Mariners (4:10PM ET YES, ROOTNW, MLB.TV) – There’s going to be some great spots on the MLB bases as the top teams clinch in the coming days and one of those spots comes here when the Seattle Mariners take on the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. 

The Yankees became the first American League team to clinch a playoff spot last night, they now have a five game lead over the reeling Orioles for the division and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the guys got after it and get a day off here.  If there’s any team that could screw up a spot like this it’s Seattle but the Mariners were good enough to win last night and I have to imagine they will be the more focused side here.  I’d also imagine guys that have been around for a little while like Victor Robles and Julio Rodriguez take accountability for the god awful baserunning mistakes that have been made so far in this series and simply try to not make those mistakes as the Mariners are still just three games out of a playoff spot. Seattle’s season is truly on the line today and, if they could hand pick the guy to save their season, it would be Logan Gilbert who gets the ball for the home team.  Seattle missed an opportunity to make up ground but a win here keeps the Mariners alive and I think they find a way to salvage the finale here.

Logan Gilbert is having a Cy Young worthy season, he has one of the highest whiff rates in the majors this season and his 0.89 WHIP is one of the elite marks of any MLB starter.  Gilbert’s 7-11 record is a great display of how little pitchers win/loss records matter as Gilbert has had his team in just about every start and, with a strong finish, can set career bests in just about every relevant pitching metric.  Gilbert doesn’t have great career numbers against the Yankees but the Yankees typically don’t have to go up against Gilbert after going out drinking all night.  That’s probably what happened after the team clinched last night and the early start time does Yankees players who will be in the lineup today no favors here.  The Yankees used four relievers in Wednesday’s extra innings win and, now that they have clinched, the focus will be on spreading the innings around to have everyone fresh heading into the playoffs. I also think the Yankees will prioritize the home series next week with the Orioles so I think you see a heavily rotated side over the next four road games for the Bronx Bombers here.

I have no issues with Clarke Schmidt but he’s not a better option than Logan Gilbert and he’s also been more hittable in the middle innings this season. Right now it’s about building Schmidt back up, it’s his third start off the IL and my guess is he’s getting his target pitches regardless of whether he has it or not here.  Couple that with the fact the Yankees likely use some of their depth bullpen arms and I think Gilbert to the Mariners top bullpen arms represents a rather big advantage. Even the Mariners surely can’t mess this one up.  Play on Mariners -108 for 4% (or 4 units)