2 reasons the Mariners will make the playoffs and 2 reasons they won't

Reason #2 Mariners miss the playoffs: It's too little, too late

This is the biggest and most obvious one, so I decided to save it for last. I'll say it again because it needs to be said, but the Mariners had a 10-game lead in the AL West on June 18th. The worst it got after that was a 6-7 game deficit for them behind the Astros. It's not even that the Astros were playing incredible baseball, but that the Mariners were actually one of the worst teams in baseball for a 2-month stretch, having the 4th worst record in baseball from June 18th into the back half of August.

Simply put, a hot stretch to finish the season might not be enough, depending on how the Twins and the Astros do. The Mariners are no longer in control of their own destiny, even though that Astros series makes it close. Shoot, if things fall right by the time the Mariners get there, they actually could be in charge of their own destiny, but things have to fall the right way.

That being said, it really does look like it is going to be too little too late for the Mariners to make the playoffs. Giving up 16 games in two months really hurts, but hey, who would've thought that having an offense that couldn't score runs would come back to bite you.