MLB Playoff Wrap: Seattle Mariners on a Roll
By Jason Burke
The MLB playoff chase is well underway, and with just over two weeks left in the season, many teams fighting for spots in the dance are set to play one another–setting up for an intense finish.
A couple of weeks back, I foolishly discounted the Seattle Mariners after a loss against the Texas Rangers, chalking it up to the typical choke job from the M’s late in the season. The 2016 version of team has rattled off eight straight against the Rangers, A’s and Angels, planting themselves firmly in the playoff picture. The rest of their schedule isn’t terribly difficult either, including three games against a beleaguered Astros squad over the weekend, three at home against a punchless Blue Jays team, then three in Minnesota, three in Houston and three back at Safeco against the A’s to finish the season.
The Jays have put together just three wins over their last twelve, and MVP Josh Donaldson has been missing time with a hip injury. The Mariners could firmly work their way into an AL wild card spot over their next nine games. All they have to do is keep on winning.
The Orioles and Jays entered the day tied for both wild card positions, but with another Toronto loss, and Baltimore shutting out the Red Sox at Fenway, the O’s now have the top spot while the Blue Jays sit on the edge of the playoffs.
In between Seattle (1.5 back) and Toronto are the Detroit Tigers, who beat up on the Twins, 9-6, with Anibal Sanchez surrendering six runs in his four innings of work.
One of the biggest surprises of the night was when the Astros gave up a run to the Rangers in the eighth, which cut their lead to 5-4, and they didn’t end up losing. This scenario seems to have played out one too many times for Houston fans, with Texas more often than not breaking their hearts in the late innings. Instead, the Astros rallied for three in the bottom of the inning to add to their lead and pull out an 8-4 win. We’ll see if they can take that rare win against the Rangers and use it to propel themselves back into the playoff picture. Houston currently sits 3.5 back of Toronto.
The Royals have lost the first three of a four-game set with the A’s and have been outscored 29-7. Kansas City now finds themselves five games back of the Jays. Moving on.
The Yankees had the most difficult task of the day in facing Clayton Kershaw, and through four innings they were certainly not up to the task as Kershaw had kept his pitch count low and was tossing a perfect game. Starlin Castro led off the bottom of the 5th by reaching on a fielding error, breaking up the perfecto, and the next batter, Chase Headley, broke up the no-no.
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Kershaw was pulled after five innings and 64 pitches after having his outing interrupted twice by rain. Being just his second start back after ten weeks on the disabled list likely didn’t help the situation much, either.
An error on a low liner to Starlin Castro to start the ninth, and another misplay by Dellin Betances overthrowing his catcher on a force play at the plate gave the Dodgers a 2-0 win. Michael Pineda looked good in his four innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five, but was also pulled early.
The Dodger win extended their lead over the Giants, who completed their getting swept by San Diego. Luis Perdomo out-pitched former World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. That is the state that San Francisco is in right now. With four games at home against the Cardinals beginning today, they’ll have to turn things around pretty quickly to retain their wild card lead.
Fortunately for them, the Mets and Cards also lost their games on Wednesday, albeit against fellow MLB playoff contenders. As David Schoenfield noted in his ESPN piece, the Giants managed just five runs in the series, and the Padres sweep in San Francisco is the first time they have managed that feat since 2010.
Schoenfield also brings up some of the other great collapses in recent, and not so recent memory, but the one that keeps coming to mind is the A’s of 2014. Both teams had the best record at the break and struggled to compile wins after. Oakland managed to back into a wild card spot and face the Royals in what was one of the more exciting baseball games in recent memory, while the Giants may in fact do the same since nobody else seems to want to claim their spot.
Jeff Samardzija has been a member of both clubs, so he’s obviously cursed.
Even those free-falling A’s of 2014 are being shown how it’s done by their neighbors across the bay. Oakland’s .433 winning percentage in the second half of 2014 is being beaten by a wide margin. San Francisco’s winning percentage in the second half of this year: .364. That’s worse than the Twins winning percentage on the season.
With all three teams losing yesterday, the Giants retain their half-game lead over the Mets, while both teams hold wild card spots. The Cardinals sit a half-game behind New York and a full game behind San Francisco. With the Cards and Giants playing one another, the Mets have a big opportunity to separate themselves this weekend while playing the Twins at home. Over the rest of the season, New York doesn’t play one team above .500 (the Marlins are at .500), so their path to the promised land is laid out for them. Which team will join them could become less cloudy this weekend in the City by the Bay.