The Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners are tied for last in the AL West as they open a three game set at Safeco tonight. The Mariners took two of three when the teams met at Seattle earlier in the season and I expect them to at the very least make this a close game.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Mariners will hand the ball to Taijuan Walker (1-3, 8.74 ERA) who's been up and down so far on the year but convinced in his lone start at Safeco so far when he held the Astros to just one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings. He'll be poised to come up with a big performance here looking for revenge here after a disappointing season debut at Oakland. The Athletics will counter with Sonny Gray (4-0, 1.67 ERA) who may have hurled 6 2/3 scoreless innings surrendering just two hits his last time out, but not that he also issued seven walks. A similar performance is not likely to go unpunished again.

2. Oakland's Bullpen - Only Cincinnati's bullpen has compiled a higher ERA on the year than Oakland and its 5.22.

3. X-Factor - Robinson Cano has swung a hot bat for the M's of late going 4-for-8 over his last two games and he's a respectable 5-for-18 with a homer against Gray lifetime.

Selection: This is a play on the Seattle Mariners +1.5 (8*)