The Mariners head to Texas on their final road trip of the season.
With every single game essentially a playoff game for the Mariners from here on out, they absolutely can’t afford any more sloppy mistakes on the field. Winning Wednesday’s game in extra innings would have put them just a game back in the Wild Card race thanks to the Twins continued downfall; instead, they’re two games back, exactly where they were at the start of the week. The division is all but out of reach at five games back, even if Seattle sweeps the Astros in Houston next week, but they’ll likely need to sweep just to stay in the Wild Card race. All that to say: just win. Just win and let everything else fall where it may.
The last three series of the season are against division rivals beginning with this six-game road trip through Texas. The M’s just took care of business against these Rangers last weekend and they’ll need to do the same this weekend. Everything that was said about Texas last week remains true this week: they’re stuck in a weird no-man’s land just a year after their World Series victory thanks to some serious offensive regression and a pitching staff that couldn’t get healthy in time.
From a previous series preview:
Nearly every core member of the Rangers lineup has struggled in one form or another this year. Marcus Semien is limping through his worst season since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season; Corey Seager has continued to deal with nagging injuries and his wRC+ dropped 30 points from last year; Evan Carter was dismal when he was on the field and a back injury cut his season short at just 45 games; and Adolis García’s power has disappeared despite solid batted ball peripherals and his wRC+ has dropped nearly 40 points. There are a few positive signs: despite not meeting the overwhelming hype entering the season, Wyatt Langford has had a solid rookie campaign and has performed better as the season has gone on; and Josh Smith has continued his breakout season as a super-utility player. Still, if the lineup’s job was to carry the team until their pitching staff got healthy, they failed miserably at that goal.
Probable Pitchers
Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images
From a previous series preview:
30.1 innings in two years is nearly the worst case scenario for the deal the Texas Rangers inked deGrom to prior to the 2023 season, but he is at last slated to return. Inconvenient as it is for the Mariners, they’ll face the best-when-healthy starting pitcher of the past decade Friday night. He’s looked like his usual self in four rehab stints, obliterating poor minor leaguers with efficiency. Expect upper-90s heat and nasty sliders aplenty.
In his first start of the season last weekend, deGrom held the Mariners scoreless over 3.2 innings, allowing four hits while striking out four. He threw 61 pitches in that outing and his pitch count should be extended to around 80 pitches this time around.
From a previous series preview:
The three-time Cy Young winner returns from the injured list to menace the Mariners, giving yet another fearsome test to an M’s lineup that has not exactly been ferocious. Mad Max has mellowed, as the 39 year old has battled injuries and the lowest average velocities of his career, but he’s been a reasonable starter when he’s taken the hill.
The Mariners scored a pair of runs off Scherzer in his start last weekend. He lasted four innings and threw 73 pitches, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out just a pair.
From a previous series preview:
Andrew Heaney’s success has always ebbed and flowed with his ability to keep the ball inside the yard. He’s always posted excellent strikeout rates and has good enough command of his three-pitch repertoire that he can be very effective when he’s not allowing a ton of hard contact. That blueprint goes out the window as soon as balls start flying over fences. Back in 2022, he took a pretty significant step forward with the Dodgers and the hope was that newfound ability to strikeout more than a third of the batters he faced would give him a much higher ceiling. That wasn’t the case when he joined the Rangers last year; his strikeout rate fell back to his career norms and his walk rate jumped up three points to make matters worse.
The M’s ambushed Heaney for three runs in the first inning last Sunday and then forced him to labor through five innings. He’s now allowed 10 runs in 15.2 innings against Seattle this year.
The Big Picture:
The Tigers continued their last minute surge up the standings with a sweep of the Royals this week. After the Twins suffered two consecutive walk-off losses to the Guardians, Detroit and Minnesota sit tied in the standings entering this weekend. In the AL West, the Astros got their four-games series against the Angels started yesterday with a late-game victory. Rooting/scoreboard watching interests this weekend:
- Red Sox over Twins
- Orioles over Tigers
- Giants over Royals
- Angels over Astros