Vince Grippi: Numbers don’t favor Mariners down the stretch

Don’t let anyone sell you that baloney baseball is a game of inches.

All games involve inches – or segments thereof.

Baseball is a game of numbers.

“I don’t know whether you know it, but baseball’s appeal is decimal points,” the great columnist Jim Murray once wrote. “No other sport relies as totally on continuity, statistics, orderliness of these. Baseball fans pay more attention to numbers than CPAs.”

From the beginning, when Old Hoss Radbourn or whomever figured out his batting average as he was running down to first base, numbers have played a crucial part in the game.

Which is why the Mariners are in trouble.

They have played 100 times this season in their quest to break a postseason drought that stretches back to 2001. (Or would 2002 to be more accurate, as Seattle won a record 116 games in 2001 and almost made it to the World Series.)

At the century mark this year, the M’s are 49-51.

A little less than break even. And, for now, out of the playoffs.

But there are 62 games remaining. If they can handle the multitude of other American League teams who they are battling for one of the two wild card spots, then they should still be OK.

Oh, wait. One of those teams is the Yankees. They were just in Seattle for a four-game series. And New York won three of the games, culminating in Sunday’s 6-4 victory. It was the Yankees’ first series win in six weeks.

And a golden opportunity squandered by the M’s.

If we were to use a sports analogy germane to this past weekend, the M’s are on the 13th hole and off in the gorse somewhere. Things are looking bleak.

Maybe they can bring in Jordan Spieth for an inspirational speech or something.

Because that’s what Seattle needs. Five final holes played nearly perfectly.

A few birdies and an eagle.

The goal here, as it has been all season, is 88 wins. That’s the postseason conversation starter.

To get there, all the M’s need is to win 39 more games. And lose no more than 23 times. By my math, that’s 16 games over .500 in the next two months plus some change.

That’s a daunting enough goal, but then you look at the schedule. Or not, if you are squeamish.

The rest of July is doable, though the A.L. East-leading Red Sox are coming in for three games before the New York Mets visit.

Then comes August.

One homestand. One. Seven games. That’s it.

The first road trip, which actually starts July 31, is nine games in Texas, Kansas City and Oakland. And that’s the easier one.

The 12-game incredible journey to end the month is spent in the Eastern Time Zone. The M’s leave Seattle on August 17 and visit, in order, Tampa, Atlanta, New York and Baltimore.

The Rays and Yankees are above the M’s in the wild-card standings (as is Kansas City). The Orioles are a game behind right now.

Yes, an optimist who has been drinking a half-full glass of an adult beverage will call it an opportunity. It’s an opportunity, sure, but more than likely an opportunity to see the postseason slip away again.

The worst teams on the schedule through the end of August are Oakland, the New York Mets, Baltimore and Atlanta.

The M’s are 3-4 against the A’s this season. The Mets are 45-51, the Orioles 47-51 and the Braves 47-50. All their records are somewhat akin to the Mariners.

It may not be analogous to trekking through Death Valley this time of year, but it’s no Disney Resort either.

The math problem is simple: The M’s really need to get through the next 34 games – that’s the number before September – at least 20-14.

That would give them a chance, with a final month filled with mainly American League West foes – and the Central-leading Indians – to make a 19-9 stretch run.

Still, that’s a number even a CPA would have trouble believing.