Leo Rivas, with 90 MLB AB’s will man shortstop, with JP Crawford on the DL with right shoulder inflammation. The speculation is that Cole Emerson, another first-round pick, might have gotten the job if Crawford was sidelined for a longer period of time.

For now, Emerson is headed to the minors, but with Crawford on the last year of a contract, Emerson’s seen as the Mariners’ shortstop of the future.

Adding depth to the bullpen, Seattle acquired reliever Jose Ferrer from the Washington Nationals. Ferrer was the Nats top reliever for parts of last season and racked up 11 saves. The most interesting aspect of this deal is that the player Seattle traded for Ferrer was catcher Harry Ford, whose full name is Harrison Ford. If you don’t think it’s cool that a baseball trade involved Harrison Ford and Jose Ferrer, you’re not up on your pop culture.

There have been more ups than downs in the team’s history, but 2025 ranks as one of the three best years in team history along with 1995- the teams first ever playoff appearance- and 2001, when the Mariners set a regular season record of 116 victories.

Our crystal ball shows the Mariners finally making the World Series this season, most likely against the two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers, but we did pick them for the Fall Classic last season.