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The Mariners have remarkably little post-season success
The Mariners have markedly less playoff experience and subsequent success than the rest of the entire MLB, which shows just how bad the franchise has been throughout its history.
The argument
The Seattle Mariners, throughout their 44 seasons of existence, have had little to no success at achieving the ultimate crown of the MLB: the World Series championship title. Failure of that kind is not unique in baseball — there are currently six teams that have never won a World Series in their history — but the Mariners fail by a stricter measure than the others. Though the Texas Rangers are the oldest team without a title, the Seattle Mariners are the only team in baseball who have never even made it to the World Series. Losing the final is a form of near-success; never reaching it across four decades is the absence of even that. The record beneath the headline is no better. Throughout Mariners history they have only made the postseason four times, an average of well under one playoff appearance for every ten years of existence. Reaching the postseason is the minimum evidence that a season amounted to anything, and the franchise has cleared that bar roughly once a decade. They have made the ALCS on three separate occasions — in 1995, 2000, and 2001 — and lost each series 4-2, so that even the seasons that went furthest ended the same way, one round short. What makes the case for futility rather than mere bad luck is the persistence of it. The Mariners are currently the team with the longest postseason appearance drought, at 18 seasons, and their previous lengthy drought also spanned their first 18 seasons, extending from 1977 to 1994. Two 18-season droughts account for most of the franchise's existence, leaving only a narrow window in between during which the team was competitive at all. The current drought is also the longest postseason drought in all major North American sports — not merely in baseball, which is what makes the Mariners a candidate for the least successful franchise of all time.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Though the Mariners' history is not the most successful in terms of postseason play, there are several older franchises (like the Rangers, Padres, and Brewers) that have never won a World Series as well. Should they be penalized more for existing longer without a title to show for it? When the Mariners did make the playoffs those four times, they made the ALCS on three separate occasions, which is still respectable for a franchise that barely makes the postseason at all. One incredible feat for the Mariners is their seemingly unbeatable record of 116-46 in 2001; the most regular season wins in all of MLB history. For a purportedly bad franchise, that is an amazing record to have and one that will certainly hold for a long time.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Franchise success should not be solely based upon reaching the World Series or how far into the playoffs a team gets. [Rejecting P2] There are teams arguably worse than the Mariners in both of these categories, and the Mariners had the most regular season success in the history of baseball. [Rejecting P3] The Mariners should not be discounted for these reasons.