THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, August 2, 2014

At this point in the summer in major league baseball, you're either a contender or a pretender.

What Oakland and Detroit did at the trade deadline on Thursday made it clear that they're playing for nothing short of a World Series championship right now.

The Seattle Mariners, who entered Friday just three games back for the second American League wild-card spot, might be among those just along for the ride.

ON THE bright side, Seattle didn't end up trading any major league talent on Thursday, dealing Abraham Almonte and a minor league pitcher to San Diego for Chris Denorfia. Just before the deadline, they got in on one of the biggest moves of the day, acquiring Austin Jackson from Detroit in a three-team trade that saw Nick Franklin moved to Tampa Bay and David Price land with Detroit.

Franklin played second base nearly every day after getting called up last May, but with the signing of Robinson Cano in the offseason, likely wasn't going to see time there anytime soon.

Jackson might be the team's best leadoff hitter since Ichiro Suzuki held down that spot for all his years in Seattle, and Denorfia will patrol right field.

Maybe, just maybe, this will work itself out and the Mariners play more consistent and they gain ground.

Meanwhile in the AL West, Oakland dealt Yoenis Cespedes to Boston for Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes.

Yes, the team's cleanup hitter and the same guy that threw a strike from 300 feet to get an out at home earlier this year.

After acquiring Jeff Samardjiza on July 4, Oakland might have been the team to beat in the AL, but Detroit adding Price to that offense, maybe not.

But it definitely got more interesting.

SO WHERE does that leave Seattle?

The Mariners have had really good pitching all year, with Felix Hernandez breaking a record for consecutive starts with two or fewer earned runs allowed in 14 straight starts.

He broke it, however, in the Mariners' 2-0 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday.

Cano hasn't quite been the power source he was in New York, hitting seven home runs, but at least he's among the league leaders in batting average at 328.

Maybe the addition of Jackson can at least give him a few more chances to hit with runners on and give them a chance to score a few more runs a game.

On the bright side, Toronto, which leads Seattle by three games for that second spot, has seven games with the Mariners remaining. Lucky for both, the final four-game series is in Toronto Sept. 22-25 in the final week of the season.

If "Wait until next year" happens a little sooner, it wouldn't shock me.

But 2015 might be more realistic.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.