Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros Prediction: Mariners have my backing here

In Major League Baseball action on Tuesday, the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners will square off in the first game of their three-game series against each other in the American League West at T-Mobile Park.

The Seattle Mariners had a significant opportunity to exert a great deal of influence over their future in terms of the playoff drive, but they chose to cede that authority to the Texas Rangers instead. The Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners in three games, with the last game of the series being a 9-8 setback for the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. The defeat brought the Seattle Mariners' overall record to 84-71, which places them three games behind the Texas Rangers in the division and one and a half games behind Houston in the race for the last wild card position in the American League. The Mariners are led by Julio Rodriguez, who has 179 hits, 100 RBIs, 31 home runs, and a batting average of.284, while Cal Raleigh has 30 home runs thus far this season. This season, Teoscar Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners has hit 26 home runs, while Eugenio Suarez of the Seattle Mariners has hit 21 home runs. Both players have contributed 92 runs batted in to the team's total. In addition, J.P. Crawford has a batting average of.266 and an on-base percentage of.378 thus far this season. This game will be started by Luis Castillo, who has a record of 14-7 with a 3.06 earned run average and 207 strikeouts so far this season.

The Houston Astros will be attempting to right the ship down the stretch after losing the series to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday by a score of 6-5. It all starts with this series. The defeat brought the Houston Astros' overall record to 85-71, placing them 2.5 games behind the Texas Rangers in the fight for first place in the American League West. Despite the loss, the Houston Astros maintained their lead over the Seattle Mariners in the race for the last wild card position by half a game. Alex Bregman has 24 home runs, 96 RBIs, and a team-high 156 hits, while Kyle Tucker leads the Houston Astros with a batting average of.281, 109 runs batted in, an on-base percentage of.367, 34 doubles, and 28 home runs. Alex Bregman also has a.367 on-base percentage. Yordan Alvarez leads the squad in home runs with 29, and he also leads the team in RBIs with 94, while Tucker leads the team in stolen bases with 29. This game will be started for the Houston Astros by Justin Verlander, who has a record of 11-8, a 3.44 earned run average, and 131 strikeouts so far this season.

My money is still on the Seattle Mariners to win this game. Castillo has had his ups and downs at times, but he's clearly re-established himself as the ace of the Seattle Mariners' rotation, having dominated in a lot of his recent outings. It's tough to pass on this kind of price with a future hall-of-famer in Verlander, but Verlander has been shaky in some spots since joining the Houston Astros at the trade deadline. Verlander is a future hall-of-famer. I believe that the starting pitchers will go head-to-head in this contest, but I also believe that the Seattle Mariners will emerge victorious.