Mariners have no room for error against Yankees in matchup with the AL's best

Despite falling apart late in the first game of the series against the Rangers, the Mariners were able to finish strong and actually win the series behind some solid pitching and homer heroics. They now get a rare off day in the midst of a homestand, earning a much needed day off in Seattle before welcoming the best team in the American League to town for a three-game series.

That's right, the Yankees will be heading to Seattle. The Yankees have an off day Monday as well, so even if the Guardians beat the Twins on Monday (and let's hope they do), the Yankees will still have the best record in the American League.

The Mariners need their A game to beat the Yankees

It goes without saying that the Mariners are going to have their hands full with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. The series will likely go as they go. They're two of the 5 best hitters in baseball and can single-handedly blow a team out with just the two of them. Judge is sitting at 53 homers, and i think it needs to be considered a "win" against him if you can keep him to a single homer in the series. He can go off, and do it quickly, so keeping him from getting hot is of the utmost importance.

Soto actually has 39 homers of his own, with 100+ walks, runs, and RBI. The Mariners getting to face them in Seattle might just be one of the best matchups for Seattle out of anyone in baseball. The starting rotation is one of the best in baseball, and actually easily clear the rest of the league in best home ERA with a 2.78 with the Cubs in second at 3.15.

The Mariners offense looked a lot better against the Rangers, scoring 4, 5, 5, 7 during the series. They'll have to be on the top of their game against the Yankees, who are throwing Luis Gil (3.18 ERA), Nestor Cortes (3.90), and Clarke Schmidt (2.41 ERA). The Mariners will throw Woo and Miller, then Hancock in the Thursday afternoon finale.

Sitting 2.5 games back of the Twins (which is really 3.5 since they don't have the tiebreaker) and 4.5 back of the Astros, the Mariners can't give any games away. With only 12 games left, the Mariners need to keep up the level of play we saw against the Rangers in those final three games of the series. Go Mariners!