Greg Amsinger has some bold Seattle Mariners predictions

After the deepest playoff run in franchise history, there’s an undeniable excitement surrounding the Seattle Mariners this season that has rarely been felt in the Pacific Northwest.

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For many years, the M’s were a team that entered the season labeled as one that could surprise or one that has potential to reach the playoffs if things go right. And going back to previous front office leadership, they were sometimes just an afterthought hoping to avoid a 100-loss campaign.

But in 2026, Seattle is the clear favorite to defend its crown and win the American League West. It’s even a team many think can make it to the World Series.

The expectations are high, but perhaps none are higher than the ones coming from MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger.

Amsinger joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday and gave a lofty set of predictions about the M’s in 2026.

“My bold prediction: 98 wins, the Mariners go to the World Series, Bryan Woo wins Cy Young,” Amsinger said.

Yeah, that’s pretty bold. But FanGraphs does agree with Amsinger on one of those of takes.

Seattle has a 19.2% chance of reaching its first-ever World Series, per FanGraphs. That’s the highest of any team in the AL. The next best odds are the New York Yankees at 14.2%. However, the M’s are projected to win 88 games. Just two teams in all of baseball (the Dodgers and Braves) are projected to reach 90 wins.

Why is Amsinger so bullish on the Mariners?

“Well, you’re going into opening day with an intense competitor in Josh Naylor, who you brought back immediately. You needed to bring him back,” he said.

New third baseman Brendan Donovan is also a major reason.

“You go get the X-factor guy that every single team that’s in win-now mode wanted,” Amsinger said. “Just follow the clues. Why would every club that wants to win the world championship right now want Brendan Donovan? Because he does everything you need to win.”

Amsinger is a St. Louis native and friend of Donovan’s former manager with the Cardinals, Oli Marmol.

“He knew the writing was on the wall that they were gonna move Donovan, and it was it was heartbreaking because that was his favorite player,” Amsinger said. “And when the manager absolutely loves a guy, there’s a reason for it. Brendan Donovan is the polish of this team. The tiny little things that you don’t see in a box score, he’s bringing that edge to the Seattle Mariners. I love it.

“I think they check every single box for me.”

Woo for Cy Young

Of the three predictions Amsinger gave, Woo winning the Cy Young might be the most unlikely. That’s not because Woo isn’t a talented pitcher capable of making a push for the award, it’s because of reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.

Skubal, a Seattle U product, is still in his prime at 29 years old, but Amsinger is convinced he won’t be able to pull off a three-peat.

“I just think it’s impossible for Tarik Skubal to do it three straight years,” he said. “And I’m also looking at what happened with the arbitration case and the fact that minutes after (the Tigers) realized they lost the arbitration case to Tarik Skubal and he won $31 million, they gave a different left-handed pitcher (Framber Valdez) an (average annual contract value) higher than $31 million to ensure that Tarik Skubal wasn’t even the highest paid left-handed pitcher on the Tigers. So I just think that’s gonna be a drama mess, and I’m going Woo.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Greg Amsinger has some bold Seattle Mariners predictions

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