Mariners open camp with more expectations than ever

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Asking Scott Servais about the Mariners’ playoff drought on the first morning of the first full-squad workout had become as custom in these parts as checking on which players reported in the best shape of their life. But after Seattle finally ended its 20-year postseason absence last fall, there’s a palpable feeling that an intangible weight has been lifted.

“It's beautiful,” the Mariners’ manager said. “I haven't gotten one question about it.”

Servais and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto enter their eighth season together in Seattle overseeing a roster packed with as much talent as they’ve seen in their tenure, nearly all of which returned and opened camp on Tuesday. Opening Day on March 30 is a ways off, but there’s assurance knowing that for the first time since 2001, a new playoffs banner will hang in the T-Mobile Park rafters.

“Along with that, expectations -- they get a little bit a little bit higher,” Servais said. “I've said it early on, and I'll keep saying it: That's a good thing. We broke through the playoff drought in Seattle, so the expectations are naturally much higher, which is a great thing. They should be higher. We have a very good team.”

Servais’ tone, emblematic of the rest of the organization, is far more assertive than in recent years, where confidence was preached but perhaps tempered -- and it’s easy to see why. The Mariners won 90 games for the second straight year, swept heavily favored Toronto on the road in a thrilling AL Wild Card Series, then went toe-to-toe with the eventual champion Astros in the AL Division Series.

“How exciting everything was towards the end of last year, you definitely kind of have that as a motivation going into workouts this offseason,” said catcher Cal Raleigh, who crushed the playoff-clinching walk-off homer on Sept. 30, the Mariners’ most iconic highlight in decades. “Whether it's in the weight room or in the cages, or just even talking to the guys, the Zoom calls we've had too as well. So it's been a lot of fun, and the energy is definitely high.”

The Mariners proved last October that they belonged -- a validation as rewarding as it was stinging.

In that ALDS, Seattle blew two four-run leads in Game 1, lost a slight edge in Game 2 and couldn’t muster a run in Game 3 despite blanking Houston for 17 innings, underscoring Servais’ suggestion that, “we were probably one swing of the bat away from winning all three of those games.” Moreover, it was as deflating that those games were arguably the most challenging that the Astros played en route to the World Series title, creating a “what-if” that lingered all winter.

And perhaps just as quashing -- even if they won’t say it out loud -- it was that their season ended at the hands of the team that’s tormented them for years, and the one that they must supplant to win the AL West.

“Obviously I was sad about it, but I feel like that also brings a lot of motivation,” center fielder Julio Rodríguez  said. “I feel like you can avoid it and try to forget about it. You can also learn how to take something from it. I just feel like that whole situation with our whole loss against the Astros, I feel like it made this team stronger.”

“As great as it was last year and we accomplished a lot of things, I know how I felt and I know how [the players] felt when the season ended,” Servais said. “It was a very empty feeling.”

The Mariners insist that they’ve turned the page, arriving with a refreshed attitude, a young nucleus driven by elite pitching that put them on Houston’s radar and lineup upgrades they believe will address their deficiencies.

Seattle traded for two-time All-Star Teoscar Hernández to be a big-time run producer and Gold Glove second baseman Kolten Wong to bring a more consistent on-base presence. The club also signed veteran AJ Pollock to form a left-field platoon with Jarred Kelenic, which it believes will create more avenues for Kelenic to succeed.

The Mariners also return a rotation that could be the division’s best, composed of two workhorses (Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray), two rising stars (George Kirby and Logan Gilbert) and the longtime staple of consistency (Marco Gonzales). They’ll also have Castillo, who became their postseason superstar, for roughly 20 additional starts that they didn’t last year after acquiring him ahead of the Trade Deadline. Health, especially after not losing a starter to the IL last year, will remain paramount.

“We're coming in here knowing that we’ve got to prepare for the long season and hopefully take the team as far and even further than we did last year,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “This team has a lot of talent and it's coming in with the mentality that we want to go further.”

Seattle also now has an intangible attribute with value that can’t be quantified: playoff experience.

“You get a taste of what Major League Baseball is really about, and we got a little bit of taste of what we can do,” Kelenic said. “And I think our expectation is to go and win a World Series this year. Anything short of that, I know we're going to be frustrated.”

The Mariners faced expectations last spring after remaining in contention until the final day of 2021, but this is different. They’re no longer the surprise darlings. The rebuild is over. The fan base is reinvigorated.

“That outside noise, it can get to you a little bit,” Ray said. “And as a younger guy, it's a little more difficult. But having veteran guys around you kind of helps you when you can see those guys not panicking and not going through those moments and pressing. ... You can't put too much pressure or too much thought on those expectations.”