Meredith Nasrall 
At what point in a baseball season do we say with confidence that the early-season rust has finally been shaken off and the teams doing well are the ones that will be contenders in the fall? The 40-game mark is not a bad milestone, and it so happens that things went pretty well for the Seattle Mariners as they reached that point, boasting a 22-18 record, top of the AL West, and making a statement that the 2025 MLB season could be more than just a transitional one.
Now, we aren’t saying that it’s a surprise that the Mariners have done well – most experts predicted a winning season, and many backed Seattle for a postseason berth – but expectations were kept in check during the preseason. And, of course, nobody should be getting carried away yet. Still, the Mariners look like a postseason-caliber team, and there is an opportunity to flourish in an American League that looks open this season.
Mariners Placed Among The World Series Favorites (For Now)
Yet, what do the sportsbooks say about the Mariners’ chances? According to DraftKings’ latest MLB odds, the Mariners are (at the time of writing) +1500 to win the 2025 World Series, making them the 5th favorite overall with that sportsbook. What’s interesting, too, is that the only American League team ahead of the Mariners in the World Series odds is the New York Yankees.
As we said, nobody is getting carried away just yet. Moreover, there are multiple caveats to the Mariners’ positioning in the odds above. The first thing to note is that the betting markets are weighted really heavily toward National League teams this season, with the Dodgers, Braves, Cubs, Mets, and Phillies all considered among the favorites by sportsbooks.
The American League Looks Very Tough To Call.
The American League seems wide open by contrast. There are fewer runaway candidates – perhaps except the high-flying Detroit Tigers in the AL Central – than in the National League, and teams are still trying to work each other out. It is, for neutrals, quite exciting because you can go down through the divisions and pick out at least ten teams with genuine postseason ambitions.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/_IWxi37-ttM?si=EWHrSifJBqakmBCa” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
The fact that the AL is so tight is also a test for the Mariners. At the time of writing, 11 of the 15 teams have records of .500 or better. The vast majority of teams are just a game or two above .500, and one rough batch of games – a couple of series losses on the bounce – could see any team, including the Mariners, back underwater.
Yet, if the season ended today, the Mariners would be going to the postseason, and fans can’t ask for more than that. Some things must go right for Dan Wilson and his team. For a start, pitching needs to tighten up a bit, at least enough to give a team with decent run production a chance to get them over the line in tight games. It should also go without saying that the Mariners need to stay healthy. That’s true for every team, but Wilson is not blessed with the deepest roster in the league this season.
Perhaps most of all, the Mariners must keep the momentum up across the summer. We have seen too many examples of teams running out of steam after the All-Star Break. Sportsbooks like what they have seen so far, and remember that they don’t pick these odds out of thin air. It’s up to the players to prove that the sportsbooks were right to list them as bona fide contenders in 2025.
