A good friend of mine met with Mariner management years ago (maybe 12-15?) they told him to his face they didn't WANT to go to the playoffs too often. It made their players more visible and made them more expensive in arbitration.
He ran a data/analytics company then.
They asked him to put together numbers to show how often they could miss the playoffs and still keep fan interest.
Specifically, when asked about goals (since he originally go the meeting to share how data could help scouting) he was told that the goal was not to win the World Series or to go to the playoffs, in fact they didn't want to go to the playoffs too often (see above).
Their goal was to be a top 10 in attendance ball club and hit certain #s in merch.
Sounds like they nailed it based on what I've seen so far.
The Mariners rarely go to playoffs. Just squeaked in last year. Still get lots of merch sales. Lots of fan interest.
(Plenty of hope being sold for a team that rarely does anything)
BTW The Mariners are ranked 10th in MLB attendance....just like the Mariners wanted back then. 1 playoff run in 21 years, and people still buy tickets and hats. The Ms must be thrilled to see their projections worked out so well. Amazing.