What is considered a successful season?

On the heels of my last post, and at the request of the same co-worker, I stated the obvious, but which bears repeating every so often:

No matter what, only one team out of 30 wins the World Series, two teams make it to the World Series, and only 8 of the 30 make it to the playoffs.

According to the logic that playoffs = good season, every year 22 teams have a bad season. But clearly, not every year is a "bad season" for all of those 22 teams.

Some years are rebuilding years -- you spend several years locked up in contracts with veterans trying to win a championship, and then have to rebuild when they retire or go to a different team.

Other years are just not your year -- injuries, a tough division, bad luck, you don't get some calls, etc.

And remember -- there's no recipe for a team that would win the World Series.

So here's my question to you: what makes for a successful baseball season? If it's World Series or nothing, that's fine -- it's your opinion and you're entitled to it. But seeing as how only one team wins the World Series, I don't think baseball would endure if it was an all-or-nothing investment for fans.

I look forward to your posts -- go Mariners!