MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Seattle Mariners
USATSI

The Mariners won again on Sunday, completing a four-game sweep of the Blue Jays in Seattle. And they did so in dramatic fashion for the second straight night.   

A quick rewind top Saturday night. Seattle's starting pitcher Robbie Ray was excellent again, only giving up one run in six innings and that was a home run by George Springer -- and we know there isn't any shame in that. That's six straight starts for Ray with either zero or one run allowed and he has a 0.91 ERA in that span and the Mariners have gone 5-1. 

Still, the Mariners trailed 1-0 heading to the bottom of the seventh. J.P. Crawford singled in front of Carlos Santana, who picked a nice time for his first homer since the Mariners traded for him late last month. 

On Sunday, the Mariners trailed late again, this time by a score of 5-4. And again, it was Santana with a two-run shot. This time it was the eighth inning: 

It was actually Santana's second homer of the game, making it three in the span of two games. 

Most importantly, though, it was another Mariners win and that's been a common story of late. 

On Friday, the Mariners climbed back above .500 for the first time since May 2, when they were 12-11. Saturday marked the third straight win over the Jays in the series and seventh consecutive Mariners win overall. Sunday, they completed the sweep to run their winning streak to eight. 

The franchise record winning streak is 15, which happened in their 116-win 2001 season. There have only been three 10-game winning streaks in Mariners history, so they are getting close to something historic. 

The eight-game winning streak is tied with the Orioles for the current longest in baseball, though if we extend things just a bit, the Mariners have a fair claim on the entirely subjective "hottest team in baseball" crown as they've also won 16 of 19. 

The Mariners' streak is the longest for the franchise since June 25-July 3, 2018. The Mariners won 89 games that season, but missed the playoffs. 

And that's really why we're here. The Mariners last made the playoffs in 2001, giving them the longest active playoff drought among the major men's North American professional sports leagues. The NBA's Sacramento Kings (2006), NFL's New York Jets (2010) and NHL's Buffalo Sabres (2011) are the clubs who own the dubious streaks in those other leagues.   

The Mariners won 90 games last season, but missed a playoff berth by two games. Seattle was active in the offseason, and the addition of another wild-card spot this season seemed like a good indications the Mariners would end that drought, but they struggled pretty badly from late April through the middle of June. 

After a loss on June 19, the Mariners were 29-39 and would need some decent binoculars to find the final playoff spot. 

Since then, however, they have blazed a trail to playoff position by going 16-3. They now sit 45-42, tied with the Blue Jays for the third AL wild card. 

The bigger picture, of course, is being in that position come the final day of the season. In the meantime, all the Mariners can do is just keep stacking up wins.