The Seattle Mariners went 85-77 this past season and ended up missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year. It was a frustrating season in many ways for Seattle, who failed to hold a 10.0 game division lead in mid-June and put together a dreadful mid-June through mid-August that resulted in manager Scott Servais's firing.

The Mariners' second near-miss of the playoffs in the past two years prompted significant leadership changes before the season drew

Entering the offseason, the Mariners have real questions about how to handle a rising payroll, if they can afford to add from the outside to that payroll, how to address the slump