Three things: Losing streak is over, but are Mariners back to form?

The Mariners stopped their six-game losing streak and even won a series in their return home over the weekend. But with a 38-38 record they sit in third place in the American League West, 11 games back of a still red-hot Texas team entering Monday.

Here are three things to consider this week:

1. Who are the real 2016 Mariners?

There have been two versions of the Mariners in 2016. One, appearing during the first two weeks of the season and the majority of June, doesn’t get long outings from starters, has a bullpen hanging on by the skin of its teeth and an offense that struggles to bring home runners in scoring position. The other, which was present from mid-April into late-May, is pretty much the exact opposite: strong starting pitching, one of the best bullpens in baseball and an offense that gets the key hit when runners are on base. Despite taking two of three from St. Louis over the weekend, the Mariners didn’t quite look like the good version. On Friday night, a stagnant offense and Joaquin Benoit’s eighth-inning collapse nearly squandered a scoreless Seattle debut for starter Wade LeBlanc, and it took a Kyle Seager double, a Dae-Ho Lee walk and an Adam Lind walkoff homer off struggling Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal to bail the M’s out (Rosenthal was removed from the closer’s role the next day, by the way). And on Saturday night, the Mariners had a great relief performance by Mike Montgomery and 10 hits off Cardinals pitching, but they also failed to score for the remainder of the game after posting five runs in the first two innings, and another short outing by starter Nathan Karns nearly cost Seattle the lead. So yes, the losing streak may be over, but the Mariners have some work to do to prove they’re serious about getting back in the playoff hunt.

2. Roster decisions on the horizon.

One reason to think the Mariners may be on the verge of righting the ship is that the pitching rotation is inching ever closer to healthy. Taijuan Walker is good to go this week after dealing with a foot issue for the last two, and Wade Miley – who looked strong in a rehab start for Single-A Everett on Friday – is expected to be activated from the disabled list in time to take the mound against Pittsburgh. With Miley coming back, Seattle will have to decide if LeBlanc showed enough to stick around – and considering he threw six shutout innings Friday, you’d have to think he did. That could mean a trip to Triple-A for Karns so that he can sort out his tendency for high pitch counts, or a return to Tacoma for James Paxton after the Cardinals got to him for five runs on Sunday. And with an extra reliever currently on the roster, one of them will be gone as soon as the Mariners feel comfortable about the status of their bullpen again. While that will likely mean Donn Roach or David Rollins going back to the minors, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that manager Scott Servais and general manager Jerry Dipoto are taking a long, hard look at the 38-year-old Benoit right now. Benoit has a 4.50 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and is walking batters way too often to be trusted in the eighth-inning setup role.

3. The Aoki situation.

The reason the Mariners were able to bring up an extra bullpen arm was that they surprisingly sent Norichika Aoki to Triple-A on Friday in what is the 34-year-old outfielder’s first minor-league venture. Aoki had yet to report to the Rainiers on Sunday, according to Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto – he has until Monday to do so – so he might not be too happy about the demotion. Aoki wouldn’t have been the odd man out had he been hitting for Seattle, though, so when he comes back, it will interesting to see how Servais goes about using him. Servais said he liked the lineup with Lee and Lind both starting – one at first base and one at designated hitter, something he’s been afforded to do with Nelson Cruz playing in the outfield in Aoki’s absence. That would suggest that a platoon or reserve role is in Aoki’s future when he’s brought back.

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