Why the Mariners ‘don’t look at the Astros’ how they used to

The first half of the MLB season didn’t end on a great note for the Seattle Mariners, and they’re set to have a huge test when the second half kicks off with a three-game series against the Houston Astros starting Friday night.

One way the Mariners are in better shape for second half

The Mariners held a 10-game lead over Houston for first place in the AL West on June 18, but now just a month later, Seattle’s lead is down to just one game.

Uh-oh?

Maybe. But Seattle has played the Astros well lately. This year, the Mariners are 5-2 against their chief rivals, including a four-game series in May where the M’s took three of four in Seattle. And last season, the Mariners went 9-4 against Houston, although the Astros ended up winning their sixth division title in seven years.

What’s going to happen this time around? Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk this week about the rivalry with the Astros, and specifically how the M’s don’t seem to look at Houston the same way they used to – in part because of the ALDS the two teams played against each other in 2022.

“Our guys will come out of the break, and I’m confident, they don’t look at the Astros the way they looked at the Astros five years ago,” Dipoto said. “And that is not a slam on the Astros. I think it’s a level of confidence having played them in a postseason, having played really hard, grinding baseball games and pennant races versus the Astros over these last three or four seasons.”

That being said, the Mariners and Astros have been going in different directions the last month.

“The Astros have been sizzling,” Dipoto said. “They’re one of those teams, you look back to June, and felt like we had created separation from them. And you’re never comfortable when that team and those players are right there in the rear-view. And we didn’t put the gas down, we let them get closer, and now they’re coming into our house. … Our guys have grown in a lot of ways and I do think we’ll show up. I can’t tell you that we’re ready to go out and stun them and knock them out the way we did the last time they were in Seattle. We’re just not playing that well. But I do believe our guys will come out confident, and the Astros mystique is no longer quite what it was four or five years ago for our players.”

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Something in the Mariners’ favor is that they get to tailor their strong starting pitching staff exactly how they want for the series after this week’s four-day All-Star break.

“They’ll go in and play them hard, and let the chips fall where they may. Our pitchers are good, we’re lined up the way we want to. Hopefully our offense comes out and starts doing the things that we’re capable of, because they know they can play with the Astros,” Dipoto said.

You can hear the full Brock and Salk conversation with Seattle Mariners president Jerry Dipoto in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Salk: The bats Mariners could pursue in limited trade market
• The unique ways Mariners could use ‘unicorn’ switch-pitcher
• What Jerry Dipoto said about Mariners’ need to make more contact
• Dipoto explains the trouble with this MLB trade deadline
• ARod’s advice for Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez amid down year

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