The Seattle Mariners are embarking on a 162-game season for the first time since Jay Bruce, Edwin Encarnación, and Ichiro were active members of the roster. Luckily, the 2021 outfit is much, much younger, though that means they’re also unproven. Proving themselves, not only internally but as a real threat moving forward, is the overriding theme of the upcoming year. That validation, which can portend some much-needed clarity before loading up for 2022, is the definitive through line of these pressing storylines.
21. Do the Mariners lose fans to the Kraken?
This isn’t so much a real issue, but there will be some small-scale ramifications if the Mariners keep circling the drain while the Kraken storm into a newly renovated building with the energy of a post-show theater kid at the local diner.