The Seattle Mariners notched an important win Wednesday (August 16) over the Baltimore Orioles, improving their position in the MLB Wild Card Standings. The slightly bad news was that the Kansas City Royals also won, beating the Oakland Athletics by an identical 7-6 score. The los angeles angels also beat the Washington Nationals, keeping the Mariners one-and-a-half games back from the second Wild Card slot.
The Mariners now have a 61-61 record on the season, thanks to some clutch offense that made up for another poor performance from the starting pitching.
Marco Gonzales didn’t even make it through the fifth inning, which is something he has failed to do in each of his first three starts for the franchise. The bullpen pitched very well until Edwin Diaz made it interesting in the ninth inning.
A full look at the updated Wild Card standings
The New York Yankees have a 63-55 record and a two-and-a-half game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for the top American League Wild Card spot. The Angels are now at 62-59 on the season, putting the team half a game ahead of the Kansas City Royals (61-59) and one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins (59-58). Just behind them are the Seattle Mariners at 61-61, with hopes that the Toronto Blue Jays can beat the Tampa Bay Rays (60-61) later in the day.
The updated Wild Card standings show that many teams are right in the middle of the playoff race with roughly 40 games left in the regular season. This loss to the Mariners hurts the Baltimore Orioles a lot, as the team falls to three games back of the second Wild Card slot. They are still in the hunt, though, with basically only three teams really eliminated from contention.
They are the Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago White Sox.
Mariners are still in the thick of things for the American League Playoffs
Less than a week ago, the Seattle Mariners held a Wild Card spot. The team held its destiny in its own hands, but then the Los Angeles Angels came to town and swept them. Not only did it hurt the Mariners in the Wild Card standings, it pushed the Angels up into one of the playoff spots.
Now the team will have to work hard to move back up there, beginning with a tough weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The next game for the Mariners comes on Friday night in Tampa Bay. It could be a difficult series, as the team is still without James Paxton and three other pitchers from the original starting rotation. Pulling off a sweep on the road would certainly help the team and its odds of making the postseason this year. Can the Seattle Mariners make another run and catch the Los Angeles Angels in the Wild Card standings?
