SEATTLE — It’s official: The Seattle Mariners are playoff-bound for the first time in 21 years, after clinching a wild card spot in dramatic walk-off fashion Friday night. But with six games left -- including a Tuesday doubleheader against Detroit -- there’s still plenty at stake in the closing days of the regular season.
The new playoff format features three division winners and three wild cards teams in total in the postseason. Then in a pair of best-of-three series, the division winner with the worst record goes up against the against the wild card team with the worst record, and the top wild card team plays the second-best wild card team.
If the season were to end today, the Mariners (who currently sit in the second wild card spot) would play a road series in Toronto (the first wild card team), and the Cleveland Guardians would take on the Tampa Bay Rays in Cleveland. That would mean Seattle would have to advance to the divisional series in order to play even a single home game in the postseason.
That said, the Mariners are just a game and a half back of the Toronto Blue Jays as of Saturday morning. And if the Mariners were to overtake the Blue Jays over the next six games, then they would punch their ticket to a wild card series at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, saving them the long trip to Toronto in the process.
Seattle closes out its regular season series against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday and Sunday, a team the Mariners have gone 10-7 against as of Friday. After that, they remain at home to play four games against the Tigers, a team they swept in Detroit the last time they faced off.
The last time the Mariners played the Blue Jays, Seattle swept a four-game series at T-Mobile Park. Prior to that, the Mariners dropped two of three in Toronto in mid-May.
For tickets to the closing games of the regular season head to this link.
©2022 Cox Media Group
