If there's an AL West team the Twins should feel the least amount of anxiety about meeting in October, it's the Seattle Mariners.
Here we'd have the meeting of two horrifically unlucky teams in the postseason in a situation where something has to give. Seattle broke its own long-standing playoff losing streak last year only to have it reinstated a series later. The brutal way the Mariners lost to the Houston Astros in the ALDS provided the sort of pain that Twins fans could feel in their souls.
Seattle is hitting .249 on the road this year and only .236 against right-handed pitchers, which bodes well for the Twins. Minnesota's projected three-man Wild Card rotation is all righties -- Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, and Pablo Lopez -- and they'd host every game in the first round.
However, the Mariners beat up both Sonny Gray and Pablo Lopez the last time they saw each pitcher which isn't exactly going to fill anyone in Twins Territory with an overabundance of confidence.
What the Twins need to rely on is the offense waking up enough to give Gray and Lopez proper run support which is something that didn't happen in their respective losses. Of course, Minnesota's reliance on the offense not being as putrid as it's been for large stretches of this season is not a strategy exclusive to beating the Mariners, but starting out the postseason with bats getting hot would certainly be a good sign.