Mariners eliminated from playoff contention as cycle of mediocrity rolls on

The Seattle Mariners have to be one of the most frustrating teams in Major League Baseball to cheer for. 

There are definitely worse teams and there are certainly worse situations in terms of ownership, baseball operations and talent levels. There are teams and situations that are objectively bad and even borderline hopeless. 

The Mariners are never really in that category. 

They have some hope, they have some talent and they generally win enough games to keep things interesting and keep the team competitive. 

But they are never quite good enough to get over the hump and become a serious contender. The 2024 season has been another chapter in that seemingly never-ending cycle of mediocrity. 

The Mariners were officially eliminated from American League playoff contention on Thursday, missing the postseason despite holding a 10-game lead for a playoff spot at their high point for the season in mid-June.

The club lost its division lead to the Houston Astros and was eventually overtaken in the wild-card race by the Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins. 

No matter what the Mariners do over their final three games of the regular season they are going to finish with a winning record for the fourth year in a row — and the seventh time in the past 11 seasons dating back to 2014. That is not a bad run. 

But that stretch has also only resulted in a single playoff berth, which seems almost impossible to believe given how many winning records they have compiled. 

Just to put that into perspective, here are the top 15 teams in wins (using Baseball-Reference Stathead) since the start of the 2014 season and the number of playoff appearances each has had.

Los Angeles Dodgers (1,033 wins): 11 playoffs
Houston Astros (957 wins): Nine playoffs
New York Yankees (947 wins): Eight playoffs
Cleveland Guardians (921 wins): Six playoffs
St. Louis Cardinals (903 wins): Six playoffs
Tampa Bay Rays (894 wins): Five playoffs
Chicago Cubs: (887 wins): Five playoffs
Atlanta Braves (887 wins): Six playoffs
Milwaukee Brewers (886 wins): Six playoffs
Boston Red Sox (879 wins): Four playoffs
Seattle Mariners (861 wins) One playoff
Toronto Blue Jays (859 wins): Five playoffs
New York Mets (855 wins): Three playoffs
San Francisco Giants (848 wins): Three playoffs
Washington Nationals (832 wins): Four playoffs

Every other team in the top 15 in wins over these past 11 seasons has made the playoffs at least three times — except for the Mariners, who remain stuck on one. 12 of them have made the playoffs at least four times. That number could increase to 13 teams if the Mets earn a playoff spot this season. 

Every team on that list has played in at least one league championship series during that stretch — except for the Mariners.

10 of those 15 teams have played in at least one World Series. The Mariners have not. 

Eight of those teams have won at least one World Series. The Mariners have not. 

There is an element of bad luck at play here to be so consistently competitive and not have more to show for it. For as competitive as the Mariners have been, though, they have never won more than 90 games during the space in question, with their winning seasons tending to sit between 84 and 90 wins. Good. Not great. That seems to be the calling card of the Mariners organization.