The Seattle Mariners were so close.
The franchise has never played in a World Series. In Game 7 of the ALCS, they took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning, but couldn't hold on.
It appears the Mariners view that as a positive, not a negative. They want to run things back with much of the same group.
"The Mariners came painstakingly close to making the first World Series in franchise history earlier this fall, and the hope is to continue to build on that momentum," ESPN's Alden Gonzalez writes.
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The Mariners have three major free agents: Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez and Jorge Polanco.
They want Naylor back.
"The Mariners have made no secret about their desire to bring back first baseman Josh Naylor, which fits into a larger plan to retain as much of the 2025 group as possible," Gonzalez writes.
On that front, the comments made by GM Justin Hollander this week certainly point in a good direction.
"This group this year was really special," Hollander said, via ESPN. "They connected in real ways. I think common bonds around like care factor for winning, competitiveness, work ethic, preparation -- they didn't all display it outwardly the same way, but I think sort of hard-wired inside in a lot of the same ways. And it was really cool to see them experience a lot of winning."
That points as well as anything to the idea of getting Naylor back in the fold. He was a tone setter from the moment he arrived in a late-July trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With power, contact, energy and surprising stolen bases, Naylor provided a big boost in Seattle. The Mariners want to keep that "common bond" together, and Naylor was a big part of that.
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