The Seattle Mariners enter play on Thursday looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins. The Mariners (47-46) have followed up a 5-1 homestand with two disappointing losses on South Beach. They are still 0.5 games up in the American League West, but the lead remains tenuous, as it has much of the season.

While the Mariners offense has faded over the first two games of this series, they are blessed to have starting pitcher Bryce Miller on the mound in the finale. Miller is coming off a seven-inning gem against the Los Angeles Angeles, in which he fired seven shutout innings and the M's won 1-0.

He'll take the mound Thursday in some truly historic company, as noted by OptaSTATS:

Bryce Miller, making his 10th appearance of the season today, has a 0.66 WHIP and 1.71 ERA. The only player since 1913 (when ER were first tracked) to record lower marks in each category after nine season appearances is Jacob deGrom in 2021 (0.57 WHIP, 0.62 ERA, min. 50 IP).

Since coming off the injured list in mid-May, Miller has been one of the best starters in the American League and there seemed to be real momentum for him make the All-Star Game despite his limited appearances, though he hasn't been selected as of this posting.

He'll enter Thursday's start at 4-2 with that 1.71 ERA, and he's struck out 62 batters in 52.2 innings. His fastball velocity has increased massively this season, and we've seen him routinely between 96 and 98 mph.

He has just five walks.

First pitch on Thursday is set for 3:40 p.m. PT. The Mariners will head to Tampa afterwards for a three-game set against the Rays. That's the final series before the All-Star break.

--This is a reminder that the MLB Draft kicks off on Saturday in Philadelphia. The Mariners are picking No. 24 overall, which is a far cry from the No. 3 selection they had a year ago. With that selection, they took Kade Anderson of LSU. Anderson has blossomed into one of the top prospects in baseball, currently ranking No. 7 at Baseball America. He's expected to make his debut later this season.

The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, talking with Joe Doyle of Overslot Baseball about the draft and the Mariners opportunities at pick 24. Furthermore, the two talk about organizational needs and one under-the-radar trade component from this past offseason.

You can listen to the episode here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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