Rest of AL West Doing Mariners Favor So Far, But Will It Last?

The 2026 Seattle Mariners have experienced a series of stops and starts thus far. They have been as many as five games under .500. They recently rode an eight-game winning streak to put them back on track towards leading the AL West division.

However, since that streak was snapped, the Mariners are back to an uneven stretch, going 4-7 since, with two series losses sandwiching a series split in Baltimore.

That’s not the type of success expected of a contender. Sitting at 37-36, that typically is not the record that would lead a division. For example, in the National League, they would be currently eight games back at least of any of the three divisions with that record and would even be outside of the Wild Card picture.

However, given that they are in the weaker American League, their record is good enough to be atop the AL West by just a half of a game over the Athletics despite ranking 13th in winning percentage overall in MLB.