The Mariners and Athletics have already played four times this week, and Saturday's the fifth — a matchup that says a lot more about the schedule-maker than the standings.
+Jump's strikeout stuff ticking up despite results
−Rooker, Kurtz, Soderstrom, J. Wilson all out for the year or close to it
−Ginn also shelved, thinning an already stretched rotation
Whoever starts for Seattle hasn't been announced yet, but the Athletics side of this one is set: Gage Jump gets the ball. Jump's ERA sits at 5.12 and his record is 6-10, numbers that don't do his last start justice — he struck out 7 in just 4.0 innings against this same Mariners lineup on Sept. 6, though a shaky pitch count and 6 hits allowed still cost him the decision.
That start came in the middle of a stretch where these two clubs have seen an awful lot of each other. Seattle dropped the first three meetings of the set before answering with a 2-0 shutout on Sept. 6, and then lost 5-10 to the Rangers on Sept. 8. The Mariners still owe Texas two more games before this series with Oakland picks back up, and the Athletics close out against Toronto first — so both rosters, particularly the bullpens, could look different by the time first pitch rolls around Saturday.
Neither team is playing for much beyond reps at this point. Seattle sits at 67-78, Oakland at 58-88, and both front offices are using September to find out who's part of next year's plan and who isn't.
Seattle's form card tells the real story of this stretch: 1-4 in the last 5, having dropped their last game outright, with the lone win in that window a shutout squeezed out against the very team they're facing again Saturday. The Athletics have actually been the steadier club lately at 3-2 in their last 5, even though they too are coming off a loss. Neither streak is worth much extrapolating from three days out, but it's the Mariners who need to find some answers in the box before this series wraps.
Both injury lists are ugly, but Oakland's cuts deeper into the everyday lineup. Brent Rooker is done for the year after knee surgery, Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom are both on the 60-day IL, and Jacob Wilson is scheduled for shoulder surgery on Sept. 16 — that's three middle-of-the-order bats and a starting shortstop gone at once. Seattle's damage is spread more across the pitching staff and bench: Emerson Hancock, Matt Brash and Nick Davila are all shut down, and Brendan Donovan is still working back from a concussion. With this many regulars out on both sides, whoever's in the lineup card Saturday is going to include names casual fans haven't been tracking all year.
