You think it’s tough being a Rangers fan this year? At least you’re not a Mariners fan any year.

The only reason the Ranger have a legitimate shot at catching the Mariners for that third wild card spot is because it’s the Mariners. If it was any other team ahead of the Rangers, there would be no way they’d pull it off.

Seattle is the only team to never appear in the World Series. They went twenty seasons without making the playoffs, from 2001, the year they set the record for wins with 116, to 2022. 

On August 12, the Mariners moved into first place in the West. That glory lasted all of one day. Since then, they are 6-14. The Rangers are 11-8 in that time. Not setting the world on fire, to be sure, but creeping closer and closer.

After winning six in a row, the Rangers lost the last two to the Diamondbacks in typical 2025 Rangers style: no offense. But they are still just a-game-and-a-half behind Seattle, with twenty-one games to play, six of those games are against Houston. Texas is not going to catch Houston—that’s a dream not worth spending valuable dreaming time over. But they can, and mostly likely will, catch Seattle.

The Mariners have twenty-two games remaining, the Rangers twenty one. If Texas can go just 11-10 these last twenty-one games, they will probably pass Seattle. Because the Mariners will most likely win seven of their final twenty-two. Because the Mariners are the Mariners, always have been, always will be. 

Granted, the Rangers history hasn’t been much better. But we always have 2023. They don’t. And they won’t for one more year. 

They are the Mariners. 

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