THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: M's can beat the best — but can they beat the Astros?

Can they finish overhauling Houston?

Can these Mariners break the curse, and go on to win the AL West?

The arguments start with the Astros’ spooky vampire cloak.

Year after year, the Mariners have not been able to drive a stake through that evil black heart.

This time around, the Astros have endured a tidal wave of injuries, and yet they’ve scrambled for just enough wins to stay atop the division.

More or less.

The Mariners are within breathing distance as they begin a nine-game road trip tonight in Baltimore.

Give them credit for staying the course, and methodically reeling in the Astros.

Seattle was seven games behind Houston on July 10, and still five games adrift on July 30.

There’s been a serious change of fortune since the trade deadline, though.

The Mariners currently have won seven straight and nine of 10.

They crawled to within a half-game of the summit with that 6-3 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon, then headed off to Baltimore — watching to see how Houston fared in a Monday night bout with the Red Sox.  

IF YOU are one of the True Believers, you’re positive that the Mariners are destined to rumble right past Houston.

They’ll become the AL West champs, you insist, for the least complicated reason of all.

Seattle is just a better team.

Both contenders added talent just before the trade deadline, and each is waiting on key contributors to come off the injured list.

We’re familiar with the added fire of Arizona imports Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, and the M’s will look considerably different with the return of Bryce Miller to the rotation.

Oh, and there’s the matter of Luke Raley and Victor Robles finding their way back into the attack.

The Mariners have the deepest lineup of Jerry Dipoto’s tenure, not to mention huge long-ball help provided by Cal Raleigh.

Houston, meanwhile, is still mixing and matching with its pitching staff — Cristian Javier returned from the IL to face Boston on Monday night, but Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers and Ronel Blanco are out for varying lengths of time.

Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have been left to carry the load.

Offensively, the ‘Stros are now without slugger Yordan Alvarez and third baseman Isaac Parades.

The biggest jolt on the positive side (besides the return of shortstop Jeremy Pena) was a last-second trade with the Twins for homeboy Carlos Correa, once Houston’s first overall pick in the draft.

Correa has jacked his average to .405 in Houston, and he’s been a surprising vocal leader, endlessly reminding the Astros that winning is in their DNA.

ON THE other side of this battle, meanwhile, there are at least a couple of legit reasons to believe the Mariners finally might put the garbage-can vampire into the ground — once and for all.

Scan the season, and two trends catch your attention.

The first concerns their response when it truly appears like they can’t avoid a train wreck.

Consider: It seemed that a long history of staying down for a 10-count had hit them again on July 10 at Yankee Stadium, when Bryan Woo took a no-hitter (and a 5-0 lead) into the eighth inning.

Somehow, the Yanks tied things against Seattle’s normally solid bullpen, and won in the 10th.

That awful loss was the finale of a three-game sweep, which the Mariners could swallow on their flight to Detroit — where they would be fed to Tarik Skubal and the high-flying Tigers a day later.

Right?

Nope.

Jump-started by a Julio Rodriguez home run, the M’s knocked out Skubal in the fifth inning en route to a 12-3 victory.

They scored 15 the next night and ultimately swept three from the Tigers, dramatically changing the season script.

The other habit that bodes well for the Mariners down the stretch is their ability to beat the game’s best pitchers.

They’ve hung two losses on Skubal, who is 11-3 overall.

They’ve beaten Garrett Crochet.

And Nathan Eovaldi.

And Jacob deGrom.

Relievers?

They’ve won against Jhoan Duran.

And Emmanuel Clase.

And Griffin Jax (twice).

And Bryan Abreu (twice).

So.

They’re ready for the Astros with that wooden stake, a burning candle, silver, garlic and a few holy relics.

Not to mention a Big Dumper.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”