Seattle Mariners: This is the perfect time for a playoff push

We all know that through the first 30-35 games of the season, the Seattle Mariners had one of the toughest schedules in all of baseball. In fact, depending on where you look, they had somewhere around the third to fifth most difficult schedule up to that point.

It’s been a bit easier since then (other than the Padres series which I don’t want to talk about), and it gets even better going forward. After taking two of three from the division-leading Oakland Athletics, they have a golden opportunity to continue their climb up the divisional ranks. Let’s take a look at the next three weeks or so to investigate just what could happen.

• Four at home against the Texas Rangers (22-29)
• Three at home against Oakland (29-22)
• Four at the Angels (22-27)
• Three at Detroit (19-30)
• Three at Cleveland (26-21)
• Three at home against the Twins (20-29)

I don’t know about you, but that length of schedule for the Mariners looks very… promising?

The Mariners just showed that they can play well against Oakland. Getting Marco back is definitely going to help as well. The bullpen has been a bit taxed lately, and even if Marco doesn’t get stretched out for a few games, he eats the innings that they had been previously throwing. For a bullpen torn up by injuries, it’s welcome news.

Oddly enough, we showed that we can hang with and beat Cleveland as well, taking three of four from them earlier in the season. As it has seemed to be for decades with the Seattle Mariners, it’s going to come down to how they play against the sub-500 teams.

Remember, they got shut down and embarrassed by the Tigers in their first series. They didn’t play well against the Rangers either. The Twins are an injury-plagued mess on offense, making the Mariners feel a bit sympathetic with their plight. The Angels are without Trout, meaning they only have one of the top-five players in baseball instead of two. I still don’t like you for choosing Anaheim over Seattle Mr. Ohtani.

The Mariners have an incredible 20 game stretch coming up. If they can take solid advantage of the teams that they are about to play, we could see them bounce back to near or above .500 once they reach the 70-game mark in the season. Don’t be surprised if you take a look at the standings on June 17th to see that the Mariners are sitting at 36-34. When you wonder how they got there, just remember that I told you it was going to happen.

OH, or, you know… they’ll be 32-38, cause that’s just what the Mariners seem to do against sub-500 teams.