the Seattle Mariners are making a run for the AL West crown

There's no convincing Julio Rodriguez that these Seattle Mariners are "hot," now the winners of 36 of their last 50 games and suddenly among the contenders of the American League.

With perhaps the league's best starting rotation and certainly the hottest offense baseball has seen this August, Rodriguez — the star of the show, and arguably the frontrunner for AL Player of the Month — won't concede how blisteringly hot this ballclub is.

Why? That would imply over-performance, or an incoming regression to the mean, of course. And Rodriguez isn't buying it. He wants no part of it.

"We're not hot," Rodriguez insisted. "I'm gonna keep saying it. We're not hot. We're just playing the ball I know we're capable of.

"It's just who we are."

Buckle up for September — because these Mariners are the sole leaders of the American League West.

Rodriguez homered for a second straight game Sunday, and ace Luis Castillo was again brilliant (seven scoreless innings) for a win and series sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Seattle staved off a late-inning challenge and held on at T-Mobile Park, 3-2, as a crowd over 40,000 erupted — their team was in first place.

Moments before, Texas lost in Minnesota in 13 innings via bases-loaded walk. The Rangers squandered a five-run lead and, simultaneously, put the Mariners on top.

It was an historically rapid climb to first place. Seattle's surge coincided with Texas' ongoing slump as the Mariners made up 7.5 games of ground over a 10-game span. No team since the 1982 Dodgers clawed back from a deficit so quickly, per OptaStats.

Now, the Rangers and reigning World Series-champion Astros linger one game below.

"You go home at night, and can't wait to get to the ballpark the next day," manager Scott Servais said. "That's where you should be this time of year."

The last time Seattle held or shared a lead of the AL West this far into the season? That'd be 20 years ago Saturday: Aug. 26, 2003.

Seattle's 60 home runs since July 22 lead the American League. Seven of those came Saturday at T-Mobile Park, which tied a club record.

But the 'good vibes' weren't always so good.

On June 30, the Mariners fell to a season-worst 38-42. Their postseason odds fell to 10.3 percent, and a chance to win the AL West fell to 2.2 percent, per FanGraphs.

Things couldn't look more different just two months later. A return to the postseason turned from distant dream to expectation — those odds are now above 81 percent.

"We didn't have the dream start of the year, but we stayed fighting," Rodriguez said. "A lot of people counted us out, but we stayed committed to ourselves. We kept on working. We kept on doing the right things.

"I feel like that's why we're in the spot that we're in right now."

Logan Gilbert was stellar Saturday — wicked sliders and splitters led to seven innings of one-run ball, and Teoscar Hernandez's grand slam was the first of seven home runs in a 15-2 rout of the Royals.

"That was a fun game," Servais chuckled.

HANCOCK OUT FOR SEASON, WOO BACK FROM IL

Initially placing him on the 15-day injured list, the Mariners moved Emerson Hancock to the 60-day list on Tuesday, ending the rookie right-hander's first major league campaign after just three starts and 12 total innings.

Hancock, 24, was removed from Sunday's start in Houston after two innings with a right shoulder strain. Suddenly, his season ends.

With doubt whether Hancock could return in time for the postseason — and reluctance to rush him back into a starting workload — the Mariners forge into September without their top pitching prospect.

Seattle is perhaps the most-equipped club in baseball to thrive despite the loss of a young arm — its starters have earned the second-most fWAR in the American League this season (13.0) and sport the best walk rate in the sport, per FanGraphs (1.97 walks/nine innings).

Hancock's exit brought the reinstatement of rookie right-hander Bryan Woo from the 15-day injured list, held out of game action since Aug. 3 with right forearm inflammation. He made Tuesday's start in Chicago, surrendering one run in four innings of a closely-monitored return.

Woo settled in after allowing consecutive singles and a lone earned run in the first inning, retiring his final six batters faced. The Mariners won, 6-3.

"He looked healthy," Servais said. "A big sigh of relief for me and our pitching coaches, for sure.

"As he got going in the game, you saw the secondary pitches come alive."

Woo knocked off the rust before notching three strikeouts — one via cutter and two via sinker, he said. "Once I got my feet under me, I was able to get back in the zone, being aggressive and being ahead."

Also included in Tuesday's announcement was the signing of RHP Luke Weaver, who delivered two perfect relief innings (five strikeouts) Wednesday afternoon, albeit in an extra-innings loss. Eduard Bazardo and Darren McCaughan were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

SHORT HOPS

It was never a question, but Julio Rodriguez's historic week earned him American League Player of the Week honors for Aug. 14-20.

J-Rod hit .568 (21-for-37) with 12 RBI and six stolen bases — he became the first player in MLB history to collect 17 hits in a four-game span. He notched five multi-hit games and four consecutive games with four-plus hits. It's his third AL Player of the Week award.

Saturday brought more history. Julio launched the 50th home run of his young career, surpassing Alex Rodriguez (269 games) for fastest to the mark in franchise history (256 games).

"Honestly... that's not my main focus," he said. "I'm just happy that I was able to contribute to the team. ... Let's keep that going, though."

— A trio of Mariners are making a case for Gold Glove consideration. A win for any of center fielder Julio Rodriguez, first baseman Ty France, and third baseman Eugenio Suarez would be their first.

Rodriguez has proven the majority of the outfield a "No Fly Zone," his defensive mantra adopted by fans seated in the J-Rod Squad behind him. He leads major league outfielders in outs above average (12); Rodriguez's 11 runs prevented leads all of MLB.

Suarez continues a brilliant campaign at the hot corner, virtually perfect on the "toss across" — he's the only qualified third baseman in MLB yet to record a throwing error this season (min. 500 innings).

Suarez's .980 fielding percentage ranks second among AL third baseman with at least 750 innings (Josh Jung, TEX, .990), through Aug. 22.

Meanwhile, Ty France owned a .999 fielding percentage through Aug. 22, an exceptional 933-for-934 on fielding chances.

ON DECK

The homestand continues at T-Mobile Park for three games with Oakland (Monday-Wednesday). The Mariners are 7-0 against the A's this season.

Then begins a three-city, 10-game road trip through Sep. 10 that begins at Citi Field against the Mets (Sep. 1-3).