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Happy Monday! Please excuse the oxymoron.
I’m thrilled to be rejoining you for the first time in nearly a week, when the Mariners capped off a two-game sweep of the Athletics, promptly finding themselves 3 games over .500 for the first time all season and in sole possession of the second wild card spot.
Fortunately, nothing of significance happened between then and now to diminish the M’s playoff chances.
Nothing of significance at all.
Despite a turbulent season in their own right, the Baltimore Orioles come into the series just a half game back of the M’s, and 2.5 games out of the wild card—but with the third worst road record in the AL, they’ve shown susceptibility outside the cozy confines of Camden Yards.
Yovani Gallardo, running a team-worst 7.44 FIP since returning to the rotation July 23rd, gets the start against his former squad. Gallardo’s 6 dingers allowed in his last 20 innings is cause for concern against an Orioles lineup with the third most home runs in the AL.
Meanwhile, Kevin Gausman takes the mound for the Orioles, and as our own Jake Mailhot pointed out in his series preview, the big righty has begun to rebound from his early-season woes, posting a FIP of 3.02 across his past 5 starts.
Guillermo Heredia will start in left field for the M’s, batting 6th, and Ben Gamel will slide over to right, spelling Leonys Martín for the evening.
Also there’s this distinctly Brazilian bit of news that came down today:
HECK YEAH IT'S THYAGO TIME pic.twitter.com/gb9LISHEEI
— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) August 14, 2017
Go Yo. Go Thyago. Go M’s.