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Baseball's biggest day has finally arrived, as the 2026 Major League Baseball season is about to get underway on Wednesday night. All of the predictions and projections, rumors and transactions have all come down to this. Now, it is time to play ball.
In the latest and nearly final prediction piece by ESPN, they highlight every major award winner and their experts take on who will lift the Commisioner's trophy at the end of it all. It should come as no surprise that the Los Angeles Dodgers get the nod to complete their three-peat, but there is a surprise coming out of the American League.
Even with the best division in baseball, the AL East, and the sleeper AL Central, ESPN predicts that the American League pennant will belong to a team in the West. Namely, the Seattle Mariners, who narrowly won the first AL pennant in their franchise history last season.
Why Seattle?
The question is rather, why not Seattle? The American League championship runner-ups are a solid lineup, front to back with power and youth to back it up. Led by catcher Cal Raleigh and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, there is very little chance that both of their breakout seasons in 2025 was just a fluke.
On the mound, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo will lead the charge once again. Their biggest strength will once again ride on the performance of their bullpen, who had the ninth-best team ERA last season at 3.72. Eduard Bazardo will once again be the main attraction in that area of the game, as he looks to improve upon his breakout season.
The AL West should be easily obtainable for the Mariners, but you cannot ignore the rest of the gauntlet that will likely be coming out of the East. There are still the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and the team that knocked Seattle out in game seven of the ALCS last season, the Toronto Blue Jays, to contend with. But, that gut-wrenching defeat could be a key factor in the Mariners exacting revenge in 2026.
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