Poll results: Fans not confident of Mariners’ playoff chances

Published 12:44 pm Friday, April 7, 2017

The results are in, and the fans are not confident.

On Monday I asked the readers what they thought about the Seattle Mariners’ chances of breaking their 15-year postseason drought. There was a healthy dose of optimism coming into the season based on last year’s promising campaign, bolstered by offseason acquisitions that included shortstop Jean Segura and starting pitcher Drew Smyly. When Seattle’s season began on Monday Fangraphs.com pegged the Mariners’ playoff odds at 36.4 percent, despite having yet to play a game.

But it seems not all of the fanbase is confident the playoff wait is coming to an end. The results:

More than 60 percent of responders voted “no” when asked if the Mariners will make the playoffs this season. That could be a comment on this year’s team, but it also could be a comment on 15 years of playoff futility.

Seattle didn’t do much to assuage that doubt in its opening series, losing its first three games against the Houston Astros before salvaging the final contest of the four-game set. Houston is the favorite to win the AL West this year, so losing three of four on the road against the Astros shouldn’t be considered a death knell. But Seattle will have to do much better going forward, beginning with the upcoming three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, if it wants to break into the postseason for the first time since 2001.