Playoff chances and scenarios for the Mariners in the last week of the season

SEATTLE – As the Major League Baseball (MLB) season enters its final week, the Mariners still have a tiny chance of securing a playoff spot.

It will require a dominant end to the regular season and some support for the team, but it Is still possible. FanGraphs estimates the team's odds at 2.7% through Wednesday.

After Tuesday night's loss to the Houston Astros, the Mariners now have only a wild card chance of qualifying, as Seattle's Texas rivals clinched the division title. Here's where the American League wild card race stands ahead of Wednesday's games.

Baltimore Orioles: 87-70
Detroit Tigers: 83-74
Kansas City Royals: 83-74
Minnesota Twins: 81-76
Seattle Mariners: 81-77

The MLB playoff format puts the top three teams in the Wild Card standings from each league into the postseason. Essentially, the Mariners must win all of the team's remaining four games. And will need some help from the Royals and Twins.

The Mariners will play one more game in Houston against the Astros before closing out the season with a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics. The Astros secured a playoff spot by winning the division and it's all about pride for the A's, so the Mariners should be the more motivated club in each of their remaining games.

The Royals have five games left, two against the Washington Nationals and then three against the Atlanta Braves. Washington has been out of the playoffs for some time now, but Atlanta is also fighting for its postseason spot and is half a game out of the wild card spot going into Wednesday's games. The Mariners will have to wait for the Royals to win no more than one of those final five games, while Seattle needs to win to overtake them in the standings.

The Twins will finish the season with two games against the Miami Marlins and will round out the 2024 season with a three-game series at home against the Baltimore Orioles. Miami is not in the playoff race and Baltimore clinched a playoff spot with a win over the New York Yankees. The Mariners need a similarly dismal ending for Minnesota as they want for Kansas City.

The Mariners' chances are even slimmer because Seattle doesn't have Kansas City or Minnesota in the tiebreaker, so the Mariners need to be at least one game ahead of those two teams to qualify for the postseason.

The Mariners have made the playoffs only once since 2001 and will likely remain the only franchise in sports to never have been to a World Series.