Should Mariners fans root against Astros or Rangers now?

Sep 15, 2025, 1:14 PM | Updated: 5:11 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

Seattle Mariners fans are in an interesting spot Monday night.

The Mariners, who have won a season-high nine straight games to surge into sole possession of the AL West lead, aren’t playing. But the two teams now chasing them in the division are – against each other in a three-game series.

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That’s a good thing, but it also creates a dilemma. Should M’s fans root for the Houston Astros, Public Enemy No. 1 in Seattle, to lose three straight at home to the Texas Rangers? Or should they root for the Rangers, who are farther back in the race but have been the hotter of the two teams, to fall even farther back, taking one more team out of race and essentially assuring the M’s will clinch a playoff spot?

There’s really no right answer, but there is no shortage of opinions.

On Monday’s edition of Brock and Salk, the show posed the question to listeners. The consensus from those who texted in was a preference for the Rangers to take two out of three from Houston this week. If that happened and the Mariners were to sweep their upcoming three-game series that starts at Kansas City on Tuesday, then Seattle would lead the Astros by three games going into a highly important three-game weekend series between the two in Houston, while Texas would be four games back of the M’s.

Brock Huard is intrigued by the idea of the Astros sweeping the Rangers out of playoff contention is best for Seattle since it could guarantees the M’s return to the postseason.

But his co-host, Mike Salk, is ready to shift his concerns to a different team in the American League entirely.

“It doesn’t matter who wins. The Mariners are so much better than both of these two chump teams,” Salk said. “… Forget Texas. Forget Houston. I’m looking at the Tigers.”

That would be the Detroit Tigers, who lead the AL Central entering Monday with an 85-65 record – which is just three games ahead of the Mariners (82-68) for the second seed in the American League. The reason that matters is the first two seeds get a bye past the Wild Card Series and straight to the AL Division Series. And like the M’s do against the Rangers, they hold a tiebreaker over the Tigers (the M’s-Astros tiebreaker won’t be determined until their upcoming series).

“Worry about Detroit, man,” Salk said. “Go see if you can track down Detroit, because that really has some benefit. If you can get into the playoffs, fine, whatever. You play Houston or Texas or whoever else in the wild card (series), fine. But if you get an opportunity to chase down Detroit for the No. 2 spot in the league with an opportunity then to sit at home for the first round, then you only have to win two series to get into the World Series.

“That is a completely different experience. So you guys worry about the sheep. I’m going to worry about the wolf.”

Hear the full conversation in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.