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Amid Fear of a Work Stoppage, Baseball Is Stuck in Neutral

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Expected to still be rebuilding, this year’s Seattle Mariners offered a glimpse of their potential future. They won 90 games, the team’s highest total since 2003. Their hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2001 — the longest playoff drought among teams from the four major North American men’s professional sports leagues — were alive until the final day of the regular season.

So the mission for Jerry Dipoto, Seattle’s president of baseball operations, this off-season is clear: continue shaping the young team into a contender — with loosened purse strings from Mariners owners.