SEATTLE — There are no more "magic numbers" to worry about for the Mariners, as the organization clinched its first MLB playoff berth in 21 years on Friday night with a walk-off win over the Oakland Athletics.
Although a spot has been clinched, who the Mariners will face and at what time remains to be decided. MLB's regular season will end on Wednesday, Oct. 5, with Wild Card games beginning on Oct. 7.
Here are all of the scenarios of where and when the Mariners will be playing in their first wild-card games in two decades.
Wild Card Round
The Mariners are guaranteed a spot in the Wild Card round, but the team's final five games will determine who and where they will play that series.
As it currently, the Mariners (No. 5 seed) would play a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays (No. 4 seed), with all three games being held north of the border at Rogers Centre.
Seattle is 2.5 games behind Toronto in the standings as of Monday morning, and the only way the team could end up hosting the wild-card series would be to overtake the Blue Jays over the final five games of the season.
The Tampa Bay Rays are also just 1.5 games behind the Mariners, and if they were to overtake Seattle in the standings, the Mariners would travel to Cleveland and face the Guardians in a three-game series instead.
Regardless of the opponent, both American League Wild Card series will begin Friday, Oct. 7. Games 2 and 3 would take place Saturday, Oct. 8 and Sunday, Oct. 9, hosted by the higher seed.
All games are set to air on ESPN, but the timing of the games will depend on which teams end up hosting and what other events the network has scheduled.
American League Division Series (ALDS)
If the Mariners can advance through whichever team is their wild-card opponent, Seattle would open up the ALDS against either the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
The ALDS is a five-game series as opposed to the three-game wild-card round, and Games 2-5 of the series would be held Oct. 13 (G2), Oct. 15 (G3), Oct. 16 (G4) and Oct. 17 (G5).
All ALDS games will be broadcast on TBS.
Although the regular season is yet to officially conclude, any and all Mariners fans and Seattleites can spend the next week celebrating the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2001.
Come Friday, however, the Mariners will be eager to prove that they have much higher aspirations than simply breaking the team's postseason drought.