After a dominant weekend in Houston, the Mariners are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot.
SEATTLE — A just about perfect weekend in Houston now has the Mariners on the verge of clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2022.
A sweep of the Astros has the Mariners up three games on Houston in the AL West with six games remaining in the regular season. The Mariners’ “magic number” to clinch the division title is now a combination of three wins or losses by the Astros.
Entering the most important series of the season, the Mariners and Astros were tied atop the division. Seattle proceeded to outscore Houston 17-7 over three games and put a significant gap between themselves and their nemesis.
Both teams are off Monday before returning to action on Tuesday. Making things even better for the Mariners is the fact that all six of the remaining games on the schedule will be played in the friendly confines of T-Mobile Park, while Houston must now finish out the regular season with six road games.
The Mariners will face the league’s worst team in 2025 in the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series beginning Tuesday. Colorado has won just 43 games this season and has a negative-404 run differential, the worst mark in MLB’s modern era dating back to 1900. Meanwhile, the Astros will travel to Sacramento to face the Athletics, a team that has won seven of its last 10 games.
Longtime Mariners fans know nothing is guaranteed when it comes to this team, but the first division title since 2001 could be clinched as early as Wednesday. If the Mariners win Tuesday against Colorado and the Astros lose to the Athletics, the magic number would drop to just one. After that, a single win by the Mariners or loss by the Astros would clinch it for Seattle.
Even if Houston turns things around and goes on a winning streak this week, the Mariners clinched the tiebreaker over the Astros by winning the season series between the squads with the weekend sweep.
Will Cal Raleigh reach 60 home runs?
Another storyline for the final week of the regular season will be the Mariners star’s pursuit of a season home run total only amassed by six players in baseball history. Raleigh already broke Ken Griffey Jr.’s Mariners home run record and has the most by any switch-hitter or primary catcher in league history.
Raleigh also has a chance to be named the American League MVP at season’s end, as he and New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge are the clear top candidates. Judge’s overall offensive numbers are stronger than Raleigh’s, but catchers make much more of an impact on the game pitch-to-pitch than outfielders like Judge do. It should be a close race between the two, but Judge is the defending MVP in the AL from 2024.