No matter how you slice it, three games in Houston this weekend between the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros won't decide the American League West race.

A series win for the Mariners, and even a series sweep, doesn't automatically give them the title. A series loss, and even being swept, doesn't automatically disqualify them from the crown, and it certainly doesn't mean they can't still make the playoffs and do damage.

In that way, this series, in which the two teams enter tied, is important, but it isn't absolutely everything.

But to the fanbase? It's absolutely everything. 

Trust me, it really isn't fair that this Mariners team, or any Mariners team, is forced to bear the stench of the teams before it, but it's reality.

Mariners fans have seen plenty of bad Mariners teams in plenty of wasted seasons. But they've also seen their fair share of heartache. Near-playoff misses in 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024 still sting, and even though the playoff drought was broken in 2022, the failures of nearly 50 years still ring true.

The Mariners are the only team in baseball to never make the World Series. They haven't won the division in nearly a quarter century. Bad? Sometimes. Unlucky? Sometimes. Cursed? Some will say so.

For better or worse, M's fans are conditioned to hope for the best but expect the worse, perpetually waiting for Lucy to pull the football away from Charlie Brown. 

They are undoubtedly, and unfortunately, waiting for that again this weekend. Most Mariners fans are wondering how the team will find a way to miss the golden opportunity in front of them: To beat an Astros team without Yordan Alvarez, Josh Hader and others. Seattle is the better team on paper, but that hasn't stopped the Mariners from disappointing fans before.

If the fanbase wants to change its attitude, and the narrative that led to it, it will be on the players to get it done. Going into Houston, as the better team, and winning the series, won't cure all the ills of nearly 50 years of existence, but it will go a long way toward breaking down the stigma that the M's will find a way to hurt you.

So, in the standings? This series isn't absolutely everything.

But to jaded fans who have been run over time and time again? It doesn't get any bigger.

In a possible playoff preview, the Mariners will send ace Bryan Woo to the mound against Hunter Brown, who will be in the conversation for the Cy Young at the end of the season. First pitch is set for 5:10 p.m. PT.