SEATTLE — Don’t look now, but the American League West standings are getting interesting, with fewer than 40 games left in the season.
The Seattle Mariners, who were 10 games back of the Texas Rangers on July 19, are now back only two games thanks to the Rangers getting swept over the weekend by the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle sweeping the Houston Astros, and a big win over the White Sox on Monday combined with a late-night, extra innings loss by the Rangers in Arizona.
The Mariners are now in the third Wild Card spot, with the top of the division well within reach. Not bad for a team that looked to be giving up at the trade deadline when they traded closer Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks.
Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode of the Locked On Mariners podcast discussed the team’s surge and why they are threatening to take over the lead in the AL West on a recent episode.
Gonzalez joked by asking, “Colby, who is this offense, and what have they done with the Seattle Mariners?”
Patnode also joked around and answered, “I don’t know what’s going on. No, I do. Julio (Rodriguez), Tesoscar (Hernandez), and Ty (France), all got hot at the same time.”
How hot?
The Mariners scored a season-high 14 runs against the White Sox on Monday night without the red-hot reigning American League player of the week, Julio Rodriguez, in the lineup. No need to worry. It was a scheduled day off for him.
Cal Raleigh also contributed to the win on Monday with a home run, and Luis Castillo, who ran into a little bit of trouble in the first inning by giving up two doubles, retired 15 White Sox in a row at one point and also threw 47 consecutive fastballs.
Hey, if it works, keep doing it.
The Mariners are now 15 games above .500 at 70-55, a mark they didn’t reach last year until September 1, 2022, so they are ahead of schedule this season.
Their odds of making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs, are now 63.9 percent, and their odds of winning the division are up to 19.1 percent.
This is the time for the Mariners to gain ground in the division. After they face the White Sox, they will face the Kansas City Royals and Oakland A’s, two of the worst teams in the Majors. The Rangers will face Arizona for one more game, then play series in Minnesota against the Twins and in New York against the Mets. The Astros are currently facing the Boston Red Sox at home, will travel to Detroit to face the Tigers, and they’ll see Boston again in Fenway.
Advantage? Mariners. But will they actually take advantage of the weaker opponents? That remains to be seen, but things are getting interesting and fun in the American League West, and in a month, the standings could look very different than they do now.
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