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

Well, it's about that time, folks. The Mariners season is officially hanging on by a thread, especially when it comes to the AL West. After blowing a handful of easily winnable games over the last couple of weeks, the Mariners enter a series against the Astros sitting 5 games back in the division. While they were oh so close to being only 1-2 games back, baserunning snafus, bullpen blowups, and defensive miscues have doomed the team in September.

The 5 game mark is just enough for the Mariners to have the slightest of chances to still win the division. They have the tiebreaker with the Astros, and need to sweep them to keep hopes alive as the magic number is just 2 for the Astros. An Astros win is automatically paired with a Mariners loss and gives them the division. A sweep by the Mariners would see them sit at 2 games back as they leave town, keeping hopes alive.

So, what should we be looking out for in the divisional matchup? The Mariners are hanging on by the slightest of threads, and they've wasted all their opportunities over the last three weeks, and can't afford anymore mistakes. Here are the 3 key factors that we need to watch for as the Mariners get set to play three games against 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 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.