Mariners can go into the All-Star Break on fire with a series win against the Angels

Oh how fast things in baseball can change. The Mariners just saw a big offensive explosion in the series opener against the Padres, and then the pitching staff threw a combined gem in a 2-0 win to earn the short sweep of the Fathers while in San Diego. Houston keeps winning, but the Mariners didn't let them get any closer these last two games.

Now, they head to face the Angels for a four-game series. The Padres were a good team, but the Angels will enter the series as the 5th worst team in all of baseball with the 4th most runs against as well. The Mariners have seen the Angels once already this year, and swept them in a three-game set back at the turn of May/June, outscoring them 19-5!

The Mariners have a great chance to go into the break 10 games above .500

There is a bit more to it than that, too. If the Mariners can just win the series, they'll enter the All-Star break 10 games above .500. Ponder that for a minute when you remember how poor this offense was for about a month. From June 5th-July 6th, they hit .202/.292/.354. Do you want to hear something even worse? The team's high mark on the season was actually the season opener when they were hitting .235. They haven't been above .230 since.

Getting above that is a long time away, even though the team would only need to hit like .245 which doesn't seem like a big deal. Why do I go through this? Because they hit .245 against the Angels the first time they played them. Could they look to do it again? The Mariners will see Jack Kochanowicz, who is making his MLB debut in the series opener. Then Tyler Anderson (2.81 ERA), Jose Soriano (3.81 ERA), and Roansy Contreras (4.87 ERA).

The Angels haven't been doing much better since May 29th, hitting .220/.296/.350 in those 37 games. While it's better than the Mariners by a bit, they've posted a 4.68 ERA as a team compared to the Mariners who have a 3.42 ERA in that same span.

The Mariners don't know what they are doing on the mound as of yet, with a TBD in game 2. Be prepared to see some moving around in the rotation, as it's likely that the Mariners will doing something different with Logan Gilbert to potentially set him up to be able to throw in the All-Star game.

Things are lining up for the Mariners to turn the page and finish the first half on a strong note. A weaker staff and a struggling offense could be just what the Mariners need to go into the All-Star break 10 games over .500. Now, it's time to make it happen.