The Mariners arrived in Detroit on the first stop of a 10-day road trip after their eight-game win streak was snapped Wednesday. Seattle is now heading into its longest road trip of the season with no off day on the schedule, a stretch that will also take the club through Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
That is why mariners vs tigers is being searched now: it is the start of a trip that could shape the next two weeks of Seattle's season. The Mariners left one of the hotter runs in the league still in the rearview mirror and a 2.5-game lead over the Athletics still intact after their series win over the Mets. Now they have to keep that edge while moving from city to city and, eventually, folding Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo back into a six-man rotation.
Dillon Dingler is one of the reasons Detroit remains worth watching despite everything that has gone wrong around him. He has already hit 14 home runs and produced 2.5 fWAR, making him one of the Tigers' few reliable bright spots in a season that has veered far from the plan.
The plan, after all, was different. Detroit entered the season favored to win the AL Central after two straight playoff appearances and a competitive showing against the Mariners in last year's ALDS. Instead, the Tigers have been dragged down since Tarik Skubal went on the injured list May 4 with bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Since then they are 7-21, and in May they scored just 2.89 runs per game while topping five runs only three times.
That helps explain why the return of Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter from the injured list last weekend matters so much. Riley Greene, Dingler and Kevin McGonigle have carried much of the offensive load, but Detroit still needs more from a lineup that has not matched the expectations placed on it in April. The Tigers also have pressure on the pitching side, with Framber Valdez struggling after signing a huge free-agent deal and Keider Montero being pushed into a larger role than expected. Jack Flaherty, meanwhile, remains the kind of starter who can go as far as his breaking pitch feels that day.
For Seattle, the question is simpler and harsher: can it survive the travel and the rotation juggling long enough to keep the race under control? The trip through Detroit, Baltimore and Washington will answer that faster than any home stand could.
