Mariners vs Yankees: Seattle looks to slow down the best team in the American League

After losing the series to the Baltimore Orioles, one of the best teams in baseball, you would hope you would be able to gather yourself, take a breath, and lick your proverbial wounds. That's what the Mariners needed in order to get right. Instead, they leave Baltimore and instantly leave for an even tougher task... a four-game series with the best team in the American League, the New York Yankees.

I believe that if the Mariners can make it out of this four-game set with a split, that they should view that as a win in the grand scheme of things. The Yankees are playing some of the best ball in the game, and the Mariners are going to need to play near-perfect ball against them to have a chance.

The Mariners face an ever-dangerous Yankees team in a 4-game series

You would hope that Luke Raley and Dylan Moore keep hitting, because outside of them, not that many people in the lineup have been hitting well. The Mariners are hitting .242/.301/.393 over the last 15 days, but when you realize that Raley is hitting .395, Julio is hitting .308, and Moore is hitting .282, it makes you realize how bad the rest of the lineup is doing. The Mariners can find wins against .500ish teams with performances like that, but not against the Yankees.

The Yankees have the third-best run differential in baseball, backed by the fewest runs allowed and the 4th most scored. It's an incredible combo, and if the Mariners can't put some innings together on offense, it could get real ugly, real quick.

Kirby is the only one who won't see a start this series, as he threw the finale against the Orioles. We've seen historic outings from the Mariners staff this season so far, but there are few things in baseball like going up against Judge and Soto. Judge is absolutely on fire lately, hitting .415/.556/1.024 over his last 15 days. Meanwhile, Soto is hitting .311/.411/.552 on the season with 20 XBH.

Oh, and Giancarlo Stanton is feeling it as well, with 11 homers on the season and a slash of .252/.301/.516. Volpe is going for another 20/20 season, Berti is coming into his own, and Anthony Rizzo has been dangerous. There are little-to-no weaknesses in this lineup.

It's not just the hitting. Remember earlier when I said the fewest runs allowed? Here are the ERAs that the Mariners are going to face from their rotation.
3.33 - Stroman
2.49 - Schmidt
3.56 - Cortes
2.39 - Gil

That's so good. Obviously, ERA doesn't tell the whole story of a pitcher, but New York has looked really good, and that's even without the reigning Cy Young winner in Gerrit Cole. Their bullpen is even better, led by Mr. 0 ERA himself Clay Holmes. 20 innings and no runs is wild. If the Mariners can score a run off him to break his streak, it'll be a celebration in its own right.

Things aren't going to be easy. You can see why a split would feel like a win in this series. If the Mariners can leave for the other Washington with a 3-4 record in the trip up to that point, I'll be happy. Go Mariners!