Tonight at 10:05 p.m. ET, the Seattle Mariners (81-69) and Los Angeles Angels (94-57) take the field at Angel Stadium of Anaheim for the third contest of a four-game set. The game can be live streamed for free here. Seattle fans can hear all of the action on 710 ESPN while Los Angeles fans can do the same on KLAA 830.
Seattle continues an 11-game road trip while Los Angeles continues a 10-game homestand. The teams have split the first two games as the Mariners topped the Angels 8-1 on Monday while the Angels bounced back with a 13-2 victory on Tuesday.
Los Angeles has clinched a postseason berth and its magic number for the American League West division crown is two as it holds a 10.5 lead over the Oakland Athletics. Seattle, meanwhile, is in the hunt for a postseason berth of its own and trails the Kansas City Royals by one game for the final AL wild-card spot.
The Angels will clinch the AL West with a combination of a win tonight and an A's loss against the Texas Rangers.
James Paxton (6-2, 1.83 ERA) mans the mound for the Mariners while the Angels counter with C.J. Wilson, who is 12-9 with a 4.61 ERA.
Paxton came off of the disabled list with a strained left lat muscle on Aug. 1, but he's very familiar with the Angels after beating them twice in April.
"There's a lot of similarities to what they were doing early in the season," said Paxton, according to MLB.com. "Obviously small things change. Some guys make adjustments and things like that. But for the most part, for me, it's the same plan of attack."
Paxton faces a Los Angeles lineup that is flanked by AL MVP candidate Mike Trout, who leads the MLB with 107 RBI, 109 runs and 324 total bases. Trout also ranks third in the AL in slugging percentage (.565) and OPS (.946) as well as fourth in homers (34) and fifth in doubles (39).
The Angels got outfielder Josh Hamilton back into the lineup on Tuesday after he missed 11 games with a shoulder injury. Hamilton was slotted in the No. 6 hole as he's struggled this season.
"I think we can adjust a lot of different ways if we get Josh swinging the bat to his capabilities," manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com. "You have a lot of different looks you can get and we'll be a deeper lineup whether he's hitting in the cleanup spot or fifth or sixth."
Hamilton is hitting .263/.331/.414 with 10 homers and 44 RBI thus far this season.
Seattle responds with a lineup that is paced by second baseman and big offseason acquisition Robinson Cano. Cano is tied for third in the AL with a .387 on-base percentage, tied for fourth with a .321 batting average and in sole possession of fourth place with 177 hits.
Third baseman Kyle Seager paces the Mariners with 23 homers and 89 RBI this season.
The Angels look to march toward a division crown while the Mariners hope to continue to keep pace in the AL wild-card when these division rivals clash tonight at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
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