Don't bail on these Mariners just yet

You’ve given up on the Mariners.

Another empty summer and no dreams beyond it.

Right?

Well, maybe.

But there are a lot of signposts that suggest Seattle, with 72 games in the books, could very well be in a good position to make the American League playoffs.

Fair enough, the West Division race is over: Houston may be the most complete team in baseball and has about a thousand-game lead on everyone.

And to stick with our honesty theme, one of the league’s wild-card spots may already be drifting away.

The Yankees and Boston are battling atop the East and – right now at least – it appears whoever finishes second in that division could well earn the first wild-card spot.

That is no cinch, however.

Both those teams have crept away from the pack by winning big at home to offset trouble on the road, and the tough games in that division tend to pull teams together.

Don’t put the East runner-up into the playoffs just yet.

SO WHAT about the Mariners?

Start with this: They’re hanging around, just under .500, and most of the AL has been kind enough to wait for them.

No one other than the Yanks, Boston and division leaders Houston and Cleveland is more than three games over .500.

Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Minnesota, Texas, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Detroit – they’re all just a game or two over or under .500. So there will be an all-out scrap for that second wild-card spot.

It’s nothing to scoff at, either: The Royals were a wild-card team that sailed to Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, then came back and won it all the next year.

And Seattle?

The Mariners have stayed afloat despite terrible pitching. They’re 29th in the major leagues in quality starts.

Four members of the starting rotation have been on the disabled list, and studs Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma have combined to make just 11 starts. James Paxton was unhittable, got hurt, and he’s just finding his feet again.

Even the offense has been hampered: Right fielder Mitch Haniger, who looked like a rookie of the year candidate, got injured and has played only 30 games.

Shortstop Jean Segura, who was fighting for the league batting lead at .341, hit the DL and has managed only 43 appearances.

Despite all those injuries and a brutally tough schedule the past month — interleague foes in that stretch were division leaders Colorado and Washington — the Mariners hung tough and remained in touch with the playoff pack.

EVEN BETTER news is that King Felix and Iwakuma are both due back this coming weekend.

Suddenly the starting rotation looks like a solid bunch again. Offensively, Haninger has just returned and Segura is running full-out now in anticipation of being activated.

Manager Scott Servais has repeatedly said: “We haven’t really gotten to see who we are.”

He’s correct, but soon he should be getting a look — and if everyone performs somewhere near their career-level form, this could easily be a wild-card playoff team.

If there is a down side, it would be that the Mariners have no recent history of hitting top gear with something on the line in August and September.

Kansas City’s core players have all been there and done it, performing best when stakes get the highest. To a lesser degree, so have teams like Toronto and Texas.

Servais needs guys like Hernandez, Iwakuma and Paxton to be dominant, because terrific pitching is the only way you get on a serious roll.

In the odd case that you need reminding, the Mariners have missed the playoffs for 15 straight seasons.

It would be a completely new experience if this group found their stride down the stretch, but look...

The talent is there.

Really.

***

Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press. Reach Steve: scameron@cdapress.com.