Seattle Mariners Head To Oakland For Three Game Series

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After dropping two of three to the NL East-leading Washington Nationals, the Mariners head south for a critical three-game series against the Athletics, who were just swept by the Angels.

September is here and that means reinforcements. The A’s added a bat yesterday as they traded for Adam Dunn. The Mariners are hoping that the return of Michael Saunders, Corey Hart and the additions of other minor leaguers will produce more results than picking up someone off the waiver wire.

Here is the series preview.

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MATCHUPS:

Game One: Chris Young (12-6, 3.17 ERA) v. Jason Hammel (9-10, 3.72 ERA)

Edge? Chris Young.

Young is working on extra rest and Hammel hasn’t been what the Athletics were hoping for when they traded for him back in July. Young has been less effective on the road then he has at Safeco this year, but his last loss was July 13th at home against the A’s. He’ll look to return the favor on the A’s home field.

Game Two: James Paxton (4-1, 1.83 ERA) v. Sonny Gray (13-7, 3.03 ERA)

Edge? Tossup.

On one hand, you have Paxton, who suffered his first loss of his Major League career on August 20th, but rebounded in his next start against the Rangers. Then you have Gray, who had been dominant early all season, hit some serious speed bumps in August. Gray’s ERA in August was 4.38 as he went 1-4 and looked extremely beatable. If early season Sonny shows up, the M’s are in for a fight.

Game Three: Felix Hernandez (13-5, 2.23 ERA) v. Jon Lester (13-9, 2.55 ERA)

Edge? Tossup

Felix got roughed up in his last start and is now assured of not reaching 20 wins this season. This could very well be the pitching matchup we see in the Wild-Card game if these two teams squared off. Look for Felix and Lester both to be on their ‘A’ game in this playoff-type atmosphere. It will be “Must See TV”.

Wild-Card Standings:

Oakland Athletics: +4.0 games

Detroit Tigers: 0 games

Seattle Mariners: -0.5 games

Cleveland Indians: -3.0 games.

New York Yankees: -3.5 games