The Seattle Mariners are closing in on the Oakland Athletics

What place are the Seatle Mariners in? Third in the AL West, and third in the AL Wild Card race. I don’t know about you, but I find it sort of funny. I’m not laughing about how good the Seattle Mariners are playing, but I’m laughing at how bad other teams are playing.

The New York Yankees are 6th in the Wild Card, the Los Angeles Angels are 7th, and the Twins are 9th. Who would’ve thought? Now that the Seattle Mariners are in a solid spot, it makes Jerry Dipoto’s job a lot more complicated this month.

The Seattle Mariners have won eight games this month. The Oakland Athletics have won only five games in July.

At one point, it seemed like the Seattle Mariners had no chance of catching up to the Athletics. But now all of a sudden, the M’s can see the A’s just a couple of steps in front of them. The Mariners took the series from the Blue Jays, the Rangers, and the Angels twice during July.

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And if you take a step back, you really wonder how the M’s are where they are right now even after all of the injuries. No Evan White, Kyle Lewis, James Paxton, Justin Dunn, Justus Sheffield, and Sam Haggerty. Imagine how good the Mariners could be if we had at least Kyle Lewis and James Paxton?

On top of that, there are a few players that are underperforming right now: Marco Gonzales, Dylan Moore, and Tom Murphy. Imagine what could happen if they begin to turn the corner. Furthermore, we are still waiting for Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh to pick things up like we know they can.

Now, the M’s are going to play nine straight games against some tough teams. First, they will head to Colorado for two games and then return home to face the Athletics four times and then the first place Astros three times.

Now the Athletics don’t have such an easy schedule either. They play two against Shohei Ohtani and the Angels, four against us, and then two against the San Diego Padres. Things don’t get much easier for the Athletics in August.

The Athletics have to play two more against Fernando Tatis Jr., three against the Cleveland Indians, four against the White Sox, three against the Giants, two against the Mariners, and then four against the Yankees.

The Mariners on the other hand have a slightly easier schedule. The Mariners have three against the Rays, four against the Yankees, three against the Blue Jays, five against the Astros, and then two against the Athletics.

The Mariners are just 2.5 games behind the Athletics right now but I could see that flipping the other way. Especially if Jerry Dipoto can bring in a key piece at the deadline, the Seattle Mariners could seriously be in the playoff hunt.