The Athletics need only to look to the top of the third deck in right field at T-Mobile Park to realize the road to the American League West title goes through Seattle.
That’s where the Mariners’ 2025 division championship banner hangs.
“(The Mariners) were one game away from going to the World Series last year,” the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers said. “Last year, it kind of felt like a dogfight every time we played them. I don’t think it’s going to be any different this year. These early games in the season, you can look back later and realize how much they mean.”
Langeliers homered for a second consecutive night Tuesday, leading the A’s to a 5-2 victory as they remained a half-game ahead of the Texas Rangers atop the division race.
The Athletics will go for a sweep of their three-game series in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon.
Last season, the A’s went 6-7 against the Mariners, with 10 of those games decided by two runs or less.
This season’s series has started similarly, with the A’s winning 6-4 Monday. They scored an insurance run in the ninth Tuesday for the final three-run margin.
“If we want to beat anybody, we want to beat the Mariners,” A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler said. “So it felt really good beating them. … I wish (the stadium) was more packed out so more fans could go home sad.”
The Mariners’ Cal Raleigh also homered for a second straight night, but it wasn’t enough to prevent his team from losing for the sixth time in the past eight games.
Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez both went 2-for-3 and drew walks, showing signs of breaking out of their early season slumps.
“We had a lot of contact, but just not a lot to show for it,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “We’ve got to keep pushing, and keep getting that traffic on there and keep giving ourselves a chance. At some point, we’ll start to get those runs.”
Raleigh insisted it’s not for a lack of effort.
“Nobody’s ever gonna fault this team for not working hard and doing that stuff,” he said. “But just because you work hard, it doesn’t mean you get good results. So to me, it’s really about focusing in that two-minute stretch when you’re in the box. You want guys being competitive, being warriors in the box.
“It’s a fine balance, right? We all know that we want to be doing better than we are, but at the same time, it’s not going to help anybody in this room by trying to press and go out there and do more, try to be ‘the guy.’ It’s happened before to good clubs. It’s more under a microscope because it’s the beginning of the season. I have faith in this group.”
The series finale is set to feature a pair of right-handers in the Athletics’ Aaron Civale (2-1, 3.54 ERA) and Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (1-3, 4.03).
Civale is coming off a 9-2 loss to the visiting Chicago White Sox on Friday in West Sacramento, Calif., when he gave up five runs on 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings. He’s 2-3 with a 3.96 ERA in six career starts against Seattle.
Gilbert lost 5-0 Friday to visiting Texas, allowing two runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. In 14 career starts against the A’s, Gilbert is 4-1 with a 2.82 ERA.
–Field Level Media
