The 2025 season put a stamp on the fact that this is a different era of baseball for the Seattle Mariners.

A spring breakout player reveals a good problem Seattle Mariners have

After two decades without a playoff appearance, the M’s made their second trip to the postseason in four seasons, won their first division title in 24 years and went on the deepest playoff run in franchise history.

With the recent success the franchise has had, there’s been a shift in how it is perceived by many around baseball. But what about by the players themselves?

Mariners general manager Justin Hollander told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday he’s seen a difference.

“It’s definitely evolved over my time here, and I think it is a place now that players want to go to,” said Hollander, who first pointed to the quick re-signing of first baseman Josh Naylor during the offseason.

“(It was) pretty clear that there was a mutual love affair between the city and him, and him and the city and the organization,” Hollander said. “And I think it was a priority for him to try and work something out with us. Obviously, everybody wants to see what their value is and make sure that they’re doing right by themselves and their families. But I think it was pretty clear to us, and Josh made it pretty clear, that all things even close to equal, he wants to be a Mariner, which is great. It’s not just from the outside looking in, but he was in it with us for three months and loved the culture, loved the environment, loved the fan base.”

While retaining Naylor was a big move for the Mariners, the signing of veteran free agent Rob Refsnyder may better illustrate how players around the league are now viewing the organization.

“He had a very short list of teams that he wanted to go to that had to check a bunch of different boxes. Winning was No. 1,” said Hollander, who originally was hired by the M’s as director of baseball operations late in the 2016 season. “The culture (and) environment, talking to players in our clubhouse, and what he was walking into was another one. And he basically said if you guys are willing and interested, you would be at the top of my board, which isn’t something that maybe happened in my first few years here in the ’16, ’17, ’18 range with the Mariners.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player below. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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