SEATTLE — The stoicism with which Ichiro Suzuki delivered the message to the Mariners was absorbed so effectively, because it embodied exactly what’s been at the forefront of their minds following stinging finishes in each of the past two seasons.
Those words have sprouted into the team’s marketing for this final stretch of the 2025 season, from hashtags to T-shirts, and on Tuesday night, they were spread over a massive banner beyond left field for the first time. Yet on an intangible level, Ichiro’s slogan has been personified by the team’s play on the field throughout this playoff push.
And the Mariners seized, officially, their first major milestone toward what they intend to be a lengthy October run.
Indeed, Seattle is headed to the postseason, having clinched — at the very least — an American League Wild Card spot, following a dramatic, 4-3 win over the Rockies. And the way that it did so further underscored Ichiro’s mantra, when Josh Naylor ripped a bases-clearing double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, after trailing all night to that point.
“It resonated so much, so much,” said Julio Rodríguez, who has the closest bond with Ichiro as anyone within the Mariners’ clubhouse. “I feel like we needed to take some moments. Even like today, we were down late in the game, but we still had the energy to go and get it.”
Naylor, the Mariners’ prized Trade Deadline acquisition, jumped on a 97.7 mph fastball in a 2-0 count and scorched it into the left-center gap, scoring Luke Raley (who drew a leadoff, pinch-hit hit-by-pitch), J.P. Crawford (who walked with one out) and Julio Rodríguez (who was hit by a pitch with two outs).
He’s only been here for two months and will be a free agent at season’s end, yet Naylor continues to endear himself to both fans and teammates in Seattle — and he’ll now forever be on the club’s all-time highlight reel, the centerpiece of the clincher for just their sixth playoff berth ever.
“We want to do all of them, and the big one in the end with a nice parade around the city,” Naylor said.
The Mariners have now won 15 of their past 16 games, a stretch that they’ve only matched twice in franchise history, both of which also yielded postseason berths (2001, 2022).
They’ve won via utter domination, such as this past weekend’s sweep in Houston, in comeback fashion such as Tuesday despite just three total hits and every way between. For their various ways to victory, they are arguably the sport’s hottest team — along with hard-charging Cleveland, which has won 16 of its past 18 — and peaking at the perfect time.
“We’re not done yet,” Cal Raleigh said. “Obviously, we’ll enjoy this moment, celebrate. Like I said, we’ve got bigger things on the horizon.”
Champagne was uncorked in the home clubhouse in the most freeing fashion, after the Mariners came short of expectations in 2023 and 2024 as the first team on the outside looking in. But if things go according to plan, it will be the first of two celebrations over a 24-hour stretch, as the Mariners have their sights squarely on winning the AL West, which it could do so as early as Wednesday with another win or an Astros loss, after Houston dropped its series opener against the Athletics.
During the Mariners’ 15-1 stretch, they’ve gained what amounts to an 8 1/2-game swing in the division standings, going from 3 1/2 games back to four games ahead — plus the tiebreaker over Houston, which they secured last weekend.
“It’s like climbing a mountain, and these guys, they’re in final ascent now,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, echoing what he said during his postgame speech that sparked the champagne shower.
Beyond seizing their first division title since Ichiro’s rookie season in 2001, when Wilson was also the team’s catcher, the Mariners have even more to play for over their final five games, with the chance to hang on to the AL’s No. 2 seed and retain the first-round bye attached to it, along with home-field advantage in the AL Division Series.
Because if they’ve shown anything in their second-half surge, it’s that they’re going to be extremely tough to beat at T-Mobile Park, where they’ve won nine in a row and have, by far, MLB’s best record since the All-Star break (24-6).
“We just want to be in the best position with games to decide the playoffs,” Rodríguez said. “We want to play at home.”
The spirals that sunk Seattle in each of the past two seasons have been at the forefront of players’ minds throughout the season, but especially as they were battered during successive East Coast road trips in August, with a 3-13 stretch that saw their playoff hopes reach peril.
A team meeting was called in Tampa on Sept. 2, where they candidly reiterated the urgency of not letting their recent — and unflattering — history repeat itself.
Essentially, it served as a call to seize rather than surveil. And they checked off their first big benchmark in another resounding way — offering a foreshadow of what could be to come.
