Seattle Mariners center fielder J.P. Crawford hit a grand slam, and Ty France and Josh Rojas added solo homers Friday night as the Mariners crushed the visiting Texas Rangers 8-0 to tighten the American League West race. The win moved the Mariners (87-73) within two games of the division-leading Rangers (89-71) and kept them just a game behind the Houston Astros (88-72) in the chase for the AL’s third and final wild-card berth.
The AL West title is still up for grabs, but the Rangers have an edge if they can stay hot. The first-place Rangers hold a tiebreaker advantage over the Mariners and Astros, meaning if those three teams finish with the same record, they will send one team to the playoffs based on head-to-head play.
That’s why the next three days could significantly impact who will reach the playoffs in this highly competitive division. The Mariners will face both the Rangers and Astros in a 10-game stretch starting Monday that will have a significant impact on the standings and any potential tiebreakers that may need to be determined to determine who shuffles down to the Wild Card or possibly out of the playoffs altogether.
Seattle has a chance to make things interesting this weekend with a series at the Toronto Blue Jays battling the Rangers for the second wild-card spot. A Mariners sweep this weekend would be huge as it would give them a tiebreaker over the Blue Jays, who own the head-to-head tiebreaker with both Seattle and Texas.
That means the Blue Jays need to avoid a sweep to keep their playoff hopes alive, but they can’t afford another loss and will likely need help from other clubs. That’s why a game like Thursday’s against the Chicago White Sox, which features two teams fighting for the last wild-card spot, will have a lot of significance in the standings come Sunday.
While the race in the AL West will go down to the wire, it’s a safe bet that Seattle will clinch a playoff berth in 2023. The club has a winning record at home, on the road, and against all other AL West clubs. And they’ll also own a tiebreaker advantage over the Astros and Rangers in case they find themselves in a three-way tie down the stretch.
The Mariners have won eight of their past ten games, but they will need some help to clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth. A few more wins this week will go a long way towards making that happen. And if the Mariners can keep their hot streak going, they will have an opportunity to do something extraordinary for the city of Seattle this season. The best part is they’ll be able to do it without dealing with their archrival, the Los Angeles Angels, for the foreseeable future. That’s a win-win for everybody involved in the Wild Card race in the American League.