Mariners Magic Number: Braves blowout finally gives Seattle sliver of breathing room

If there's one indisputable reality when it comes to the Mariners, it's that they never, ever make things easy for their fanbase. So when they followed up a 10-1 record following the trade deadline with two horrendous road trips, it came as little surprise to anyone in Seattle.

The resulting anxiety from the Mariners' seemingly attempting to lose a playoff spot was very real for the fans. Fortunately for them, the team managed to end their most recent road trip with two successive wallopings of the Braves in Atlanta.

This doesn't mean all is good in the world again, but at least there is some reason to replace the palpitations with feelings of renewed calmness and hope. Despite all the losing the Mariners have put on the fanbase in the past few weeks, they remain in a playoff spot ahead of a seven-game homestand which begins on Monday night versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

With 19 games left for the Mariners, we're now officially into the magic numbers portion of the season, which MLB.com describes as representing the combination of wins needed by that team and losses by its closest competitor to clinch a given goal. As per Motor City Bengals, there are two formulas you can use to find the magic number:

• Games remaining +1 - (Losses by second place team - losses by first place team) OR
• 163 - (First-place team's win total + second-place team's loss total) = magic numbers

Through September 7 the Mariners are 75-68, and sit 2.5 games back of the Houston Astros at the top of the AL West. They also hold the third and final AL wild card spot and have a 1.5-game advantage over the Texas Rangers, 2.0 games over the Kansas City Royals and 2.5 games over the Cleveland Guardians.

Calculating the Mariners' magic number

The magic number for the Mariners to clinch the third wild card spot is 18, which alludes to yet another tight finish to the season given the aforementioned 19 games left on their schedule. How much this number changes will be impacted just as much by the results of the Rangers, Royals and Guardians as much as their own.

We recently wrote about the Mariners' head-to-head season records versus their competitors for a playoff spot, with them being particularly favored by a 10-3 record versus the Rangers. The M's also have a 4-2 advantage over the Guardians but are tied 2-2 with the Royals, which puts plenty of onus on the upcoming three-game series between the two teams in Kansas City.

What about the Mariners winning the AL West?

We appreciate there might be those wondering about the Mariners' magic number to win the AL West, but this is a position they don't currently hold. What we can say is that the Astros' magic number to win the division is 17 games.

The situation is similar to the one with the Royals, in that the Mariners are tied 5-5 in their head-to-head season series with the Astros. As long as the M's can stay in touch during this homestand and in Kansas City, the three-game series in Houston will be must-watch television. (ESPN must also be banking on this, having picked up the series finale for Sunday Night Baseball.)

The previous two seasons have been particularly painful for the Mariners, with them finishing both times just one game back of the playoff spots. It figures to be tight again in 2025, but at least this time they are in control of their destiny, with fans hoping to successfully count down the magic number to zero.