Division rival, Angels, could help the Mariners secure the AL West
Ugh. I hate rooting for the Angels. While the Astros and Mariners have one of the newer, but more intense rivalries in baseball, the Angels have been a distant fourth place team over the last five or so years. The Angels are one of the most terribly run franchises and continuously make bad decisions surrounding some of the biggest stars in the game (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani). They don't have much to play for at this point and have a fairly easy schedule as they play the White Sox in six of their final 13 games.
Unfortunately, I will be an Angels fan this upcoming weekend. Los Angeles will head to Houston in a four-game set that could play an incredible role in the Mariners staking claim of the AL West and making the playoffs this year. It might be wishful thinking, but even if the Angels could split the series with Houston, that could put the Mariners in position to take the division lead with a sweep of Houston. The Angels may just roll over and be looking towards next year, but hopefully Houston overlooks Los Angeles, and they can snag a couple of games from them to help Seattle out.
I mean...it could happen. Mariners' fans will be Angels fans this upcoming weekend, but we are probably better off rooting for the Padres today and tomorrow.