Are the Mariners eliminated from playoff contention?

The start to the 2017  Mariners season has not been what fans expected up to this point. As the old saying goes, did the Mariners already lost the division in 2017?

It may sound like a broken record, but the Mariners have not started out the campaign on a good note. Spotty offense along with a pitching staff that can’t stay off the DL has led to a 20-25 record to this point.

Currently, the Mariners are last in the AL West and trail the division leading Houston Astros by 9.5 games. They also trail both wild card spots by 4.5 games.

But to answer the question at hand, there is still a chance that the Mariners can push through to the postseason.

Will it be easy? No. But can they pull off a miracle and recover from this horrible start? Maybe.

If any of this is to happen, there are a couple things that are going to need to happen.

1. James Paxton and the boys need to stay healthy

When 4/5 of your starting rotation is landed on the DL, you know that their is a serious health problem going on.

The Mariners haven’t even gotten a chance to see what Drew Smyly can do in a M’s uniform, so hopefully he can come back soon. As for Felix and Iwakuma, hopefully they are able to return in the near future and return to being their all-star selves.

And finally, James Paxton seems to be the key to all of our pitching problems. Not the fact that he was doing bad, but the fact that he was doing so great and still landed on the DL so early. My 2017 Cy Young prediction landed on the disabled list only after 6 starts.

But those 6 starts were so good, even our very own King would marvel at them. Paxton went 3-0 in 6 starts with a solid 1.43 ERA. In 37.2 innings he had 45 strikeouts and a whopping 0.98 WHIP.

When the Mariners can get the studs of their rotation back, the Mariners should see a return to their winning ways. Hopefully the current starters can get the team to around or at .500 so that when the regulars get back, they can hit the ground running.

2. Everything needs to come together at once

Although the Mariners boast the 27th worst team ERA in all of baseball, there have been successes for the M’s. The first key with the pitching is just to not give up so many runs early in games.

The second key for the team as a whole is to have the hitting and pitching be hot at the same time. The lineup is enjoying MVP type seasons from Jean Segura and Nelson Cruz. The rest of the lineup has been doing a great job of supporting the leading actors.

Even with the injury to Robinson Cano, the team has still managed to stay afloat offensively. If both the offense and pitching can get hot in sync, the team will thrive.

Next: Mariners struggling mightily, but can you blame them?

The odds are not in the favor of the Mariners, but they aren’t eliminated yet. As long as they can rebound from the rough series they just endured, the M’s should be able to sneak into the playoffs come October.