The Mariners need everything to go right against Boston

With the second-worst record in the MLB, the Mariners are on the brink. Now, going into a tough weekend series at Boston, the Mariners are going to need a lot of help if they’re going to win this series and have a shot at picking up the pieces of 2017.

Before Thursday’s game, the Mariners did something for the first time ever. Go five consecutive games scoring exactly one run. Each was a loss.

Thursday went well; a 4-2 win well. Finally, after days of awful pitching and abysmal hitting, the Seattle found their rhythm and knocked down one of the best teams in the league.

The problem for Mariners is that winning one of three is not going to help them climb out of the hole they’ve dug themselves.

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So, coming into a must-win series against Boston, they have to figure out what the heck is going on with their team.

Just on the surface, the M’s face Eduardo Rodriguez who’s turned in 6 straight quality starts and Rick Porcello the 2016 Cy Young winner. Saturday’s starter is TBA.

Seattle is sending out Yovani Gallardo, likely Rob Whalen, and Christian Bergman. All are  capable of the sterling outings, but all are also capable of getting shelled by opposing hitters.

Seattle checks in at 29th in team ERA. The Red Sox sit ninth. In team batting average, they are 15th, while Boston is second.

It could be a nightmare to see what a team hitting .272 is going to do against Gallardo, Whalen, and Bergman.

But you know, that’s why you play the game.

The M’s may be facing a tough team in the form of the Boston Red Sox, but that doesn’t mean they won’t pull out a big, tide-turning series win.

As previously mentioned, the three pitchers all have the potential to miss bats, and the Seattle hitting is solid, even if it has been non existent the last few games. They’ll just need to put both components together if they want to emerge with some hope for this season.

Next: The Mariners are awful; a timeline of the meltdown

This M’s team is good enough to sweep Boston, but it’s going to be a challenge. This weekend’s challenge is a microcosm of how the rest of the season will be. The Mariners need to step up and get some badly needed momentum for the rest of the year.