The Seattle Mariners can secure the last AL wildcard spot on Sunday

Believe it or not, the Seattle Mariners could end the weekend in a tie for the final wild card spot in the American League.

Video: Red-hot Julio Rodríguez torments Texas with another home run

After an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night at Globe Life Field, the Mariners moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Minnesota Twins for the third wild-card spot. The Detroit Tigers are still one game behind the Twins and ahead of Seattle.

How can the M’s make up 1 1/2 games against Minnesota in one day? Seattle finishes its three-game series against the Rangers on Sunday. Minnesota plays a doubleheader at Boston since Saturday’s game was postponed. Detroit plays at Baltimore, so the M’s need a win, a Boston sweep in the doubleheader and a Baltimore win over Detroit.

However, due to tiebreakers, the Mariners must finish ahead of Minnesota and Detroit by the end of the season (next Sunday) to reach the playoffs.

Seattle also came within two games of the Kansas City Royals on Saturday to clinch the second wild-card spot. The Mariners have split their season series with the Royals, who have lost six in a row. The next tiebreaker between the two is the record within the division. Kansas City currently holds the edge there at 33-19, while Seattle is 27-18.

The door to winning the AL West is still open, but only just, as Houston is five games ahead with just seven games to play. The Mariners have a chance to make up three of those games next week in Houston, but even with a sweep, they’ll still need help.

According to FanGraphs, Seattle’s updated playoff chances are 9.9%, with an 8.5% chance of making the playoffs via the wild card and a 1.3% chance of winning the division.

Listen to radio coverage of Sunday’s Mariners-Rangers game at 11:35 a.m. on the Seattle Sports app or on 770 AM. Click here for details on listening to the Mariners Radio Network broadcasts.

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