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Quick, name the team with the largest lead in a division right now in all of baseball. Don’t look it up. Just go off the top of your head. 
Did you say the Seattle Mariners? 
Remarkably, it’s them. The hold an 8.5-game lead in the AL West. They were +300 to win the division back in spring training, which doesn’t make them an extreme longshot or anything, but the Astros were +100 and the defending champion Rangers were +210. The Mariners have now been in first place for 57 days and haven’t trailed anyone in the division since May 11. Just a month ago, they were only up 1.5 games. Since a four-game losing streak that ended over Memorial Day weekend, the Mariners have really stepped on the gas. 
After a weekend sweep of the Rangers, the Mariners have now won 16 of their last 21 games. They have certainly had help in building such a huge lead, with the Rangers flailing to five games under .500 while the Astros are six under — plus, the Angels and A’s are bad, as expected. 
Let’s not detract from the fine work the Mariners have done for themselves, though. They are 10-3 against the Astros and Rangers in head-to-head action. They take care of business at home, as they are now 27-12 in T-Mobile Park. 
They have a great rotation with Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert forming a three-headed monster at the front and Bryan Woo has been exceptional in his six starts. 
There is certainly concern with the offense and that should be addressed in front of the trade deadline by Jerry Dipoto. I’m sure there’s someone somewhere screaming “unsustainable!!” about their 17-7 record in one-run games, but they’ve built a sizable cushion in the AL West and those games played are already banked. Even if the Mariners only played .500 ball the rest of the way, they’d finish 87-75 and that likely takes the division at this rate. It most certainly would make the playoffs. As we’ve seen a number of times in recent years, just making the playoffs is good enough to consider a team a threat to win the World Series. The playoff rotation would certainly be stout enough. 
The Mariners are one of five teams to have never won the World Series, along with the Brewers, Rays, Rockies and Padres. What if this is the year? How cool would it be to see such a streak end in back-to-back seasons (the Rangers hadn’t ever won until last year)? It’s fun to think about it. The Mariners are playing well enough to consider such a scenario. 
Yes, things are looking up in Seattle. The Mariners are playing like a team that can win the World Series. Let that soak in. 
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