The biggest MLB series of the weekend begins Friday from Arlington as the Seattle Mariners visit the Texas Rangers. | 2023 MLB Expert Analysis | MyBookie Sportsbook | MLB Week 24: Monday September 18 – Sunday September 24, 2023

Seattle vs Texas are battling Houston for the AL West title and also for a wild card spot. Getting swept would be crushing for either side. Check out our MLB betting preview before you lock in wagers on this AL West showdown.

How to Bet Seattle at Texas MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Friday, 8:05 PM ET
Where: Globe Life Field
Probable pitchers (away/home): Bryce Miller/Dane Dunning
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: Rangers -115, Mariners +105 (total 9)

Why Bet on Seattle?

As of this writing, the Mariners and Rangers are tied for the final AL wild card spot with identical 84-68 records, so whichever team wins the season series would have a massive tiebreaker. The Mariners have clinched their 3rd-consecutive winning season and 6th in the last 10 years. It marks the 3rd time in franchise history Seattle has had 3+ consecutive winning seasons (also: 1995-97 and 2000-03).

Will Mariners superstar Julio Rodriguez play Friday? He had precautionary X-rays after taking a pitch off his left hand in Wednesday’s win at Oakland. Seems like the 2022 AL Rookie of the Year will be fine as while he was struck by a Joey Estes fastball in the top of the third inning, he was able to finish out the game in center field and even connected for his 31st home run of the year in the top of the fifth.

Rodriguez has joined Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (2019) as just the third player age 22 or younger in baseball history with 30 homers, 100 RBI and 30 steals in a single season. Rodriguez (5.9 fWAR, 3rd among OF), Cal Raleigh (4.3 fWAR, T-2nd among C), J.P. Crawford (4.3 fWAR, 7th among SS) and Matt Brash (2.0 fWAR, 4th among RP) all rank in the top 10 in the Majors at their position in fWAR this season.

The Mariners lead the Majors with 16 shutout wins this season, ranking ahead of Atlanta (15). The 16 shutouts are also a franchise record, ranking ahead of the 15 recorded in 2003.

It’s rookie right-hander Bryce Miller on the mound Friday. Miller (8-5) allowed four hits and a walk while striking out four over 5.1 scoreless innings in a no-decision versus the Dodgers last Saturday. It was Miller’s sixth scoreless outing of the year and his second since the start of August. He threw 54 of 86 pitches for strikes, but he’s now gone five starts without a win. Miller has a 3.88 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 113:24 K:BB through 123 innings over 23 starts this season.

His lone career start vs. Texas was on June 4 in Arlington and was shelled for seven runs over 2.1 innings of a loss.

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Why Bet on Texas?

The Rangers got two huge pieces back from the injured list this week in All-Stars Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia. Texas blew up for 15 runs on Wednesday in 15-5 rout of Boston after falling behind 4-0 early. Every starter had at least one hit and one run scored. Marcus Semien went 2-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and a run scored. Semien finished up a strong three-game set against Boston, during which he went 5-for-11 with two walks, a double, a home run, six RBI and three runs scored. For the month, he’s slashing .312/.398/.584 with five homers and 14 RBI over 16 games.

Jung went 3-for-5 with his first home run since being activated off the injured list on Monday. Jonah Heim went 1-for-3 with a walk, a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. He’s slumped overall since his return from the injured list Aug. 13 with a .202 average and .619 OPS, but is batting .273 (9-for-33) with three homers, three doubles, 13 RBI and six runs scored over the last nine games.

Texas has scored double-digit runs in a franchise-record 26 games this season. Wednesday was also the sixth time the club has scored 15 or more runs, which is also a franchise record, surpassing the previous mark of five in 1998.

Right-hander Dane Dunning (10-6, 3.78) gets the call on the mound. Dunning did not factor into the decision last Saturday, allowing six hits and three walks over five scoreless innings in a 2-1 loss to Cleveland. He struck out five. Though it was his best start since he tossed seven one-run innings on Aug. 13 in San Francisco, Dunning was fighting through traffic all along in his outing.

“I worked myself into some trouble, but fortunately enough, I was able to work myself out of that trouble,” Dunning said. “I thought [catcher Jonah Heim] had a really good game plan with the pitches he called, and I was fortunate enough to make pitches when I needed to.”

Dunning’s lone outing vs. the Mariners this year was May 10 in Seattle. He allowed two runs over six in the win, scattered six hits, struck out five and avoided any major trouble.

“I just got more confident as the game went on,” Dunning said. “I thought our pitch calling was phenomenal and I was just able to start executing pitches as it needed to be. I was able to get ahead of hitters in the later innings and was able to work off that.”

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MLB Expert Prediction

Rangers 6, Mariners 4

AL West Standings

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