Mariners Games #160/161 Preview: DET at SEA

After the Mariners got booted from WC1 contention last night, today’s games are essentially meaningless except wherein it might help determine WC2 vs. WC3. The Mariners and Rays are involved in a race to the bottom for the opportunity to play Cleveland at home vs. Toronto so today’s games promise to be...perhaps less than stellar. On the flip side, that offers the opportunity for one of LL’s favorite things: WEIRD BASEBALL.

Let’s get weird:

Lineups for Game 1:

This is the less-weird of the two rosters we’ll see, with the only hiccup being Adam Frazier in left field; Jesse Winker will get the start in Game 2, when the Tigers aren’t throwing a lefty on the mound, although whether that will be at DH or in LF is yet to be determined. Justus Sheffield will get the start in Game 2.

News and notes from Scott’s pre-game presser:

• Sam Haggerty is headed to the IL. The initial look at the MRI doesn’t show that he needs surgery, but Servais was unable to give any kind of a timetable for his return.
• Losing Haggerty hurts, and Servais is blunt about it, not only for what he brings on the field, but also off of it. “He’s the riddler. He puts the riddle of the day up every day on the board in the hitter’s meeting.” But Servais is confident Haggerty will travel with the club, so at least they’ll get his daily riddle.
• With Haggerty on the IL, Abraham Toro returns to the club.
• Be on the lookout for different/atypical bullpen usage as the organization tries to manage players’ workload. This is a dynamic situation that will change in response to what happens in the games.
• And by different/atypical, I wouldn’t be shocked to see position players out there if the games go very sideways. Luis Torrens, this is your moment!
• Justus Sheffield will start the second game of the doubleheader, and Marco Gonzales will take the ball tomorrow and try to get as deep as possible in tomorrow’s season finale. Sheffield is built up as a starter (90-100 pitches) and should be able to go fairly deep, but Flexen’s workload will be more difficult to anticipate as he isn’t stretched out as a starter.
• Taylor Trammell is in the clubhouse, along with a few other players from Tacoma as part of the stay-ready squad that’s available in case of injury.
• Hannah Keyser from Yahoo Sports (and elsewhere) is here making her first trip to Seattle’s ballpark and asked Scott a great question about whether or not, as a student of the game, Scott sometimes “armchair manages” while watching the playoffs. Servais: “I will say this right now, and I’m going to say this a lot over the next week: Nobody knows their team better than the manager of their team.” He says he never second-guesses Dusty Baker, for example, because he knows Dusty has information he doesn’t. “He knows his team better than I will ever know his team, and I hope people will give me the same respect.”

How to watch today’s games:

Game time: 3:10 PT

Game 2 will begin a half-hour after Game 1 concludes.

TV: ROOT Sports NW

Radio: 710 Seattle Sports

Streaming: MLB TV (out of area); fuboTV (in-area)