Crucial Astros injury is just what Mariners need to gain ground in AL West

Unfortunately for Seattle Mariners fans, the Houston Astros have been on a tear recently. Even after losing two pivotal pieces in Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker during the offseason and Yordan Alvarez to injury, they've managed to climb to 17 games above .500 and are 7.0 games ahead of the Mariners in the AL West. However, their recent misfortunes may be just what Seattle needs to get back on top.

Shortly after taking a pitch to the body last Friday, Houston announced that star shortstop Jeremy Peña had fractured a rib, sending him to the injured list with an unclear timeline to return.

Jeremy Peña's injury is a window of opportunity for the Mariners

Peña has been the Astros' most valuable player this season, posting a 143 OPS+ with seven Defensive Runs Saved and 4.6 rWAR before the All-Star break. With Yordan Alvarez also stuck in rehabilitation limbo, Houston will need to make do without two of their most impactful players.

An injured athlete is never good news, but the silver lining for the Mariners is that it could deplete the Astros' lineup just enough for them to catch up. If there was ever a time or signal for the front office to go all-in at this year's trade deadline, it would be this. Prior to this unfortunate circumstance, it was already reported that Seattle was poised to be aggressive heading into the second half of the regular season. Now it seems that their incentives are even more aligned.

Still, the road ahead is far from a smooth one. A deficit of 7.0 games is no small gap to close and the Astros may actually be depending more on their pitching staff than their lineup for their success. Houston's ERA of 3.49 is the fifth-best mark in MLB and they only seem to be getting better. Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are one of the deadliest starting pitching tandems in the sport and the bullpen has been lights out. There are four relievers on the Astros with sub-2.00 ERA and more than 20 innings pitched: Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Bennett Sousa, and Shawn Dubin.

If the Mariners do want to be taken seriously when it comes to postseason contention, they'll need to make a big splash and perhaps take some unexpected risks. They already have a roughly 60 percent chance to crack the playoffs according to FanGraphs, but if they want a real chance to increase their championship equity, this crucial injury to a division rival could be the start of a major spike in momentum that gives them an inside track to October.