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Power Rankings: No. 1 reinforces its top-dog status
5. Mariners 77-60 (last week: 4)Julio Rodríguez’s foot issue came on the heels (sorry) of his face-meltingly hot stretch in August, and while he was back for the weekend and homered, the Mariners had the feel of a team that has come back to earth a little during a weekend series loss at Citi Field.
The Mets series ended a happy schedule stretch for the Mariners, who hadn’t played a winning team in two weeks before heading to Cincinnati on Labor Day.
That party is now over: They’ve got three against the Angels at home and three against the A’s on the road, but other than that, every team the Mariners will face moving forward is either a clear playoff team (Rays, Dodgers) or a division rival they’re going to be fighting to the end with in the final days of the season. Your lives are about to get a lot more stressful, Mariners fans.
Power Rankings: No. 1 reinforces its top-dog status
We have reached the point in the season when, even with an extra day added to the week because of the Labor Day holiday, it’s difficult for teams to make too much of a leap in our weekly Power Rankings. Teams that have gotten hot recently have made their push
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This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TACOMA, Wash. -- Jarred Kelenic couldn’t help but laugh at himself when tripping out of the batter’s box last Thursday. It was his first at-bat since fracturing his left foot last month, a hopeful tone-setter to begin a Minor League rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma. And in a fittingly funny moment, the Mariners’ outfielder quite literally stumbled out of the chute.
“I almost rolled my ankle, so it made it look way worse than it was but it didn't hurt or anything,” Kelenic told MLB.com last week at Cheney Stadium. “It just looked bad, but no, it feels good.”
Kelenic is off and literally running his way back to the Majors, potentially as soon as later this week. He’s gone 5-for-12 at Tacoma and played two of his four games in right field, ensuring that the health of his foot clears each test in what the Mariners from the outset intended to be a longer rehab assignment.
That said, his recovery has been rapid.
While he was in a boot for four weeks, Kelenic utilized the Trajekt machine at the club’s Spring Training facility to “keep my eyes going”
Kelenic reflects on ‘mistake’ injury, rapid recovery
This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
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Which teams fared best at Trade Deadline?
Mariners
General manager Jerry Dipoto was uncharacteristically quiet during trade season, sending Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen to the Mets and Paul Sewald to the D-backs.
Trading your closer away isn’t typically a vote of confidence for the rest of the team, but Seattle -- which was 55-51, five games out in the AL West and 3 1/2 back in the Wild Card race -- has been one of the hottest teams in baseball during the past month.
The Mariners’ 21-6 record in August thrust them into the AL West and Wild Card races, as the offense has come alive and Andrés Muñoz has excelled since taking over the closer role.
Which teams fared best at Trade Deadline?
Moments after 6 p.m. ET on Aug. 1, there were plenty of hot takes flying around the baseball world. I can’t believe the Cubs didn’t sell! Good for the Angels for trying to get to the playoffs! What the heck are the Yankees doing? How didn’t the Dodgers do more?
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