It’s now or next year for the Mariners

With seven games to go, the Mariners must reverse a trend quickly if they hope to play into October. Who best can help?

BY SHANNON DRAYER

Sep 22, 2014, 9:03 AM Updated: 10:59 am

"Thankfully, our destiny is kind of in our own hands," Michael Saunders said of Seattle's postseason hopes. (AP)

(AP)

TORONTO – The Royals and Athletics got the job done Sunday. The Mariners did not. Still they sit just 1.5 games back in the American League wild-card race and with Kansas City playing two games today, Seattle has a chance to be tied for one of the spots once more by the end of the day.

The first step for the Mariners is to put behind them the disappointment of the poor start to their final road trip of the season.

“We lost a tough series, but we’re still in this thing,” manager Lloyd McClendon said following Seattle’s 8-3 loss to the Astros Sunday. “I guarantee you there are a lot of teams that wish they were in our position right now. We will take our chances.”

They will take their chances with their two remaining reliable starting pitchers on the hill for the first two games of the four-game series against the Blue Jays. You never know what can happen in the last week of the regular season, but the Mariners need to win the next two games, which will be started by James Paxton and Felix Hernandez.

They need the turnaround almost as much as the actual wins. Since their five-game win streak at the beginning of the month, the Mariners have won back-to-back games just once while going 5-9 in that time. If they continue on that trend, they will not make the postseason.

They are obviously not alone in their struggles, but we will see what the Sunday wins do for the competition. The Royals will finish a suspended game today. They trail 4-2 in the bottom of the 10th and then play another game against the Indians. Oakland takes on Anaheim.

“Thankfully, our destiny is kind of in our own hands,” Michael Saunders pointed out. “We are not three or four games back or have four or five teams ahead of us where we need a lot of teams to lose. We just need to go out and take care of business.”

Had this been two months ago, Saunders would have given the Mariners everything they needed when he hit a two-run home run that put the Mariners up 3-1 in the fifth inning Sunday. With struggling starters and a somewhat questionable bullpen, more is needed now.

The quickest fix would be if the pitching could revert back to what it has been for the majority of the season, but easier said than done. Despite McClendon’s season-long efforts to rest the starters and manage the innings in the bullpen, a good number of the arms appear to be fatiguing.

Do they have a postseason push in them? We shall see.

As for the offense, we have seen the struggles before. There may be fixes, however. Keep Saunders in the lineup. I know the preference has been to go with matchups, but with seven games to go, maybe it is time to just pick your guys and tell them to have at it. Make your run, give it your best shot. Go with the guys that got you there for the most part.

Those are the guys, after all, who will be there next year, who will benefit from the experience with your club. You want the presence of Kendrys Morales in the lineup? Fine, put him in against lefties, where his numbers are much better. You have plenty of candidates you can put in against righties. You want to use Chris Denorfia’s right-handed bat? Great, save it for later in the game when left-handed relievers come in.

We very well could see this. Mike Zunino playing the day game Sunday after a night game was not business as usual; that was getting your best guy out there and going with the catcher who has the best relationship with the starting pitcher regardless of the situation.

With seven games remaining, a stretch that will determine whether the Mariners play on or go home, that is what you want to see.