I Have Waited 24 Years For This, Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are the only team in baseball never to appear in a World Series — not just win one, but even play in one. That could finally change this year. After a dominant close to the 2025 season, they’ve clinched the AL West for the first time since 2001.
I was in middle school that year. The same year Ichiro Suzuki was a rookie phenom and the Mariners won 116 games. Everyone thought we were witnessing a dynasty in the making. And I was convinced that my young life would be blessed with exciting baseball and dominant teams.
My parents prepared for it. Thanks to my Dad, we became a baseball family. He and my mom purchased season tickets and have held them for 24 years.
When my Dad passed away in 2023, my Mom kept the tickets. She now goes to the games, and I try to show up as often as I can, even though I live in New York City.
The period between 2001 and 2025 in Seattle was not all darkness. There were great sports teams from the Seahawks and Sounders to the WNBA Seattle Storm. But the Sonics left town and the Mariners were perpetual losers with a few good teams mixed in.
There were so many nights when my parents would send me selfies from the games with empty seats all around them. Despite the constant losing and revolving door of terrible head coaches and general managers, my Dad always had one answer to my Mom whenever she asked about renewing their season tickets.
“Buy them.”
Now I have asked my Mom the same question since my Dad passed away. And she always comes back with the same answer — “I’m buying them.”
I know many Mariners’ fans who gave up on the team and franchise (or simply forgot about them) during those 24 years. It’s understandable. Ownership regularly prioritized business performance ahead of on-field success. They brought in talent like Adrian Beltre and Robinson Cano so they could be good, but never quite good enough, let alone great.
But 24 years after winning the AL West in 2001, they finally went for it. I was very critical of their “step back” and rebuilding efforts in 2019, but it led to one of the best farm systems, deepest starting rotations, and two genuine superstars in Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez.
Ownership gave the green light this season to make big moves at the trade deadline too. Bringing back Eugenio Suarez who was smashing home runs and trading for Josh Naylor, who hits near .300 and absolutely mashes in the Mariners’ home ballpark (T-Mobile), which hitters have historically criticized.
I get why fans refused to support ownership after their apparent apathy for on-field performance, but I’m thankful that many have returned after ownership finally listened. That 24 year drought, however, should remind us all of something important. Whether you’re a baseball fan or not.
It’s something that Ichiro recently raised in a speech following his Hall of Fame induction. About a month ago, he was in Seattle for his number retirement ceremony, with fellow members of that 2001 team, two of whom are currently on the Mariners’ coaching staff — Dan Wilson (head coach) and Edgar Martinez (part-time hitting coach). There were also players from the legendary (by Seattle baseball standards) 1995 and 1997 teams, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson.
Before all of them, Ichiro dropped these important truths:
“With Edgar and Dan, we won a record 116 games [in 2001]. We made it to the American League Championship series. At the time, I thought winning was easy and I took our success for granted. But as Edgar and Dan know, winning is tough.”
Ichiro’s reminder that “winning is tough” wasn’t just about baseball — it was about patience, perspective, and never taking success for granted.
In this moment it’s easy for Mariners fans to forget about the past 24 seasons. It’s easy to bask in the glory of instant gratification. After all, the M’s have won 16 out of their last 17 games. Cal Raleigh has 60 home runs and climbing. 60!
It’s easy to feel invincible. I know because I’ve been here before. As a kid in 1995, 1997, and 2001. Ken Griffey Jr. was a national celebrity. Ichiro was an international superstar who as famed announcer Dave Niehaus once said, could throw “something out of Star Wars.”
Like the old adage that once you reach the top, that’s when the real climb begins, nobody should ever get comfortable with winning. In baseball or life.
Even at the heights of invincibility, the ledge is always nearby. And the drop may last for 24 years before you can start the climb again.
My dad persisted for 22 of those years. He tasted the playoffs shortly before passing away as the Mariners snuck in a couple times through the Wild Card, but he never saw them win the division again or go on a deep playoff run. During most of those years, it was laughable to think it was even possible.
But we kept going to the games. And there were actually some benefits to losing. Parking at the games was around $5, especially when the Houston Astros were in town before they started using trash cans to win. Nobody crowded around us at the games. We could easily sit, relax, and talk for hours.
There’s no other sport like that. Where the rhythm and cadence of the game allows for beautiful moments that fathers and sons can share. Where people aren’t always standing and yelling in their seats, while splashing beer all over you and shouting profanities.
That’s why my Dad kept showing up. The Mariners teams were often terrible, but he was there for the experience, the love of the game, and family bonding time. He was often critical, and he was always looking for the next Pete Rose, but most importantly, he was grateful for catching a ballgame with his family.
If there’s one thing you should take from this though, it’s that winning is never guaranteed. You may wait your entire life to watch yourself, your loved ones, or your favorite team try to win again. And it may never come.
All we can do is to keep showing up for what we love. Whether that’s baseball or another passion. And if we’re one of the fortunate ones to taste victory, we must savor it. Express gratitude. And be mindful of the moment.
Because in baseball, as in life, the win may never come, but the showing up is what makes it all worth it.
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