At 9:40 ET, my AL West GOM is on the Seattle Mariners. This is an important series for both teams. The Mariners scored 3 times in the first inning in yesterday's game and made it hold up for a 3-2 victory. They are now 3.5 games up on Texas and 4.5 games up on Houston. They want to build their lead and the Astros want to narrow the gap. The pitching matchup strongly favors Seattle.

Castillo has allowed 3 earned runs or less in 8 straight starts. He allowed 2 or fewer earned runs in 7 of those. That included games against the Yankees, Orioles, Braves, Rangers and the Rockies, at Colorado. Tough lineups but Castillo consistently kept them down. Brown is 0-3 with a 19.95 ERA and 3.911 WHIP on the road. The Astros are 0-3 when he starts against Seattle. The Mariners won 10-1 when these pitchers faced each other last July. Play on Seattle.