Trailing by a run in the bottom of the 10th, Julio Rodríguez worked a bases-loaded walk against Astros closer Josh Hader, who was in his second inning of relief, and Josh Naylor sent the Mariners to a 6-5 walkoff victory with a single to center, giving the what was left of the crowd of 24,802 something to celebrate on chilly Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park.

How can the Mariners still be alive in the American League West?

Well, it’s complicated. It involves equations, fractions and possibly a riddle. Ok it’s not quite to that level. But mathematically they are still alive for a postseason spot.

Could they win the American League West?

It’s possible in the same way you believe winning the Powerball is a possibility. Here’s how it would need to happen:

The Mariners would need to win sweep their four-game seriesl against the Angels that starts on Thursday night. The same Angels team that beat them two out of three games a week ago in Anaheim.

Then they would need the Astros to lose their four remaining games against the A’s in Sacramento. Houston is 4-5 against the A’s this season and is limping toward the end of the season.

And then they would also need the Rangers to lose their four remaining games. Texas has one game left vs. the Mets at Globe Life Field and then finishes out the season with a three-game series vs. the Twins at Target Field.

If all that happened, it would leave all three teams with identical 78-84 records for a three-way tie atop the division. Since none of three teams hold series wins against the other two, which is the first tiebreaker, the division would be decided by the second tiebreaker — combined head-to-head records.

In this far-fetched scenario, the Mariners would be the American League West champions since they would have the best combined head-to-head records against the other two teams at 15-11 while the Rangers would be 12-14 and the Astros 12-13.