Here's What the Seattle Mariners Can't Do Against the Houston Astros This Weekend
![Houston Astros left fielder Yordan Alvarez (44) hits a three run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning at Rogers Centre on July 2. Houston Astros left fielder Yordan Alvarez (44) hits a three run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning at Rogers Centre on July 2.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3312,h_1863,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/inside_the_mariners/01j35ndspa9agpxw316g.jpg)
The Seattle Mariners embark on the biggest series of the year this weekend when the Houston Astros come to T-Mobile Park for a three-game series.
After once leading the American League West by 10.0 games, the M's lead is down to one heading into Friday night's contest. The Mariners have slumped over the last month while the Astros have gotten hot, leading these two teams on this collision course.
The Mariners have played well against the Astros this year, going 5-2 thus far, but this is a different Astros team than we saw earlier.
The M's will need to do a lot right in order to take the series against Houston, namely delivering on knocking in runners in scoring position. But in addition, they'll need to make sure that they don't let Astros' slugger Yordan Alvarez beat them.
Alvarez is one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball and he's done massive damage in his career against the Mariners. While it would be painful to let anyone beat you in a series with these high of stakes, it would be exceedingly poor decision-making if the M's allowed Alvarez the chance to hurt them.
The 27-year-old Alvarez just made the All-Star Game for the third time this past week and is hitting .297 with 19 homers in 341 at-bats. Though he doesn't have Kyle Tucker around him in the lineup right now, he's incredibly dangerous.
In his career against the M's, he's hitting .303 with 14 home runs. He also had two crushing home runs against Seattle in the 2022 ALDS, helping end the M's season.
We discussed the Alvarez-effect and much more about this series on the latest episode of the "Refuse to Lose" podcast, which dropped on Friday morning.
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