Seattle Mariners' AL West standings find unexpected photo finish coming with Astros, Rangers

Early in the season, this certainly didn't seem to be the way things were trending.

But with just a few weeks left, the Seattle Mariners are heading toward an AL West Division photo finish with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.

This is how the division breaks down heading into Friday night, Sept. 12:

• Houston: 79-68
• Seattle: 79-68
• Texas: 77-70

The Astros looked for a long time like they'd run away with this.

And it's not even that Houston has cooled down all that much.

Seattle and Texas are just on absolute rolls.

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The Mariners in particular have done it by being almost unbeatable at home. They've got the best record since the All-Star Break in their home ballpark.

Seattle has walk-off wins each of the last two nights, too. The magic appears to have re-entered the picture for the Mariners.

As it stands, the Mariners hold the final AL Wild Card spot. The Rangers are their closest challenger there, too.

These teams are all just a notch behind the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, who are just a notch behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.

That means the most likely outcome is that two, but not all three, of those AL West teams get into the postseason.

All three of the Astros, Mariners and Rangers have 15 games left to play. Plenty can still change.

This should be a thrilling race to the finish line.

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