Mariners gifted potential life raft amid recent slide and must take advantage

After this weekend, the Seattle Mariners have a good chance of being the top Wild Card team in the American League standings.

How, you ask? The team has lost six of its last seven games, and it looks like they are spiraling out of control. How are they going to soon be atop the AL Wild Card dog pile?

The answer lies in the schedule. Seattle has been gifted a life raft by the weekend schedule, which pits them against the rival Athletics for three games at T-Mobile Park. More importantly, the schedule has the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, the Mariners' top two contenders for the No. 4 seed, against each other for four games this weekend.

The Mariners can't mess up a sudden gift from the schedule

Currently, Seattle is tied with Boston for the No. 2 Wild Card and sits 1.0 game back of the Yankees. After this weekend, there's a good chance they can sneak ahead of New York into the top wild-card spot. If Boston can steal even one win against the Yankees, and the Mariners can capitalize with a sweep over the 57-70 A's, they can pick up ground in the battle for a home playoff series.

Of course, sweeping the Athletics is easier said than done. The A's have won 15 of their last 23 games, and are 6-4 in their last ten. They've been playing much better baseball since the All-Star break, and have a growing number of young stars. Nick Kurtz could prove to be a handful for the Mariners as he continues to set the league on fire in his quest to win AL Rookie of the Year.

The Mariners, meanwhile, need to pull themselves together. Their road trip has not been pretty, but their return to Seattle should correlate with a new winning streak. If they can take advantage, it gives them a good chance of gaining a leg up on the competition.

Of course, Seattle also needs to keep winning to keep pace with the Houston Astros, who they trail by only 1.5 games in the AL West. Their final series against the Astros is now less than a month away.

If the Mariners can stay within striking distance until they take on Houston September 19-21, they give themselves a shot at winning their first division title since 2001. That would guarantee a home playoff series even if they do not finish ahead of Boston and New York.