1st-place Mariners suddenly making fans believe something special is happening

The Seattle Mariners are proof of what a difference a week can make. From last Friday to this Friday, they have gone from nearly spiraling out of the American League playoff picture to being in a tie for first place in the AL West, and they have done it in the most normal way possible.

Just kidding. Their season has gone downright batty.

The Mariners have won six straight games since a 4-1 loss in Atlanta last Friday, and the two most recent wins feel straight from the bottom of a barrel for every idea that has ever existed. They won in the 13th inning on Wednesday on a walk-off home run by Leo Rivas, and they did it again in the 12th inning on Thursday on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Harry Ford.

You're going to want to hear the context on all this, because it's even more ridiculous than you're probably thinking.

The Mariners are finding every possible way to win games in must-win times

Here's a selection of fun facts about the Mariners' last two wins from around the baseball world:

• Daniel Kramer MLB.com: This is the first time the Mariners have won back-to-back games of at least 12 innings.
• OptaSTATS: Since 1920, the Mariners are the only MLB team to have a player who did not start the game deliver a walk-off RBI in the 12th inning or later in back-to-back games.
• Sarah Langs of MLB.com: Rivas is the 20th player with a walk-off home run in the 13th inning or later for his first or second career home run.
• Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic: Ford's walk-off RBI came before he got his first hit, walk or even start as a major leaguer.

This is not exactly how the Mariners drew it up, because no team in its right mind would ever draw up anything like this. But if it works, it works, and it's not as if the fanbase is complaining about the team being in first place at the latest point in a season since 2001.

There is a limit to how trustworthy this all feels. The Mariners teasing big things only to wilt as soon as they seem on the verge of becoming possible is a song and dance that fans know all too well. And as thrilling as it has been to take the ride during this six-game win streak, the Mariners could have (and perhaps should have) lost each of the last four games.

At the same time, the Mariners are right where they're meant to be. Their winning percentage for the season is .537, which rounds up to 54 percent. It's the figure with which Mariners fans love to taunt Jerry Dipoto, but you have to give the guy credit for setting a clear goal and getting there so regularly.

Besides, the whole 54 percent thing is rooted in a real desire to finally get the Mariners to the World Series. And even if the Mariners don't rise above their current projection for 87 wins, a trip to the Fall Classic is feeling more realistic by the day.

This is as talented an offense as there is in MLB. More recently, the bullpen has finally come fully online. And even if its reality has consistently been misaligned with its theoretical excellence, the rotation at least looks how it's supposed to look.

What seemed to be missing amid a 6-15 run between August 13 and September 5 was some kind of spark. As it turns out, what the Mariners actually needed was a spell to conjure up a magical vibe. A proper World Series contender inevitably has to have one of those, too.

The future will tell how real any of this is, but it's nice to have encouraging prognostications in the meantime. According to FanGraphs, the Mariners are the favorite in the AL West to win the division, the pennant, and the World Series.

Perhaps it all feels too good to be true. But after 48 years without a World Series appearance, aren't the Mariners overdue for a season where that feeling just never goes away?