Mariners Blown Out By Astros Again, Pay Price This Time

Yesterday the Houston Astros whooped the Seattle Mariners. It was a bummer, but at least the other wild card competitors got similarly dismantled. Today, however, the Royals beat the Tigers and the A’s walked off in extras. The Mariners lost badly to the Astros, again. So they’re now a game and a half out of the playoffs, with seven games to go.

The odds are longer. They were long, and then this happened. But they’re also still so close. Kansas City has the chance to lose twice tomorrow. Everything could change tomorrow. The M’s are playing in Toronto, with native Canuck James Paxton going up against J.A. Happ. It starts at 4:07, which is an adorably quirky start time. Right now the M’s are a game and a half back. Beat the Jays and that erases half a game’s worth of defecit. If the Royals lose the suspended game that’s another half a game. And then it’s root root root for the Indians to give KC another L.

Or the Royals could come back and win the suspended game, then win the full game, and the Mariners could lose. That would put the M’s three out with six to play. This time tomorrow the Mariners will either be tied for a playoff spot, three games out of a playoff spot, or somewhere in between. And then after that’s resolved, there will be six more days of things getting mucked and un-mucked. It’s all so crazy.

Oh, the game. Wanna know what happened in this game? Hisashi Iwakuma got shelled again. He walked three. Iwakuma! Three walks! But he did register eight Ks in 4.1 innings. Bummer run he’s on right now. Carson Smith struck out both batters he faced. Yoervis Medina struck out three but sucked otherwise. Michael Saunders homered off of Collin McHugh. 8-3 Astros. That’s all that needs to be said about the game.

But tomorrow. Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow. This is getting insane! Fans of good teams get to feel these kind of feelings all the time. That’s wild. Good for them. M’s and Jays at 4:07, Paxton returns to take his motherland by storm, and we’re all going to have heart attacks. Go Mariners!