No, the Mariners aren’t playing in the World Series this year. No surprise there. But that doesn’t mean Mariner fans have to sit out the Fall Classic without any thought of their hometown nine. In fact, there are plenty of Seattle connections featured during this series between the Brewers and Rays.
1B/OF Jake Bauers
2021: .220/.297/.275, 2 HR, 67 wRC+, 0.0 fWAR
2026: .266/.389/.484, 26 HR, 143 wRC+, 3.7 fWAR
By now, you’ve probably heard all about Jake Bauers’s story. How went from considering leaving
baseball entirely a few years ago to winning the NLCS MVP award last week. His story also briefly crosses paths with the Mariners — twice! Way back in 2018, Bauers was traded from the Rays to the Guardians as part of the three-way, Edwin Encarnacion/Yandy Díaz trade. (Weird that that trade included two key players during this postseason eight years later.) Bauers was later traded to Seattle in June 2021 and posted an ugly 67 wRC+ across 202 plate appearances during the second half of that season. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster at the end of the season and bounced between the Reds and Yankees before latching on with the Brewers in 2023.
INF Ben Williamson
2025: .253/.294/.310, 1 HR, 76 wRC+, 0.4 fWAR
2026: .238/.302/.318, 3 HR, 76 wRC+, 0.2 fWAR
Ben Williamson made his major league debut with the Mariners last year combining excellent defense at third base with a noodle bat at the plate. Recognizing a need for a more potent profile at a traditionally offense-focused position, the Mariners traded Williamson to the Rays during the offseason as part of the three-way, Brendan Donovan deal. With Junior Caminero manning the hot corner for Tampa Bay, Williamson spent most of the season as a utility infielder, splitting time between second base and shortstop. His defensive chops were stretched a little at those two up-the-middle positions and he matched his rookie campaign with a 76 wRC+ in 2026.
RHP Freddy Peralta
2015 (MiLB): 4.11 ERA, 2.32 FIP, 8.38 K/BB
2026: 4.42 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 2.48 K/BB, 1.9 fWAR
Both of the MVPs from this year’s LCS’s had ties to the Mariners, but you have to go all the way back to 2015 to find Freddy Peralta’s connection. He was dealt to the Brewers in the ill-fated Adam Lind trade as a 19-year-old prospect and made his major league debut just three years later. Peralta was traded to the Mets this past offseason and then dealt to the Rays at the trade deadline, so he’ll be facing his old ballclub in the World Series. His season started off pretty rough in New York — his ERA was just a hair under five in 22 starts before moving to Tampa Bay — but he got things back on track down the stretch and has allowed just two runs in 16.2 postseason innings so far.
RHP Brody Hopkins
2024 (MiLB): 2.90 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 2.38 K/BB
2026: 5.06 ERA, 6.29 FIP, 1.17 K/BB, -0.1 fWAR
Brody Hopkins was the headlining prospect sent to the Rays in the Randy Arozarena trade in 2024. He’s developed into a top 100 prospect and was ranked third in Tampa Bay’s preseason farm system rankings. His athleticism has helped him thrive on the mound even though he’s only truly focused on pitching for four years now — he was a two-way player in college. But that lack of experience has led to some developmental hurdles that have stalled his growth a bit. The biggest issue is his command; he was walking nearly a batter per inning in Triple-A, limiting his strikeout-to-walk ratio to just 1.3. His stuff is nasty, his velocity has played up in shorter stints out of the bullpen, but he simply can’t locate any of his pitches with any regularity.
Those four players are the most notable former Mariners playing in the World Series this year. A special mention goes to Casey Legumina who was a significant piece of the Rays bullpen since being traded to Tampa in April but wasn’t included on their ALDS or ALCS rosters. The Rays have the advantage with three players (four if you count Legumina), plus it seems like Arozarena will be cheering on his former club as loudly as he can this weekend.
Oh, and there’s the fact that the creator of Lookout Landing, Jeff Sullivan, is employed by the Rays. In a roundabout way, Tampa Bay’s success is also Lookout Landing’s success.
Even though the Brewers have only one former Mariner on their roster, the franchise started out as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. By the transitive property, a Milwaukee championship would also count as a Seattle championship, right?
If you’re looking for a team to bandwagon simply based on Mariners connections, you can’t go wrong with either team.
