It’s fair to say that the Seattle Mariners’ playoff chances are bleak heading into the opener of the team’s three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
After all, the Mariners reside five games behind first-place Houston in the American League West and six games out of the final AL wild-card spot with just 12 games to go.
But if there ever was a schedule made for a comeback to make the postseason, it would be hard to beat the one awaiting Seattle.
The Mariners (70-80) will play the AL-worst Angels (56-93) seven more times, including the final four games of the regular-season at home. Three more games are against the team with the worst record in the majors, the Colorado Rockies (55-94). And Seattle still has two head-to-head matchups left at home with the Astros.
The bad news? The Mariners will face the hottest pitcher in the majors in Monday’s series opener vs. the Angels.
Left-hander Reid Detmers (5-8, 3.32 ERA), who has a majors-best 1.37 ERA over his last 10 starts, will take the mound for Los Angeles. He will oppose Seattle rookie left-hander Kade Anderson (1-1, 4.29).
Detmers, who needs nine strikeouts to reach 200 for the first time in his six-year career, is 2-2 with a 5.24 ERA in 13 career appearances (eight starts) against the Mariners. He allowed just three hits over 6 2/3 shutout innings in his lone start against them on April 3 but didn’t get the win because of a lack of run support. Los Angeles lost 3-1 in 10 innings.
Despite his glossy ERA since the All-Star break, the Angels have gone just 2-8 in his last 10 starts. He did, however, get the win in his last start on Tuesday at Fenway Park, allowing one hit and striking out nine in six shutout innings in a 6-1 victory over Boston.
“Just kind of staying in my mechanics,” Detmers said when asked the reason for his second-half success. “I felt like that’s the thing that’s helped me the most, especially in the past.”
Anderson, ranked the No. 1 prospect in Seattle’s organization, will make his fifth career start and first against Los Angeles. He picked up his first major league win Wednesday in his most recent start, a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, allowing one run on six hits in six innings, with five strikeouts.
“This is just beginning,” said Anderson, the third pick of the 2025 MLB Draft out of LSU. “And this is also just the standard that I set myself, too.”
The Mariners will try to bounce back from their second walk-off loss in three games to the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif. Seattle, which got a pair of home runs from Randy Arozarena, led 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh on Sunday, but Lawrence Butler hit a two-run homer off All-Star closer Andres Munoz in the bottom of the ninth to notch an 8-7 win for the A’s.
“A tough one today, no question,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “We’ve got to keep going, and we’ve got a chance to do that tomorrow. They’re all tough, and this time of the year especially. This is difficult, and we’re going to have to bounce back tomorrow.”
–Field Level Media
