How Mariners can move into tie for final AL wild card spot on Sunday
Sep 21, 2024, 9:07 PM | Updated: Sep 22, 2024, 10:58 am
Victor Robles of the Seattle Mariners celebrates with Dylan Moore during a 2024 game. (Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
(Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Believe it or not, but the Seattle Mariners could end the weekend tied for the final American League wild card berth.
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After an 8-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday evening at Globe Life Field, the Mariners moved within 1 1/2 games of the Minnesota Twins for the third wild card spot. The Detroit Tigers are still ahead of Seattle at one game behind the Twins.
How can the M’s make up 1 1/2 games on Minnesota in one day? Seattle concludes its three-game series against the Rangers on Sunday. Minnesota plays a doubleheader at Boston due to Saturday’s game being postponed. Detroit plays at Baltimore. So, the M’s need a win, a Boston sweep in the doubleheader and a Baltimore victory over Detroit.
However, the Mariners will still need to move in front of both Minnesota and Detroit by the end of the season (next Sunday) to reach the playoffs due to tiebreakers.
Seattle also pulled within two games of the Kansas City Royals for the second wild card berth on Saturday. The Mariners split their season series with the Royals, who have lost six straight. The next tiebreaker between the two is intradivision record. Kansas City currently holds the advantage there at 33-19 while Seattle is 27-18.
The door to winning the AL West remains open, but just barely with Houston leading by five games with just seven play. The Mariners have an opportunity to make up three of those games next week in Houston, but they’ll still need help even with a sweep.
Seattle’s updated playoff odds are 9.9% with an 8.5% chance to reach through the wild card and a 1.3% chance to win the division, per FanGraphs.
Hear radio coverage of Sunday’s 11:35 a.m. Mariners-Rangers game on the Seattle Sports app or on 770 AM. For details on listening to Mariners Radio Network broadcasts, click here.
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