"I think the Mariners are the best team in the AL West" - MLB insider Jeff Passan jinxes Seattle Mariners; team is 1-6 since his praise

Jeff Passan likely had good intentions when he said the Seattle Mariners were a top team in the MLB and the best in their division. But it certainly did not help the team. Since Passan praised the team, the Mariners have not won a series, have gone 1-6 in their last seven games and have been shutout twice.

Now obviously curses don't exist and this is purely coincidental, so the downward slide we are seeing cannot be blamed on a comment that gave them praise. While teams often look for bulletin board material, it's unlikely this could have been used by any team as motivation to beat the Seattle Mariners.

The comments made by Jeff Passan were posted to Twitter by Maura Dooley, a producer for Seattle Sports Radio.

"I think the sustainability is there, I think this is real and I think the Mariners are the best team in the AL West." - Jeff Passan

The struggles of the Seattle Mariners of the last 20 years have been well documented, and Jeff Passan isn't the only one who hopes change is coming for the team.

The Seattle Mariners have time to turn things around

Julio rodriguez has an extremely high ceiling

Despite the recent setback, the Seattle Mariners have well over 100 games left in the regular season and could very easily be challenging for the AL West crown against the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels.

Teams from Seattle have a tendency to be overlooked, being tucked away in the Northwest corner of the country. It is easy to miss what's going on up there. The Mariners don't have a mainstream superstar or a household name to draw attention to them. However, they have an amalgamtion of young players who are hungry to win and veteran players who know how to win.

The team is energized by their young rookie Julio Rodriguez, who recently hit his first homer in the major leagues, posted by the team on Twitter.

"(Julio Rodriguez's) first run in the bigs goes 450 feet" -@Mariners

Passan tried his best to slow the rise of the Mariners, but I think his words will prove prophetic in a few months' time. Competition is high in the AL West, but the underdog Mariners could screw up the plans of superstars like Jose Altuve and Mike Trout. This team will make some noise before the 2022 season is all said and done.