2023 American League pennant odds: Mariners, now leading AL West, have overtaken Orioles in betting action at sportsbook
The Seattle Mariners were founded as an expansion team in 1977 and in 2001 finished tied for the most wins in MLB regular-season history with 116, but fell short of the World Series. Seattle is in fact the only active franchise to have never appeared in a World Series, but the surging M's have overtaken the Baltimore Orioles as the team taking the most action to win the AL pennant.
The Houston Astros are actually now the +350 pennant favorite at BetMGM despite having the fifth-best record in the Junior Circuit at 74-58. Baltimore has the AL's best record at 81-49 and is +375 to win the pennant. The O's are taking the most tickets at 21.3%. Seattle at +550 is now the leader in handle at 23.3%.
The Mariners have two eight-game winning streaks this month and have won 11 of 12 – with the lone loss coming in extra innings – to take the lead in the AL West entering Monday's home matchup against the Oakland A's. This is the first time Seattle (74-56) has had sole possession of first place in the division this late in the season since Aug. 24, 2003, when it was also through its 130th game. The M's have a 13-2-1 series record dating to June 30. They are 19-5 in August and have a great shot to break their franchise record of 20 wins in a month (done six times, most recently in 2001).
FanGraphs gives Seattle a 40.6% shot of winning the division with Houston at 39.9% and Texas at 19.4%. DraftKings has the Astros at +145, Mariners +155 and Rangers +240. Texas had held at least a share of first place for 147 of the season's first 148 days.
Seattle is a huge -250 favorite Monday behind rookie Bryan Woo (1-3, 4.58 ERA) against measly Oakland. Woo has struggled at home this year at 0-2 with a 5.85 ERA. It's his first career start vs. the A's, who were officially eliminated from the AL West race Sunday in team game No. 124. It marks the earliest the A's have been eliminated from the West.
Oakland starts lefty Kyle Muller (1-4, 7.28 ERA), and he's 1-3 with a 10.41 ERA in five road starts. Muller started in Seattle on May 22 and allowed six runs over five innings in a loss.
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