For the primary time in 24 years, the Seattle Mariners will finish the season on high of the AL West. The Mariners clinched the AL West division title Wednesday night time with a 9-1 win over the Colorado Rockies, pulling away from the Houston Astros after a neck-and-neck race to the top of the season.
They acquired there in model, with star catcher Cal Raleigh slugging his 59th and 60th homers of the season. He is the seventh participant in MLB historical past to enter the 60-homer membership.
The division title is the Mariners’ fourth in franchise historical past, with the newest coming in 2001. Seattle is advancing to the playoffs for simply the fourth time previously 26 seasons and the sixth time in franchise historical past (since 1977).
Advertisement
The AL West has been a battle for many of the season, with the Mariners, Astros and Texas Rangers all within the playoff hunt. Houston held the highest spot for many of the summer season, however a late surge put the Mariners back on top.
Seattle considerably boosted its possibilities with a sweep of Houston final weekend, taking three wins on the road and securing the tiebreaker.
[Get more Seattle news: Mariners team feed]
This long-awaited division title comes three years after the Mariners snapped a 21-year playoff drought — the longest postseason drought in major American sports at the time — with a wild-card berth in 2022. That 12 months, Seattle completed 90-72, 16 video games again from the Astros, and beat the Blue Jays within the wild-card spherical earlier than shedding to Houston within the ALDS.
Advertisement
Seattle is one of 5 MLB groups that has by no means gained a World Series, and it is the one staff within the AL that has by no means appeared in a World Series. The ’25 Mariners, using to the franchise’s greatest season in 25 years, will hope to vary that.
This 12 months has marked one of probably the most thrilling seasons within the staff’s historical past. There have been wild diving double plays, 12th-inning walk-offs and a sequence in opposition to the Atlanta Braves wherein Seattle scored a total of 29 runs.
All all through, Raleigh has been hitting home run after home run, breaking information and making historical past within the course of. And whereas Raleigh is a front-runner within the AL MVP race, he is not the one cause this Seattle staff is prospering.
Advertisement
Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor, who each joined the Mariners through trades with the Arizona Diamondbacks before the deadline, have been game-changers for the staff. On the mound, 25-year-old Bryan Woo has established himself as the Mariners’ ace in a rotation full of nice pitchers. The collective has given this Seattle staff a brand new power that’s sending them to the postseason.
The Mariners have 4 video games left within the common season earlier than the playoffs start. They are in line to safe a bye by means of the wild-card spherical and host the ALDS in opposition to the winner of one of the AL wild-card sequence.
It stays to be seen how far Seattle will make it within the postseason. But for a Mariners fan base that has suffered rather a lot previously 25 years, it looks like this staff has already gained.