The Seattle Mariners open up a critical four-game series with the Texas Rangers on Friday night at Globe Life Field. The Mariners, who were expected to win the American League West, have played a frustrating brand of baseball for 103 games and enter the series at 51-52 and 0.5 games back of Texas.

While the Rangers are not necessarily a great team either, they do have plenty of reasons for optimism, namely their excellent pitching staff. They will throw very difficult pitchers at the Mariners in this series: MacKenzie Gore, Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Kumar Rocker.

The timing of this series is important for a multitude of reasons: The limited number of games remaining in the baseball schedule, and where we are in the baseball calendar. The trade deadline is coming up on Aug. 3, and while the Mariners are expected to add at the deadline, will this series have any impact on what they do?

For instance, if they sweep the series and move to 3.5 games up on the Rangers, are they more likely to be all-in? Is the deadline tempered if they split and remain 0.5 back? And what if they get swept, or lose three-of-four, falling to 3.5 or 4.5 back?

We caught up with ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast to talk about the impact of this series:

"So I don't think it's going to have much of a bearing because of this reason. I think the Mariners front office believes in this team. They believe they have a group of players that should be playing better than what they're doing right now.

I've had these frank conversations with front office people who go, "Yeah, we stink. We're not that good. We can't be that good," a month before a team declares itself to be a seller. I've had conversations with GMs who are like, "We haven't announced it yet, but we're going to be dumping players." They know the writing is on the wall.

I have not gotten that vibe from the Mariners front office. I think they're scratching their heads, like a lot of people, where they're looking at it going, "Why are they not better? Why are we not performing better?"

So I do think they'll look to make tweaks.

Now, the one part where I do think the lack of performance so far this year with this group of players might affect trade deadline decisions, I wonder if the Mariners might be more inclined to go for guys who are under team control beyond 2026, so to steer away from the rentals, if that makes sense.

This is speculation just on my part. I haven't had anybody tell me this, but I think with the Mariners at this point, you have to be having at least serious questions about how this group is performing.

If you're looking to upgrade the team, I think you're not only looking at 2026, but you're looking ahead toward 2027. And that means getting guys who you're going to control beyond this year, especially with someone like Randy Arozarena headed to free agency, and some of the other decisions that they'll have to make in the offseason."

The Mariners have connected to a handful of players on the trade market so far, including a pair of San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller. Furthermore, it was reported on Thursday that the M's are willing to trade Emerson Hancock in the right deal. That right deal likely includes a right-handed bat.

The Mariners and Rangers will face off at 5:05 p.m. PT on Friday. Gore pitches against Bryce Miller.

The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney is out now. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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