House of Houston
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Houston Astros: Mariners push intriguing but, should not be surprising

By Kenneth Cline

SEATTLE, WA - APRIL 19: Daniel Vogelbach #20 of the Seattle Mariners tags Evan Gattis #11 of the Houston Astros out for a triple play as Gattis walks off the field thinking there were already three outs in the fourth inning at Safeco Field on April 19, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - APRIL 19: Daniel Vogelbach #20 of the Seattle Mariners tags Evan Gattis #11 of the Houston Astros out for a triple play as Gattis walks off the field thinking there were already three outs in the fourth inning at Safeco Field on April 19, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /
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Houston Astros celebrate winning the World Series
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 01: The Houston Astros celebrate in the clubhouse after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in game seven to win the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Three Outs

Out #1

It’s ok to keep track of the standings every now and then just to see where your team is at right now. But to be worried about the teams in your division in June is something we can’t think too much about. There are six divisions in the MLB and all six right now have the top two teams within three games or fewer of each other. This is common in baseball to have teams trying to find their identities at this point while winning as many games as they can.

But the real fun will start in August and September. That’s when the pennant races will heat up and teams will be battling to see who makes the postseason and who won’t. We have the good fortune of knowing that there are three division winners and two wild-card teams that make the postseason. In the past, it went from one league each to two division winners to three division winners plus a wild-card in the playoffs.

As it stands right now, we might be looking at two teams from the AL West (Astros & Mariners) two from the AL East (Red Sox & Yankees) and one from the AL Central (Indians) that are playoff bound. The idea should be to get to one of five spots in the postseason for both leagues. If you get there, every team is stacked and is a contender to win it all.

Out #2

I think the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners will both make the playoffs with Houston keeping the AL West title while the Mariners playing a wild-card playoff against Boston or New York. But this is where we have the edge over Seattle. We know how to win and lose in the playoffs. Seattle doesn’t.

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While every team will have a right to say they are World Series bound, the fact that the Astros have a championship speaks for the fact that they should be a favorite to win it all again. The Mariners don’t have the pitching and the depth to help themselves out in the postseason. They might have veteran leaders like Cruz, who has been to the postseason and World Series. But this is a young Seattle team that if they play their cards right, could be a contender in the years to come.

As far as we’re concerned, we can’t control what Seattle does. We can only control what we can control. But thinking about it now, we have not been in a pennant race since 2015. In 2016, we’ve had to come back just to reach two games behind Texas before dropping to third in the division. A year later, there was no one in our division to compete with. Now we knew our division got better in the offseason and that we were going to be in a pennant race again. This is where true champions stand out. Can they hold off the division contenders to repeat? Time will tell.

Out #3

Fans, we’re getting frustrated with Seattle winning that it’s starting to annoy me. We had the same feeling last year when Cleveland was constantly winning to overtake us for the best record in the American League. How did that turn out for them? Don’t ask!

Listen, I would love for us to be the best team in baseball record-wise. But the truth is that you’re the best team when you win the World Series. Last year, we were the best team even though we didn’t have the best record. Now we get an opportunity to prove it again. It’s one thing to have the mindset of getting to the postseason. It’s another to have the mindset of reaching the World Series.

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So we can say this is a great opportunity to have a team in our division test us to repeat. The bottom line is as much as we would like to win the division again, we can’t worry about the competition now. When the time comes, our focus should be getting to the playoffs and then be understanding that we are one of ten teams left and only one can win. Last year, we won the lottery. How about double or nothing?

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