SI:AM | The AL West Race Just Got a Lot More Interesting

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. What did I miss while I was in England for a week?

In today’s SI:AM:

????‍♀️ Simone Biles makes history

???? The trouble with the Cowboys’ Trey Lance trade

⚾ A shaky debut for a No. 1 pick

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Seattle’s shocking turnaround

As the final month of the MLB season approaches, the AL West has a surprising new leader: the Seattle Mariners.

After finally snapping their long postseason drought last season with a 90–72 finish and a wild-card round win over the Blue Jays, this year got off to a bad start. As recently as July 24, Seattle’s record stood at .500, 8.5 games behind the division-leading Rangers and in seventh place in the wild-card race. But since, no team has been hotter than the Mariners, who are 24–6 since that date. This weekend’s sweep against the Royals, combined with the Rangers’ recent swoon (they’ve lost nine of their last 10), put Seattle in sole possession of first place.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for the Mariners, which this time last month were a long shot just to earn a wild-card spot. On July 24, when their record stood at 50–50, FanGraphs gave the M’s an 11.6% chance to make the playoffs, including a 3.6% chance of winning the division. Today, it calculates the odds of Seattle making the playoffs at 85.3% and gives it a 40.9% chance of winning the West.

So what’s been different? In terms of the roster, not much. Unlike the division rival Angels, who went all in at the trade deadline (with disappointing results), Seattle had a more cautious approach to the Aug. 1 deadline. It didn’t give up loads of prospects to acquire rentals or offload veterans to stock up for the future. The one noteworthy trade sent Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks for infielder Josh Rojas, outfielder Dominic Canzone and infield prospect Ryan Bliss.

Rojas has hit well since coming to Seattle, posting a 122 OPS+ in 18 games. He’s been a massive offensive upgrade at second base over Kolten Wong, who was released shortly after Rojas was acquired. Andrés Muñoz has taken over the closer’s role in Sewald’s absence and has converted eight of his 10 save opportunities since the trade.

The Mariners have shown minimal weaknesses in their recent hot streak. During the month of August, they have the best team OPS of any club in the AL at .875. That’s an improvement of more than 100 points from last month. Only the Braves (.876) and Phillies (.886) have a better team OPS in August. Much of that increased offensive firepower can be attributed to Julio Rodríguez’s phenomenal month. He’s batting .410 with an 1.139 OPS this month and is just the second player in franchise history (after Ichiro Suzuki) to record at least 40 hits and 10 stolen bases in a single month. But Rodríguez isn’t the only guy stepping up during this run. Teoscar Hernández has six homers and nine doubles in August. Cal Raleigh has nine homers after hitting 16 through the end of July. Rookie utilityman Jose Caballero batted .225 in 67 games through the end of July but has a .313 average in August. And it isn’t just the hitters. Seattle pitchers have a combined 3.12 ERA in August, second in the majors behind the Dodgers.

Thanks to the Mariners’ absurd run, the AL West is shaping up to be the most exciting division race of the season. They’re currently in the lead, but the Rangers and Astros are just one game back. It’s anybody’s guess who will prevail.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Stephanie Apstein was in San Jose, where Simone Biles became the first gymnast—male or female—to win eight national all-around titles.
• With the college football season underway, Pat Forde looks at some great (and not-so-great) traditions that we’ll be saying goodbye to this year.
• Matt Verderame warns that the Cowboys’ trade for Trey Lance could come with unintended consequences.
• Conor Orr spoke with Rams linebacker Ernest Jones about how practicing against Los Angeles’s offense is the best preparation possible for its defense.
• Even the Mariners’ minor leaguers are hot. Tai Peete, Seattle’s first-round pick this year, hit grand slams in back-to-back innings yesterday.
• Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, struggled in his debut for the Pirates’ Double A affiliate.

The top five...

… things I saw this weekend:

5. The Giants’ 3-1-4-2 double play. (It was the first such double play since at least 1961.)

4. The Springfield Cardinals’ comeback from down seven runs with two outs in the ninth.

3. Elly De La Cruz’s 99.7-mph throw to nail Corbin Carroll at home. It was his eighth infield assist of at least 95 mph on the season. Since the introduction of Statcast in 2015, no other infielder has had more than four such throws.

2. Louis Lappe’s walk-off homer that gave California the Little League World Series championship.

1. Lionel Messi’s side-foot pass, leading to an easy goal.

SIQ

In 1997, 26 years ago this month, after the Red Wings victory, the Stanley Cup made its first trip to which country?

• Finland
• Sweden
• Russia
• Belarus