Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we maintain and update our existing Top 50 lists annually. As such, we are delighted to present our pre-2025/26 revision of our top 50 Seattle Mariners.
As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in Major League Baseball.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.
Last year, the Mariners won 90 games and won the American League West, besting the Detroit Tigers in the Division Series but falling to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. There were multiple elevations, one new entrant, and a return based on the new algorithm.
As always, our top five remain unchanged.
1. Ken Griffey Jr.
2. Edgar Martinez
3. Ichiro Suzuki
4. Felix Hernandez
5. Randy Johnson
You can find the entire list here.
Outfielder Julio Rodriguez had a huge jump. An All-MLB Team 1 player in 2025, J-Rod went from #20 to #10.
Catcher Cal Raleigh was the Sporting News Player of the Year, the AL MVP runner-up, and the home run leader in 2025. This propelled him from #39 to #15.
Infielder J.P. Crawford advanced to #20 from #25.
Pitcher Logan Gilbert climbed to #31 from #37.
Pitcher George Kirby moved to #38 from #45.
Relief Pitcher Andres Munoz makes his debut on the list. He enters at #40.
The algorithm brought back Relief Pitcher Edwin Diaz, who returns at #47.
Carlos Guillen and Joel Pineiro fell off the list.
We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.
The discussion regarding who owns the greatest overall closing career in Pacific Northwest history remains a compelling debate for baseball historians, with compelling cases to be made for the sustained durability of Kazuhiro Sasaki or J.J. Putz. However, when evaluating the single most dominant, high-efficiency peak ever constructed by a relief pitcher in a Seattle Mariners uniform, the conversation begins and ends with Edwin "Sugar" Díaz. Originally drafted as a starting pitcher in the third round of the 2012 draft, the slender right-hander from Naguabo, Puerto Rico, transformed into an absolute late-inning cheat code the moment the front office moved him to the bullpen.
Díaz burst onto the major-league stage midway through the 2016 campaign, immediately electrifying Safeco Field with an overwhelming, upper-90s four-seam fastball and a devastating slider. He locked down 18 saves over just 51.2 frames, averaging a blistering 15.3 strikeouts per nine innings to secure a fifth-place finish in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. He seamlessly backed up his initial splash by securing the full-time closer role in 2017, converting 34 saves to establish himself as a premier tier-one weapon. Yet, nothing in his early track record could have prepared the sport for the historic, regular-season hurricane he unleashed upon the American League the following summer.
The 2018 campaign stands as one of the most statistically overwhelming exhibitions of relief dominance in the history of Major League Baseball. Operating as manager Scott Servais' ultimate late-inning firewall, Díaz served as a regular-season metronome for a highly competitive Mariners squad, leading all of baseball with 65 games finished and a historic, mind-boggling 57 saves. His 57 conversions tied him with Bobby Thigpen for the second-highest single-season save volume in major-league history, trailing only Francisco Rodríguez's all-time record of 62. True to form, he was completely untouchable. Over 73.1 high-leverage innings of work, Díaz racked up 124 strikeouts while surrendering a mere 41 hits and 17 walks. This suffocating era dominance yielded a microscopic 1.96 ERA and a brilliant 0.79 WHIP, earning him his very first career All-Star selection, the AL Reliever of the Month honors in three separate months, and the prestigious Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award.
Recognizing that his trade value would never be higher, general manager Jerry Dipoto utilized his young closer as the ultimate premium chip to kickstart an organizational reset. In December 2018, the Mariners packaged Díaz alongside veteran Robinson Canó in a blockbuster trade with the New York Mets, bringing back a significant haul of young talent centered around top outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic.
Díaz finished his three-year Seattle residency with 109 saves, 140 games finished, and 301 strikeouts against 64 walks over 206 relief appearances.