AL Playoff Race (Sept. 28): Mariners Beat Rangers, Inch Closer to 1st Playoff

The Seattle Mariners had a huge schedule edge coming down the home stretch of the American League playoff race, but they havent fully taken advantage of it.Manager Scott Servais tried to ease the pressure Wednesday by telling his players to come in late, and skip batting practice. It worked. Playing loose and relaxed Sergio Romo Jersey , the Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 and. combined with Baltimore loss at Boston, has now dropped the Mariners magic number to three.That means that any combination of Mariners wins and Orioles losses sends Seattle to its first trip to the American League playoffs since 2001.We played a crisp game tonight. Guys were on every pitch, the energy was great, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. Weve had a nice year, but we need to get it turned, and hopefully it turned in the right direction tonight.The Mariners have the luxury of playing the five worst teams in the American League in their final five series of the season, but they havent played well enough to take control of the wild-card race. Theyve lost consecutive series to the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland A and Kansas City Royals, and lost the first game of their series with the Rangers on Tuesday night.All that saved them is the Orioles have been struggling too, going just 9-14 since Sept. 4, The Mariners have a 4 1/2 game lead for the final wild-card spot, and they also hold the tie-breaker against Baltimore. With the magic number at three, they could clinch as soon as Friday. They are also now just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for the No. 5. The Rays lost 2-1 in 10 innings at Cleveland.In other playoff news, Houston lost to Arizona and the New York Yankees beat Toronto Lloyd Moseby Jersey , so the Astros magic number to clinch home field throughout the AL playoffs remains at one.