Mariners enter huge weekend series a .5 game back

The Mariners are sitting just a half-game back of the second wild card race thanks to Thursday night losses by Los Angeles, Kansas City, Minnesota, and New York. Speaking of New York, this weekend, “Players Weekend,” the Mariners play three against the Bronx Bombers.

While the Yankees are well out in front of the other teams in the wild card race, this series is incredibly important for the Mariners, likely their biggest of the season. The key for Seattle is to survive the weekend. All they have to do is not get swept.

Recently, we talked on a podcast about how Seattle couldn’t just win two of three in every series and make the playoffs. We said it would take a long, sustained winning streak for this team to crack the postseason.

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Well, the AL’s mediocrity has gone to prove us wrong. If the M’s win at a two-of-three clip the rest of the year, they’ll wind up with 87-88 wins. That might be good for a wild card spot in a regular year, but especially in a year where everyone else isn’t great two-out-of three should do it for the Mariners.

Here’s the thing. Even though Seattle is 9-2-1 in series since the All-Star break, it’s not all that likely they can play at a two-of-three pace, especially when most of their games for the rest of the year are against solid/competitive teams. So, the M’s have to take wins when they get them, but at all costs avoid long losing streaks.

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If they can make it out of New York with one win, that would be really nice. They’d still be a game over .500 with 31 games to play. That’s not a half bad spot to be in. Especially as they are set to get Felix Hernandez and James Paxton back with the team soon.

So bust out your popcorn and buckle up for a big series in the Bronx this weekend where A-A Ron and Kraken will host Corey’s Brother and Ex-Yankee Don’t Ya Know. Go M’s.