Mariners fans celebrate baseball’s return to Seattle with World Series hopes

first pitch against the Cleveland Guardians at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners are coming off one of the best seasons in franchise history, narrowly missing the World Series with a loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship. The team looks to right their wrongs in their 50th season as they have emerged as one of the favorites to not only play in the World Series, but to win it all.

ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan told Seattle Sports this week that he views the Mariners as one of the best teams in baseball, noting Seattle’s deep lineup embodies what he loves most in a team. “I am picking the Seattle Mariners to go to the World Series this year,” Passan said. “I think they’re the best team in the American League, I think they are the second-best team in baseball, and I would love to have somebody change my mind on it because I don’t want to be the one who cursed Seattle.

I have had that tendency in the past, and yet I cannot quit these Mariners. So much about them embodies what I love in a baseball team and what I think makes a really successful baseball team. ” Fans share World Series dreams at the park ahead of Opening Day Ahead of the long, suspenseful 162-game season, KIRO Newsradio was at the park gauging the fans’ excitement for the season and what Opening Day means to them ahead of the 2026 season.

“Here with the lights on and the paint, it’s just all fresh and new,” a Mariners fan said. “The start of the baseball season, there’s just something romantic and exciting about baseball. It’s a long season, but nothing beats Opening Day, except going to the World Series.