The Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 12-4 Wednesday afternoon, which means Seattle will still have everything to play for in its season-ending four-game home series against the Oakland A’s.
Seattle still has a legitimate shot at earning a spot in the postseason. Seattle’s victory over Houston essentially eliminated Houston from contention. That means it’s a four-way race for the two berths between Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit and Seattle. Here’s where the teams stood at 5:50 p.m Wednesday:
Toronto: 87-70 (+2.0)
Baltimore 85-72 (0.0)
Detroit 84-73 (-1.0)
Seattle 84-74 (-1.5)
Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit were still live in games, with the Orioles trailing Toronto 2-0 in the sixth and the Tigers trailing the Cleveland Indians 1-0 with the game delayed by rain in the third.
Seattle actually has the advantage in scheduling. The Mariners are the only one of the four contenders that finishes the season at home, and Seattle faces a down-and-out Oakland team that has nothing left to play for.
Baltimore and Toronto play one more game before the Blue Jays wrap things up with three away games against the Boston Red Sox and the Orioles finish with three games at the New York Yankees. Boston has already clinched a playoff spot, while the Yankees are technically still in the Wild Card race, though their hopes are on life support. Detroit has one more home game against Cleveland, which already clinched the AL Central, before ending with a three-game series at Atlanta, which has the worst record in the NL.
So there’s every reason to pay attention to the Mariners this weekend.
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