Seattle Mariners Get Unfortunate Break in Playoff Race Heading into Tuesday Game
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The Seattle Mariners are still looking to make their playoff dreams a reality going into Tuesday. They are coming off a 6-1 win against the Houston Astros on Monday.
The Mariners need some help from several other teams in order to make the postseason. Unfortunately for them, they didn't catch a break from at least one team.
The Detroit Tigers eked out a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. Detroit moved up to take sole possession of the second American League Wild Card spot. The Tigers were half a game ahead of the Kansas City Royals and one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins when the game concluded on Tuesday. They are now 2.0 games ahead of the Mariners.
Understood the assignment. 😏 pic.twitter.com/WgDv3xaxAA
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 24, 2024
Seattle has several routes to the playoffs which include the necessity of jumping Detroit. But that route, although still possible, was made tougher.
The Tigers, on top of owning the tiebreaker against the Mariners, are 8-2 in their last 10 games and their win against the Rays was their third consecutive victory after taking two straight against the Baltimore Orioles.
If Seattle pulls off the improbable and sweeps Houston, there's a chance the Mariners still find punch their ticket to October by winning their first AL West title since 2001.
But with the Tigers win, the most likely avenue to the playoffs for Seattle is to jump both Kansas City and Minnesota and make it in as the third Wild Card team.
The Royals were 2-8 in their last 10 games (including a seven-game losing streak) entering Tuesday and the Twins were 3-7 in their last 10 and on a two-game skid.
The Mariners are 1.5 games behind both of those teams for the final spot.
According to ROOT Sports pregame broadcast from Monday, Seattle needed two of the following scenarios to happen to make the playoffs: win two more games than the Twins, three more games than the Royals, three more games than Detroit.
Minnesota and Kansas City both had six games left in the season and the Mariners had five entering Tuesday.
As stated before, Seattle needs a lot of help. But the Mariners are on opposite trajectory as the Twins and Royals.
And that might be enough to bring October baseball back to the Pacific Northwest.
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