Mariners star Julio Rodriguez says 2025 ALCS loss only made the team hungrier

The Mariners spent the offseason plotting how they were going to get back to the postseason after coming within one win of the World Series a year ago

Mar 24, 2024; Peoria, Arizona, USA; Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez (44) hits a single against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

In 2025, Seattle Mariners' outfielder and MLB megastar Julio Rodriguez got a taste of the most successful season of his young career. He also experienced his most heartbreaking loss when his team was eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. It was the kind of double-edged sword that's tough to swallow, even for a player as gifted as J-Rod.

The 25-year-old hit .267, with 32 home runs, 95 RBI, and 30 stolen bases last season, and he was often the protection in the batting order behind 60-home run hitter Cal Raleigh. Still, even at Spring Training, the bittersweet postseason run is stuck in his gut, and he says the only cure is to finally win it all.

“We all wanted to win. We all felt like we had enough to win,” Rodríguez commented on Thursday when speaking with Seattle Sports' Brock & Salk. “There was a lot of rage and frustration. But after that, there was a lot of release, and then I started thinking about the positive things that happened in the year, and a lot of things that we can build on as a really young and good group of baseball players that we have here on the team."

"So, I just feel like I needed to have that moment to be able to actually see the clear picture of it... “Sometimes you just gotta let it go. You can’t be holding so much inside,”

Rodriguez is an unselfish AL MVP candidate

Many around baseball believe this will be J-Rod's biggest year yet. Entering the 2026 campaign, he was selected as the top candidate for the AL MVP Award, according to MLB.com's preseason rankings. However, the international superstar says that he's more focused on finally bringing the first World Series title home to the Emerald City.

“Once you get a taste of that – what an actual playoff is – and you experience it as a team, I feel like you just get addicted to it,” Rodríguez said. “Like, that’s the best baseball that you can play."

"And once you actually put stats and numbers and years aside and you just play baseball, really like the pure game of baseball as a team, that gets addicting, at least for me... Being able to be so close to something so special as a group, I think it really made this team hungrier."