The Seattle Mariners are in the best position they've been in the regular season in over two decades after a weekend series against the Houston Astros.

The Mariners swept their American League West rivals to take a three-game lead in the division. Seattle also had a multi-game lead over the Detroit Tigers for the No. 2 seed in the American League after the sweep.

The sweep against the Astros guaranteed a 5-1 road trip for the Mariners. They won a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals before heading to Houston.

Including the road trip, Seattle has won 15 of its last 16 games. A large part of the club's success over that stretch has been the bullpen. Specifically the back-end relievers.

Over the course of the season, the Mariners bullpen has been one of the most volatile units on the team.

Due to various injuries to the pitching staff, both to the starters and relievers, the unit was one of the most highly-utilized ones in baseball in terms of innings pitched. But throughout almost the entire season, the team's high-leverage arms have been among the best in baseball.

According to pregame notes shared by Mariners PR on Sunday, Seattle has four relievers (minimum of 45 innings pitched) with ERAs below 2.75: All-Star closer Andres Munoz (1.49), Matt Brash (2.53), Gabe Speier (2.59) and Eduard Bazardo (2.34). According to the pregame notes, the Mariners are the only team in the majors this season to have that many relievers with ERAs below that mark.

Munoz was named an All-Star for the second time in his career this season. In addition to his team-leading 1.49 ERA, Munoz has struck out 81 batters in 60.1 innings pitched across 62 appearances. He has a career-high 37 saves in 44 opportunities.

Brash missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery and returned May 3. He's fanned 56 batters in 46.1 innings pitched across 52 outings and has four saves in five opportunities.

Speier was also plagued with injuries last season. He dealt with left rotator cuff strain and was up-and-down between the majors and the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. He's bounced back this year and has 77 strikeouts in 59 innings across 73 appearances.

Bazardo, who was also up-and-down between Tacoma and the big leagues last season, has firmly entrenched himself into the front end of the team's bullpen. He's fanned 79 batters in 77 innings pitched across his 70 outings.

It's the second time in franchise history the Mariners have had a bullpen with at least four pitchers with a sub-2.75 ERA. The other time was in 2014: Joe Biemel, Dominic Leone, Yoervis Medina, Tom Wilhelmsen and Danny Farquhar.