3 key factors to watch as Mariners travel to Houston to play the Astros

Dan Wilson's management of his starting pitching

I don't know what it is about Bryan Woo, but it seems like when things go south for him in starts, it goes from great to awful in no time flat. It happened again in the Rangers series as Woo gave up just two hits through five innings while walking none. Then, after getting a flyout to start the 6th, Woo gave up a single, a single, a single, and a homer, and then another walk and single before getting through the inning.

He was only at 60 pitches when he entered the inning, so it's not like he was pitching super deep into the game or on a lot of pitches. Although he might not have his full strength after the recurring injury bugs that have plagued him this season. Should he have been pulled after five innings?

Well, those are going to be the questions that Dan Wilson is going to have to answer against the Astros. Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby are set to throw. He's almost going to have to treat them like playoff games, giving extra thought to whether or not letting his starter get that extra inning is worth it or not. We know those guys can go seven innings, but a late blowup is too much to overcome for this offense.

The Astros lack of offense

At this point in the season, the Mariners actually hold the head-to-head matchup against the Astros with a 6-4 lead. In the Astros four wins, they've scored 5,4,3,4. In their losses, they've scored 0,4,2,2,1,4. It stands out that the Astros just haven't been able to do much on offense against the Mariners this season, and that's paramount to the Mariners success in this final series.

With an average of 2.9 runs compared to the Mariners average of...3.0 runs per game, it has all the makings of a low scoring series. There has been a lot made this season about the Mariners record and how drastically it changes in games of them scoring three or less runs as opposed to their record when they score four or more. The Mariners games against the Astros are a prime example of why that is. Getting to four runs nearly guarantees you a win.

If the Mariners can continue to quiet the Astros, they'll have a chance. Kyle Tucker is back with a vengeance, hitting .457/.558/.771 in his last 11 games... but it looks like the Astros may be without Yordan Alvarez in this series after hurting his knee against the Angels. If Alvarez does miss time and they can keep Tucker in check, the Mariners might just have a chance.

The AL Central and the Wild Card race

Those pesky AL Central teams. The Mariners haven't played well against the Royals, Twins, or Tigers this year, and it is going to cost them. Well, it already has, technically. The Mariners are 6-13 against them. Even if they were to sit a game under .500 against them at 9-10, they would be sitting all alone in the WC #2 spot, ahead of all three of them.

Instead, they are looking up at them, and don't hold a tiebreaker over any of them. They are 1-5 against the Tigers, 2-5 against the Twins, and 3-3 against the Royals. The Royals, however, have a better Intradivision (within your own division) record, and would hold that tiebreaker too. Unless the Mariners went 6-0 to finish the season and ended in a tie with the Royals and shared an Intradivision record... they would still lose the next tiebreaker of Interdivision (against other AL teams outside your division) record, with the Royals at 30-34 and the Mariners at 27-37.

Really, it means that the Mariners have a lot that needs to go their way in order to make it. They need to finish AHEAD of two of the AL Central teams. They can't tie with them, or their out.

But hey, wouldn't that be the most Mariners thing to see this year? Watching them go 6-0, losing the AL West by a single game, and then tying with the AL Central teams only to lose the tiebreaker to all of them? Let's hope it doesn't come down to that.