Seattle Mariners find themselves right back in the MLB playoff race. After a rough week against the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics to start September, it was becoming clear that the Mariners season might be over...
Well, that changed quickly, the Mariners started playing good baseball again under new Manager Dan Wilson, and it seemed like they were given a real chance in the AL wild card.
Interestingly enough, the Mariners are now actually closer to the AL West lead than the final AL Wild Card spot after the Houston Astros lost two games in a row to the Oakland Athletics.
The Seattle Mariners now sit 3.5 games back of the Astros, and 4 games back of the AL Wild Card last spot.
Astros lose to the Athletics again.
— Seattle Mariners ON Tap (@MarinersONTap) September 12, 2024
Mariners now 4 games back, a win tonight against the Padres would put the Mariners at 3.5 games back.
There are 16 games left for the Mariners in the season, so it's not going to be easy to make up these 3.5 games to the Astros, but they do face off in Houston against the Astros in the second to last series of the season.
The hope will be that by the time the Mariners and Astros play, Mariners will make up another game or two. If that is the case, it could come down to the winner of that series being the winner of the AL West division. Mariners must play really well, and hope for the Astros to struggle a bit down the stretch.
The one issue that I would say, the schedule is not very easy. SEVEN games against the Texas Rangers, THREE games against the New York Yankees, THREE games against the Houston Astros, THREE games against the Oakland Athletics.