Well sort of.

Consider that since the Mariners had an eight game losing streak, they are 27-16, the second best record in baseball since April 23rd. They have played at a .628 clip. If they play at the same clip over their last 99 games they will win 96 games.

Impossible you say. These are the Mariners after all.

They have been winning with only four starters, the fifth starter has been a black hole. They still do not have a clean-up hitter. They still struggle for hits. They are 25th in hitting with a .238 average. They are 29th in on-base-percentage at .298. In slugging they are 25th with .370. But they are 16th in runs scored.

The reason they are in the middle of the pack in runs while near the bottom in hitting and getting on base is that they get timely hits.

It also helps when the pitching ERA is 3.39, 2nd in the American League with a .236 batting average against.

Many Mariner fans still believe the team will take a big tumble. Like Pavlov’s dogs they have been trained; in this case, by years of futility. Baseball fans in Seattle expect things to go wrong.  They expect the Mariners to make a trade in July for another Casper Wells. They think Taijuan Walker will be traded for Aaron Harang. They believe Chris Young will blowup, that Roenis Elias will be the next Michael Pineda.

Mariner fans are doomsayers. They will drink the Kool-Aid, they will head to Mt. Rainier to wait for the mother ship.

They do not worry that Marshawn Lynch will run out of Skittles, but that the NFL will make Paul Allen sell the Seahawks to someone who will move the team to Oklahoma City.

But what Mariner fans will never believe is that the Mariners will get in the playoffs, though currently they have a wild card locked up. And they certainly won’t believe Seattle winning 96 games. But what counts is today and today looks pretty good.