Angels fall to Mariners, 4-3, as division series foe remains unknown

The Angels know when and where they’ll be opening the American League division series, but with two games left in the regular season, they still have no idea who they’ll be playing.

The Seattle Mariners, behind home runs from Kendrys Morales, Michael Saunders and Dustin Ackley, kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over the Angels at Safeco Field on Friday night.

Seattle is two games behind Oakland in the wild-card race. The Mariners must beat the Angels on Saturday night and Sunday, and the Athletics must lose twice in Texas to force a one-game playoff between the A’s and Mariners for the second wild-card spot Monday.

Kansas City clinched at least a wild-card berth — and its first playoff spot since 1985 — Friday, but the Royals are also one game behind Detroit in the AL Central, so they have a shot at the division title.

That means four teams — Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland and Seattle — are still in play for Tuesday’s wild-card knockout game, the winner of which will open the best-of-five division series against the Angels in Anaheim on Thursday.

With Baltimore losing to Toronto on Friday, the Angels clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason before they took the field against Seattle.

The Angels have the best overall record (98-62) and home record (52-29) in baseball, and division series Game 1 starter Jered Weaver, who gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings Friday night, has been historically stronger in Angel Stadium, where he is 69-28 with a 2.66 earned-run average.

“It’s a huge advantage — that’s why they call it the home-field advantage,” Weaver said. “It’s a good position to be in. It’s going to be warm in California, I know that. We’ll sit back and wait to see who we get. It’s going to be fun. It’s been a while since we’ve had a playoff atmosphere, and the guys are looking forward to it.”

Manager Mike Scioscia would prefer a healthy and functional rotation over home-field advantage, but the Angels lost starters Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs to season-ending injuries in August, Matt Shoemaker is recovering from a rib-cage strain, and left-handers C.J. Wilson and Hector Santiago have been erratic.

Shoemaker extended his long-toss work to 150 feet Friday and could throw off a mound by Sunday or Monday, fueling hope the right-hander, who suffered a mild left-oblique strain Sept. 15, will be ready for the first round.

“It’s still day to day, but I’m very encouraged about where we’re at,” said Shoemaker, who went 16-4 with a 3.04 ERA this season. “It feels much better. My arm feels good. My body feels good. I’m being safe if something doesn’t feel right. There have been no setbacks.”

Scioscia said Shoemaker would need to stretch his long-toss to 200 feet before throwing off a mound. Pitching coach Mike Butcher said Shoemaker would need to throw off a mound no later than Tuesday for the Angels to determine by Thursday whether he can pitch in the division series.

Weaver and Wilson are in line to pitch the first two games of the division series, so the earliest Shoemaker would pitch is Game 3 on Oct. 5.

“We haven’t made any decisions at all on what our playoff rotation will be,” Scioscia said. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions. We definitely have to see where Shoemaker is. I’m not going to commit to anything until we get closer to playoffs.”

Wilson will take the Safeco Field mound Saturday night looking to rebound from his worst start of the season, a two-thirds-inning, four-run, two-hit, four-walk effort in an 8-4 loss to Oakland on Monday night.

Asked whether Wilson would be “pitching for his postseason life” Saturday, Scioscia said, “I don’t think it’s to that point, but C.J knows he has to make better pitches than he did in Oakland.”