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Can Seattle Mariners be next 2013 Seahawks or 2004 Red Sox?

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Can Seattle Mariners be next 2013 Seahawks or 2004 Red Sox?


Big games allow for lasting memories. Fans will forever remember this Seattle Mariners postseason run. Cal’s historic moments. The long wait rewarded in Game 5 against Detroit. The thrill of the first two wins in Toronto. And Geno’s grand slam, which put them in position to go farther than ever before.

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No one can take those memories away. They were real and they were spectacular. But, unfortunately, they will be superseded by the nightmare of George Springer’s prodigious blast, which ended this season before the ultimate goal could be reached.

The Mariners aren’t the first team to experience this kind of heartache. And, in fact, Seattle fans wouldn’t need to press too hard to remember a similar feeling.

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The 2012 Seahawks seemingly came out of nowhere. Their ferocious defense was just starting to show what it could do and their rookie quarterback wasn’t generating a lot of respect. But the young members of the Legion of Boom and an offense keyed by Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch were hitting on all cylinders by the time the playoffs rolled around. Their December was very similar to what the Mariners just did in September; they won five straight games with three massive blowouts.

After dispatching with Robert Griffin III and Washington in the wild card round, the Seahawks were poised to beat the Falcons in epic fashion. Marshawn scored from the 2-yard line and the team was 31 seconds away from going to the NFC Championship Game.

We all know what happened next. The summer started early, the Niners went to the Super Bowl, and the Hawks spent the offseason trying (and eventually succeeding) to get to the next level.

In my own sports fandom, this one for the Mariners felt a lot like the 2003 Red Sox who lost Game 7 in Yankee Stadium after manager Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in way too long, and Aaron Boone walked it off a few innings later with a home run that I remember shutting off before it ever left the yard.

In fact, this one was even more similar because of the questions regarding the in-game decision making. Little was somewhat similar to Mariners manager Dan Wilson, a well-liked skipper who brought together people in the clubhouse and empowered them to succeed, but with some questions regarding his strategic decision making and comfort with the then-burgeoning field of analytical data.

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Seattle Mariners’ Dan Wilson backs Game 7 bullpen decision

Both losses for the Seahawks and Red Sox were excruciating. Both felt a little like the end of the world and a little like the potential beginning of a new era. And both teams won championships the next season.

So can the 2026 Mariners be the 2004 Red Sox or 2013 Seahawks? That depends on them.

After the loss in Atlanta, the Seahawks went out and got Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett to augment their already impressive pass rush led by Chris Clemons and Bruce Irvin. The new duo combined for 16.5 sacks in the regular season and added three more in the playoffs. The numbers were great, but the personality, depth and intensity they brought to the team may have mattered even more. Signing them both in the offseason was the ultimate signal of belief from the front office to the players.

After 2003, the Red Sox hired Terry Francona as manager and acquired Curt Schilling. The former won them two titles and is now widely considered among the best managers of his era, and the latter won 21 games before becoming a postseason hero. Both were renowned for the leadership and dogged determination that helped break an 86-year curse just 12 months after that disastrous night in the Bronx.

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As a fan of both teams in those moments, I can tell you the sting was similar. No Seahawks fan nor Red Sox fan at that time could tell you about seeing their team hoist a trophy. But a year later, I believe many (if not most) would say the victories tasted even sweeter after the horrible endings that preceded them. They would also say the organizations recognized how close they were to being at a championship level and made the moves to get themselves over the top.

The 2026 Mariners have some big decisions to make. As of today, Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez and Jorge Polanco (if he wants) are all free agents. As of today, the combined salary of the two Mitches (some $28 million) comes off the books as well. I think every single Mariners fan alive would prioritize signing Naylor. But there are lots of questions that follow.

Is J.P. Crawford back for the last year of his deal? What are you going to do in right field where Victor Robles never got untracked and Dom Canzone flashed in the season but fell flat in the playoffs? When will Colt Emerson be ready? Polanco is going to get a serious raise – do you want to be the one to pay him for his age 32 season and beyond? Are Cole Young and Ben Williamson ready to play every day at second and third base?

And do you have enough pitching? Improbably, it was that, the team’s greatest strength, that most fell apart in October.

The 2013 Seahawks and 2004 Red Sox are the models. But there is also a cautionary tale.

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The 2016 Baltimore Orioles won 89 games, finished second in the AL East, but lost in a dramatic wild card game. Tied in the 11th inning, Toronto’s Edwin Encarnación took Ubaldo Jiménez deep while the O’s best pitcher, reliever Zach Britton, never entered that game. Sound familiar?

The following offseason, they did next to nothing. They re-signed Mark Trumbo (yikes), traded for Seth Smith, and that was about it. Not surprisingly, 2017 did not end well. The Orioles finished 75-87, dead last in the AL East.

Let me be clear, the M’s team we just watched is a whole lot closer to the Seahawks and Red Sox than to the Orioles. They have more talent, a better farm system, a younger roster and more opportunities ahead of them. They will take a few weeks to decompress, self-scout, and start to plan for next year. And hopefully this will be, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan said this week, more of a beginning than an ending.

It is entirely up to them.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Passan: Mariners’ playoff run ‘a beginning, not an end’
• Mariners’ Cal Raleigh breaks one last record with 65th HR of 2025
• The real reason M’s lost ALCS is about more than a pitching change
• Morosi: Two decisions stand out from Mariners’ Game 7 loss
• What They Said: Seattle Mariners after losing ALCS Game 7

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Seattle Mariners re-assign 3 players to minor league camp

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Seattle Mariners re-assign 3 players to minor league camp


The Seattle Mariners re-assigned outfielder Brennan Davis, right-handed pitcher Dane Dunning and left-handed pitcher Jhonathan Díaz to minor league camp on Friday.

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Seattle’s spring training roster is now at 38 players, with 33 from the 40-man roster, four non-roster invitees and one player on the 60-day injured list.

Davis, 26, had been one of the Mariners’ surprise standouts during camp after arriving on a minor league contract. The former top prospect went 12 for 34 over 15 games while producing a .353/.450/.824 slash line with a 1.274 OPS, four homers, four doubles, six RBIs and five walks to 11 strikeouts.

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Dunning, 31, was also in camp on a minor league deal. He allowed four runs on five hits and five walks while striking out four over 6 1/3 innings in three appearances. The right-hander also pitched for South Korea during the World Baseball Classic, surrendering two runs over three innings in three apperances.

Díaz, 29, was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He pitched three scoreless innings, struck out two and didn’t allow any hits or walks in two spring outings. The left-hander was on World Baseball Classic champion Venezuela’s roster but did not appear in a game. Díaz made one appearance for the M’s last season, pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Three standouts from Seattle Mariners’ Spring Breakout game
• Callis: Seattle Mariners have MLB’s best pitching prospect duo
• Seattle Mariners’ lineup vs Guardians has interesting wrinkle at SS
• Raleigh, Arozarena both help Seattle Mariners in 6-run inning
• Mariners’ Hancock showing new weapon during strong spring






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Cal, Randy team up in Seattle Mariners’ 6-run inning – Seattle Sports

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Cal, Randy team up in Seattle Mariners’ 6-run inning – Seattle Sports


Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena are officially Seattle Mariners teammates again, and if you need proof, just look at the box score.

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The two players who were at the center of a controversy last week during the World Baseball Classic both drove in runs as the Mariners put up a six-spot on the Athletics on Thursday night in Cactus League play.

Arozarena came off the bench with runners on second and third with one out in the top of the seventh inning, and he reached on an infield single that gave Seattle its first run of the game, cutting the A’s lead to 3-1.

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And Arozarena, who hit his first homer of the spring on Wednesday, wasn’t done. He then stole second, which allowed him to score the second of two runs on a Ryan Bliss single that tied the game.

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A few batters later, after a Brock Rodden single and Luke Raley hit by pitch loaded the bases, it was Big Dumper’s turn, and he delivered with a bases-clearing double off the tall wall in center field at the Athletics’ spring home, Hohokam Stadium in Mesa.

That capped the inning and the scoring for Seattle in a 6-4 victory.

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Perhaps it’s a sign that the handshake that never happened when Arozarena stepped to the plate for Mexico with Raleigh catching for the USA is behind the two Mariners All-Stars. As they say, winning cures everything.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• All Mariners back from World Baseball Classic
• Mariners’ Hancock showing new weapon during strong spring
• Former Mariners UT Dylan Moore triggers opt-out clause
• Salk: Difficult to see Emerson making Mariners’ opening day roster
• Seattle Mariners’ Luke Raley showing he’s worth keeping an eye on






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Cesar Chavez name to be removed from Seattle garden after abuse accusations

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Cesar Chavez name to be removed from Seattle garden after abuse accusations


César Chávez’s name will be removed from a Seattle institution after newly public sexual abuse allegations.

At El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Executive Director Estella Ortega said a garden named for Chávez would be renamed and that other tributes at the building would also change.

“The farm worker movement is bigger than just one person,” Ortega said. “We’ve got a garden named after him, those things will change.”

A photo of the garden on March. 19, 2026. (KOMO){ }

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The renewed debate in Seattle follows a New York Times report published this week that detailed allegations Chávez sexually abused women and girls, including fellow labor leader Dolores Huerta. The revelations have prompted officials and institutions around the country to reconsider Chávez commemorations, with California leaders backing a proposal to rename César Chávez Day as Farmworkers Day and other communities moving to review streets, schools and monuments that bear his name.

In Washington, Gov. Bob Ferguson already said he will not issue a proclamation for César Chávez Day this year and instead plans to celebrate Dolores Huerta Day on April 10.

Asked Thursday whether he would press local agencies to remove Chávez’s name from places such as the garden outside El Centro, Ferguson said the state had already decided to stop honoring Chávez in the ways he directly controls, while broader changes would require more discussion.

“My view is the movement’s bigger than any one individual,” Ferguson said. “The farm worker movement did so much for farm workers, for labor rights, for human dignity. It’s bigger than any one person.”

Ferguson said he had met with Ortega and lawmakers before speaking publicly and described the allegations as so serious that many people were still “reeling” and trying to decide what would be appropriate next.

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Seattle’s César Chávez Park, in the South Park neighborhood, is managed by Seattle Parks and Recreation. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, when asked about the park, did not indicate a change would be immediate.

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña said Latino leaders in Washington were urging that this year’s March 31 observance move away from celebration and instead focus on community service, survivors and the broader farmworker cause.

“At this moment, I think the Latino Democratic caucus will be saying, we need to pause,” Saldaña said. “This March 31 this year should be about community service. It should be about making sure that the farm worker movement and the farm worker cause is what’s centered.”

Saldaña stopped short of immediately endorsing a permanent name change for the holiday, saying it was still too soon and that leaders should follow survivors’ lead. But she said she expected more conversations about accountability, healing, and how public spaces should be named going forward.

Across the country, those conversations are already underway. The Associated Press reported Thursday that communities and institutions nationwide are distancing themselves from Chávez, identifying more than 130 sites that bear his name, including parks, schools, and other public landmarks.

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For Ortega, the question in Seattle was more immediate.

“We cannot just let the lie continue to live in our way,” she said.



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