Oakland Athletics (53-94) vs Seattle Mariners (81-65)
Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 9:40 pm
The Seattle Mariners get an opportunity to move up the American League wild-card standings when they open a three-game road series against the last-place Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Coming off a 9-1 road win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday that ended a three-game skid, the Mariners (81-65) now embark on far-and-away baseball's easiest remaining schedule, one in which they will see the A's (53-94) six times in the next 13 days.
Seattle will enter the final 16 games in third place in the wild-card race, with a comfortable edge over the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox for the AL's last playoff spot.
So, the Mariners' attention now turns to moving up the ladder, which, should they reach the No. 1 wild-card position, would mean having home-field advantage in the first round of the AL playoffs.
Seattle hopes to enjoy scoreboard watching over the next three days, during which the top two teams in the wild-card race -- the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays -- have tougher tasks, as the Jays visit the Philadelphia Phillies, while the Rays host the Houston Astros.
Other than playing the A's six times, the Mariners will finish with three games against the Kansas City Royals, three against the Texas Rangers and four against the Detroit Tigers. The cumulative winning percentage of those teams -- including Oakland -- is a major-league-low .391.