And now
the end is near...
One week remains, and the Seattle Mariners find themselves 1.5 games behind Kansas City in the hunt for the Wild Card Game. They could erase that tonight - the Royals must first complete their suspended game with Cleveland (they're losing 4-2 in the 10th inning), and then drop the second game as well. While Seattle takes care of business on the road.
Seattle's success this season (they were 71-91 just one year ago) has been completely a matter of pitching and defence. They had trouble scoring runs last year and they still have trouble scoring runs. But they should finish 2014 having reduced their runs allowed by roughly 200. Which is a lot. Hisashi Iwakuma, strangely enough, hasn't been as good in 2014 as he was a year ago - but King Felix, merely good last year, has been Ridiculously Awesome this season. The supporting starters have been competent. The bullpen has been sensational.
Starters:
Paxton (6-3, 2.06) vs Happ (9-11, 4.35)
Hernandez (14-5, 2.07) vs Dickey (13-12, 3.82)
Walker (2-2, 3.00) vs Buehrle (12-10, 3.53)
Young (12-9, 3.65) vs TBD
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20140922165019858