Are the Seattle Mariners Making the Playoffs?

The Seattle Mariners are making another playoff push this year, this time looking to go back to back playoff berths which has only happened one other time in team history during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Going into the second half of the year the Mariners did not look like they were going to make the playoffs with a 50-50 record through the first 100 games, but they have gone 31-15 since then to make for a total record of 81-65. But even with all these wins could the Mariners still miss the playoffs?

It is for sure possible due to the Mariners, Rangers, Astros and Blue Jays fighting over the last three playoff spots with only three games dividing the four teams. When, though, looking at the schedule for all four teams three of them have hard schedules to finish out the year while the Astros have an easier one in comparison which should clinch them the division. With that the Mariners are really fighting for a Wild Card playoff ticket unless the Astros somehow underperform and Seattle goes on another crazy month of winning games with only losing a couple. That leaves the Blue Jays and the Rangers left and both have considerably harder schedules than the Astros. The Blue Jays have been playing only alright through the last several weeks, while the Rangers have played a bit better after their 7-13 slog. The Mariners, though, have no easy stretch of games themselves as they play the Dodgers for 3 games, the Rangers for 7 games and the Astros for 3 games to finish the season, so their playoff hopes are going to come down to if they can play above .500 to finish out the season.