Back on April 16, a date so far in the past that Danny Almonte still was 12 years old and there were only 28 people in line for Ichiro bobblehead night, Alex Rodriguez returned to Seattle for the first time since signing with Texas. In a carefully prepared news conference so dripping in saccharine it could have killed lab rats, A-Rod praised Seattle as much as possible, even predicting that the Mariners were so good they could win 115 games.

	Ichiro has a shot at George Sisler's record, but a little rest will mean more in October.

Those who didn't openly laugh at that prediction groaned, their eyeballs rolling so far back in their heads they looked like the zombies in "Night of the Living Dead." But as baseball plunges into the final month of the season, it turns out A-Rod might have been pessimistic. At last glance, the Junior-less, Big Unit-light and sans A-Rod Mariners were on pace to win 116 games, not a mere 115.

The 116 victories would tie the major league record held by the 1906 Cubs (who did it in just 152 games for a .763 winning percentage that may never be broken) and break the American League record of 114 wins set by the 1998 Yankees. If the Mariners win 117 games, they would also break the American League record for highest winning percentage (.721), set by Cleveland in 1954.

Funny Nose and Glasses Night seems a long time ago.

Can the Mariners make history? They have 24 games left, half against teams with losing records (Tampa Bay 2, Baltimore 3, Texas 7), six against the Angels and six against surging Oakland. They have 15 games at home and nine on the road, where they have a .736 winning percentage and have yet to lose a series this season.

"The (victory) record is something in the back of our minds," second baseman Bret Boone said. "But we really have to get into the middle of the month to see where we are."

Seattle has been as consistent as February cloud cover, winning 20 games in April, 20 in May, 18 in June, 18 in July and 20 in August. The Mariners have yet to lose three games in a row; the only team to go an entire season without doing so was the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates. No team has swept the Mariners, who will become the seventh club in history to be in first place from wire-to-wire (manager Lou Piniella's 1990 Reds were the fifth).

How deep are the Mariners? They not only clinched a spot in the postseason with Monday night's victory, four of their farm clubs are already playing in minor-league postseasons.

The offense's recent slump is a concern, however. While only one team has scored more runs than Seattle (the Rangers), the Mariners have been held to three or fewer runs six times in their past nine games, three of the four shutouts thrown against them have come in the past three weeks and they've scored one or no runs in the first nine innings in four games the past week.

What could also work against Seattle is its lead. With the Mariners likely to clinch the division within a week, the rest of the season will be spent resting key players, keeping the starting pitchers strong and playing some callups. That doesn't mean the team won't try to win or that a callup can't be productive (remember Shane Spencer in 1998?), but the team's focus will shift from regular-season victories toward preparing itself for the postseason and trying to reach the World Series for the first time.

"Breaking the record would be nice, but we're not going to tax the team at all to achieve it, I can tell you that," Piniella said. "The important thing is to stay healthy and rest this baseball team and get into the postseason, and whatever amount of wins that is, that is."

	“	If the record happens, it will happen with my team getting a lot of rest. ”
		— Lou Piniella, Seattle manager

Killjoy.

"If the record happens," Piniella said, "it will happen with my team getting a lot of rest."

(The Yankees were one game better than the Mariners at this point in the 1998 season, 100-38, before slowing their winning pace while preparing for the postseason.)

Pitching coach Bryan Price said whether and how much to rest a pitcher depends on the individual. He said Paul Abbott and his sore groin might benefit from a few extra days between starts, as could Freddy Garcia. Jamie Moyer, on the other hand, likes to stick to a routine. The Mariners might pitch rookie Joel Piniero out of the bullpen a time or two to get him accustomed to that role should they decide to use him in relief during the postseason.

"I don't think there's any one set strategy. You have to go on a case by case basis," Price said. "If you cut a starter back on his innings and then suddenly ask him to bump it back up to 115 pitches in the postseason, they might get stuck at 90 pitches, and you don't want that."

The flip side of resting players is making sure they maintain their edge. "That's the really tricky part," Piniella said. "You can't have it both ways. You're getting ready for the postseason and that's the bottom line. And then you look at who's swinging the bat well, because that will have a determination on who you play."

The opportunity to rest players may also have an effect on individual marks. Ichiro has already played as many games as he ever did in Japan (where the seasons are shorter) and he may get a couple days off. Any games missed would severely damage his outside chance of breaking George Sisler's record for most hits in a season.

Sisler had 257 hits in 1920 and Ichiro needs 46 in Seattle's final 24 games to tie the mark, so it won't be very easy even if he plays every game. But that record is of far less concern to the Mariners than how many hits he could get in the postseason if fully rested.

The victory record could serve as a goal while the Mariners slog through their remaining games. One scout says the team has gotten bored due to its huge lead, but works itself up when it needs to avoid losing that dreaded third game in a row. Whether the scout is right or not, the team clearly takes that mark seriously.

Could the record provide similar incentive? "We don't need that," Boone said. "We just go out and do it. We've just gone out and done it the whole season."

Whether the Mariners make history they will almost certainly achieve one dubious mark that demonstrates how far this 2001 team has taken the franchise from its former persona as losers. With five more wins, Seattle will surpass its victory total for 1980 and 1981 combined (103).

Jim Caple is a Senior Writer for ESPN.com.