Here's How the Seattle Mariners Fit into the Playoff Picture Entering Saturday

With eight games to play, the Seattle Mariners are 2.0 games back in the American League wild card race and 5.0 games back in the American League West.

Seattle Mariners starter Emerson Hancock (62) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Texas Rangers at T-Mobile Park on Sept 13. / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 on Friday night in Arlington to move to 79-75 on the season. With eight games left in the year, the M's still have a flicker of hope in the American League playoff picture.

Entering play on Saturday, Fangraphs gives the M's a 7.0 percent chance to clinch a playoff berth, with the best chance being the wild card.

Here's what you need to know right now about the wild card:

Team	Record	GB	Remaining Schedule
Minnesota Twins	81-73	--	@BOS, vs. MIA, vs. BAL
Detroit Tigers	80-74	1.0	@BAL, vs. TB, vs. CWS
Seattle Mariners	79-75	2.0	@TX, @HOU, vs. OAK

Obviously, the Mariners are in a very precarious spot here. They have to play the Astros, who are excellent while each of the teams above them play the Marlins and the White Sox, two of the worst teams in all of baseball. In addition, the Mariners don't have the tiebreaker on either team ahead of them, meaning they need to finish ahead of them and not in a tie.

As for the American League West, the M's have a little more control there. They are 5.0 games back of the Astros, but they do have those three games against Houston to make up ground. Furthermore, the M's are currently 6-4 against Houston for the year. If they win even one game, they'll have the tiebreaker over the Astros, but they really need to sweep to have any chance in either playoff race.

The M's will take on the Rangers again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch coming at 4:10 p.m. PT. Emerson Hancock will get the ball for Seattle against Max Scherzer. The M's beat Scherzer last weekend.

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