The Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers wrap up a three-game set at Globe Life Field in Arlington on Thursday, August 19, 2021. These two AL West foes will also close down their 19-game regular-season series, so we’ve prepared the best Mariners vs. Rangers betting pick and odds.

Excluding the middle contest of this set, the Mariners are 11-6 against the Rangers in 2021. Seattle has won 20 of its previous 28 encounters with Texas, and the Mariners are listed as -161 moneyline favorites for Thursday’s closer. The Rangers are +148 home dogs, and the totals sit at 9.0 runs on Bookmaker Sportsbook.   

The Mariners are still dreaming of playoffs  

The Seattle Mariners beat the Rangers as -130 road favorites last Tuesday, 3-1, to improve to 64-56 on the season. It was their fifth win over the previous six outings, and the M’s were four games behind the bottom wild card in the American League on Wednesday.

Seattle has gone 8-7 through its first 15 games in August thanks to some top-notch pitching. The Mariners have compiled a 2.63 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and a .226 batting average so far this month, but they’ve scored just 56 runs on a poor .232/.309/.377 batting line.

Chris Flexen will take the mound Thursday, aiming for his fourth win over the Rangers this season. In his previous three starts against Texas in 2021, the 27-year-old righty has allowed just five earned runs on 17 hits and two walks across 19.1 frames of work.

Flexen is 10-5 with a 3.78 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 22 starts this term. He’s registered a 3.57 ERA on a .835 OPS allowed through his previous three starts in August.

The Rangers upset the A’s twice 

The Texas Rangers’ season is over, but the rest of the league will have to work hard to secure wins over the Strangers, who finished the last week with a 7-4 home victory to the Oakland Athletics. Texas won a three-game home set against the A’s, tallying 18 runs in the process which is more than the Rangers have scored in the previous eight games combined.

Through their first 15 contests in August, the Rangers have gone 5-10 with a 4.52 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. They’ve been awful at the plate, scoring only 45 runs in that span and posting the worst OPS in the majors (.583).

Spencer Howard will get the nod Thursday against the Mariners, and his previous start came on August 11 in Seattle, as the 25-year-old righty tossed three scoreless innings and yielded just a couple of runs. Howard joined the Rangers in July and gave up three earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work on his debut, taking a loss in a 5-0 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels. He has a 0-2 record with a 5.72 ERA in seven starts and four relief appearances for the Phillies in 2021.

Trends:

Seattle:

  • 6-2 in the last eight games overall  
  • 20-8 in the last 28 games against Texas 

Texas:

  • 3-10 in the last 13 games overall  
  • 4-23 in the last 27 games against the AL West

Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers Pick

The Mariners should win this game on the back of their pitching staff. It’s never easy to perform well under pressure, but the M’s have been solid lately, so I’m expecting them to wrap up the regular-season series in a strong fashion.

The Rangers have been a disaster at the plate all season long. They’ve scored exactly one run in each of their previous three encounters with the Mariners, so I don’t expect the Rangers to replicate their performance from the Athletics series.

Pick: Take Seattle Mariners at -161  

The Total:

Betting on the under seems like a way to go, and I’m a bit surprised with the nine-run line, though the over pays +105. Anyway, the under is 9-5 in the last 14 meetings between the Mariners and Rangers, and only two of those 14 games saw more than nine runs in total.

Also, 11 of Seattle’s last 13 contests produced runs in single digits. I would stick with these betting trends and bet on the under.

Pick: Go under 9.0 runs at -125