Seattle's three keys to the final seven games
As devastating as the weekend was, some good luck has given Seattle a chance. What do they need to do in the final seven games to make their postseason dreams a reality? Let's take a peek.
This last weekend was devastating, there’s really no way around it. Losing three games to one of your direct competitors is a crucial, but not fatal blow to the club’s postseason chances.
Their chances would have been completely destroyed if not for the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst teams in baseball. The Royals swept the Astros over the weekend, breathing an ounce of life into Seattle’s bleak playoff hopes.
The Mariners have done themselves zero favors. They have played so poorly over the last three weeks that they now find themselves in a must-win situation every night for the entirety of this week.
To achieve their goals Seattle must go through the team that has repeatedly stomped on their hearts, the Houston Astros. Here are my three keys to the final seven games.
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The Big Three
The biggest reason for the failures over the last few weeks has been the struggles of the Mariners rotation. This team is built on starting pitching and run prevention, but that has failed them recently.
Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby are the horses on this team and will be throwing in five of Seattle’s final seven contests. The Mariners need to win at least four of these starts, and probably all five if they want their season to continue.
Castillo has been the best of the bunch recently, and will likely finish top three in Cy Young voting at the season’s end. He has been everything they paid for, but we haven’t seen the ultra-dominant version of “La Piedra” recently. The Mariners could use a few big-time performances from their ace in the final seven contests.
Logan Gilbert has been mostly fine recently, with a 4.25 ERA in September. He pitched much better in August, however, posting a 2.97 ERA. Gilbert has put together just two quality starts in five September outings, so the Mariners are certainly going to need a better version of “Walter” in the final two series of the regular season.
George Kirby has had an extremely bizarre stretch of games recently. His comments after his Tampa Bay start reverberated around the baseball world, but his starts that followed have been even more strange.
He has pitched well in every outing but has seemingly been struck by bad luck in both of his last two outings. Home runs by Miguel Rojas and Brent Rooker on nearly unhittable pitches aren’t going to happen every outing. I have a feeling Kirby is due for a big-time start.
It’s not that any of the three have been bad recently, but Seattle is going to need each of the “big three” to be the best version of themselves to close the gap on a playoff spot.
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