Season after season, they could only watch as someone else took their turn atop a place that seemed to grow farther away with each passing year.

When the 2001 Mariners ran away with the American League West, clinching their third division title (1995, 1997) on Sept. 19, and rolling to an MLB-record 116 wins, turning then-Safeco Field into the coolest place to be from April until October, damn if it didn’t feel like they would have winning teams forever.

But success in this game can be fleeting. Players age. Opponents improve. Business decisions become more important than baseball moves. Bad baseball moves leave lasting effects. Mediocrity seeps its way into a culture and becomes a resident.

But 24 seasons without winning a division title?

During that time, the Angels stopped saying the

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