Playoff Picture: Where Mariners sit after 2nd straight series loss

A week ago, the Seattle Mariners were the hottest team in the American League, fresh off a 9-1 homestand that included back-to-back series sweeps.

Their East Coast road trip hasn’t gone nearly as smoothly.

Mariners OF Victor Robles throws bat at pitcher in rehab game

The Mariners have gone 2-4 on the trip so far, losing back-to-back series to the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets. And it doesn’t get any easier, with a three-game set against the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies on tap.

How does the playoff picture now look for Seattle? Here’s a quick breakdown.

AL West race

One positive from this weekend was that the Mariners (68-57) didn’t lose any ground in the AL West race. Seattle remains 1.5 games behind the first-place Houston Astros (69-55), who lost two of three to the Orioles over the weekend.

AL wild-card race

The Mariners are tied with the Boston Red Sox (68-57) for the top wild-card spot and are a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees (67-57), who hold the third and final wild-card spot.

The Mariners are four games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (63-60) and 4.5 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals (63-61), who are currently the top two teams outside of wild-card position.

Playoff odds

According to Fangraphs, the Mariners have a 92% chance of reaching the playoffs and a 46.3% chance of winning the AL West. The Astros have a 52.6% chance of winning the division.

But in a testament to just how dangerous the Mariners could be in the postseason, they have the second-best odds of winning the AL pennant (18.4%) and the third-best odds of winning the World Series (9.3%). The Toronto Blue Jays remain the favorite to win the AL pennant (21.2%), while the Los Angeles Dodgers (19.8%) and Blue Jays (9.5%) have the best odds of winning the World Series.

Up next

The Mariners close their East Coast road trip with a three-game series against the Phillies (71-53), who are tied with the Dodgers for the second-best record in the NL. Philadelphia is coming off a four-game series split against the last-place Washington Nationals.

The M’s series against the Phillies starts at 3:45 p.m. Monday, with radio coverage on Seattle Sports beginning at 2:30 with the pregame show.

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• Buster Olney: A tough choice the Seattle Mariners could have to make
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