Given the length of a Major League Baseball season — 162 games over a six-month span — the endless variances in performance from players and teams and the changes in personnel due to injury or attrition, the oft-used cliché — “it’s not only who you are playing but when you are playing them” is relied upon often by players, coaching staffs and front offices when analyzing schedules and results.

It certainly fits for the Seattle Mariners — the hottest team in the American League with a 9-1 record in their last 10 games — as they spend the next 10 days on the East Coast for a nine-game road swing over four cities.

Well, maybe three cities and the town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

“It’s time to take it on the road and just continue the momentum,” manager Dan Wilson said after their seventh straight win Sunday at T-Mobile Park.  

It won’t be easy. On a quest to win their first American League West title since 2001, this road trip featuring three-game series vs. the Orioles, Mets and Phillies will be difficult.

It starts with a three-game series in Baltimore where they get to enjoy the sweat-staining, air-thickening humidity of the Mid-Atlantic in August. Thunderstorms are forecast for two of the days in the series.

At 53-65, the Orioles, who made the playoffs the past two seasons, have been one of the biggest disappointments in MLB this season. They got off to an abysmal start and couldn’t recover.

But back in early June, the Orioles rolled into T-Mobile and swept the Mariners in a three-game series. Mired in one of its worst stretches of baseball this season, that included losing five of six series and going from a 28-21 record to 33-34, Seattle scored a total of six runs in the three-game series vs. Baltimore.

Glancing at the box scores, Rowdy Tellez started two games at first base with Donovan Solano starting the other. Leody Taveras started two of the three games in right field with Dylan Moore starting a game. Rookie Cole Young was playing in his second MLB series after being called up a week earlier and rookie Ben Williamson and utilityman Miles Mastrobuoni handled third base. Randy Arozarena was hitting just over .200 with a sub .400 slugging percentage and Luke Raley was on the injured list.

Thanks to the acquisition of first baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline, the progress made by Young over the last 40 games and the resurgence of Arozarena, the Mariners’ everyday lineup has a vastly different feel and look.

“Since getting those guys, we’re obviously playing good baseball,” All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh said.  “We’re just trying to keep it going. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Just keep going, keep doing what we do and keep finding ways to win. And that’s really all that matters.”

The Orioles will have a different look as well, having traded outfielders Cedric Mullins and Ramon Laureano, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, infielder Ramon Urias and pitchers Gregory Soto, Charlie Morton and Andrew Kittredge.

The Mariners will face the Orioles’ two best starting pitchers — left-hander Trevor Rogers (5-2, 1.44 ERA) and right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (9-5, 4.24 ERA) — in the series.

The Mariners will have a different sort of series over the weekend. They will play their first two games vs. the Mets at Citi Field. Both teams will then travel to Williamsport to play in the annual Sunday Night Baseball game at the Little League World Series.

New York comes into Tuesday having lost its past seven games and nine of its past 10 games, dropping to the third wild-card spot in the NL standings.

Seattle will wrap up its road trip with three games against the Phillies, who are running away with the NL East and have 37-21 record at Citizens Bank Ballpark.

Also

Right-handed pitcher Ryan Sloan, the No. 42-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, will make his first start with High-A Everett on Saturday in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Sloan, who was promoted from Low-A Modesto on Sunday, is expected to make his first home start at Funko Field on either Aug. 23 or 24.

With several prospects getting called up to the big leagues and no longer qualifying under their ranking system, like Cole Young, and the conclusion of the amateur draft, MLB Pipeline released its updated Top 100 prospect list.

The Mariners had a whopping nine players in the Top 100, which was the most of any organization. The next closest were the Reds and White Sox with six each. The Padres had 10 prospects in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 in 2019.

• No. 11 — Colt Emerson, SS
• No. 22 — Kade Anderson, LHP
• No. 29 — Lazaro Montes, OF
• No. 40 — Harry Ford, C
• No. 42 — Ryan Sloan, RHP
• No. 61 — Michael Arroyo, 2B
• No. 83 — Jonny Farmelo, OF
• No. 95 — Jurrangelo Cijntje, RHP/LHP
• No. 97 — Felnin Celesten, SS

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