THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: These M's earned an extra few days to get healthy

How about an English grammar class, boys and girls?

What??

You’re now all puffed up, sounding smart, and insisting that a few nouns and commas have nothing to do with sports.

Well, let me give you an example, a real live English puzzle that has LOTS to do with sports.

Not only that, but we’re talking about big-time events coming up this week.

Here are two sentences that seem exactly alike.

In fact, they ARE exactly alike.

But if you’re truly excited, if you’re getting your game face on for the Mariners' explosion into the American League Division Series, you know that these identical sentences have totally different meanings.

Ready?

• Manager Dan Wilson doesn’t know who will be playing when the Mariners begin the ALDS on Saturday.

• Manager Dan Wilson doesn’t know who will be playing when the Mariners begin the ALDS on Saturday.

Yes, those sentences are the same, word for word.

I warned you.

Ah, but the meanings.

Wilson doesn’t know the Mariners’ opponent, which will be the survivor of Detroit-Cleveland in a best-of-three.

Wilson doesn’t know which of his own players, currently ailing, will be ready to go on Saturday.

OK, ONE of our duplicate sentences is pretty straightforward.

The Guardians and Tigers, who feel like they’ve been playing each other nightly since the beginning of time, finally will settle matters this week.

If you’re following MLB at all, you know that Detroit has been in a hideous free fall — giving away a double-digit lead in the division in just the final month.

The Tigers did have a fat enough lead all summer, though, that despite blowing the division title, they’re still hanging on with a chance to right the ship.

But it won’t be easy.

They now must win two of three in a series played entirely in Cleveland.

The ALDS is best-of-five, and in this case, the festivities will begin at T-Mobile Park on Saturday night.

However.

One of the great traps in postseason play — this is true for any sport, really — is to believe that a certain opponent would be almost a cinch to beat.

If a team has proven itself worthy enough to earn a shot at glory, almost anything can happen.

Have that phrase tattooed on the inside of your eyelids, gang.

That mistake — thinking a particular matchup fits you perfectly — might become more and more meaningful as October baseball rolls along.

The Mariners are already fancied by the money people in Vegas, to the point that they’re the top choice in the AL to reach the World Series.

These prices vary from place to place, but just for a consensus, consider Seattle at No. 3 overall, 5-to-1 odds, behind only the Phillies and Brewers.

The M’s betting line got a jolt when they swept Houston on the road, then kept up the pace until they had wrapped up the AL West for the first time since 2001.

There are a lot of ways to interpret betting lines.

What matters when money finally changes hands, however, is what Bill the sales exec next door believed enough to reach for his wallet.

FYI, THE national media repeats over and over that T-Mobile is a tough place to score runs, and always adds that Seattle has good pitching.

Those two articles of faith might (or might not) turn out to be true in a few weeks of high-pressure games, but the public THINKS they’re a cinch.

That doesn’t make these things a lock.

Obviously.

Players, managers and fans can get caught up in what is supposed to happen (because a gazillion people have come to believe it).

If everyone takes a certain pitcher’s success as gospel, and he’s retired the first six batters, then the seventh hitter can’t possibly wallop a ball into the right-field seats.

Until he does.

Let’s wrap up a look at our identical sentences (remember them?) with the critical No. 2.

Winning the West could turn out to be huge for the Mariners, simply because several players have almost an extra week of healing.

Wilson really, really needs Bryan Woo (inflamed pectoral muscle), Josh Naylor (strained groin) and Victor Robles (shoulder).

He’d trade his morning coffee for a full and healthy roster. 

Look, I’m not making any predictions here.

But.

The Mariners ARE good enough to win their first-ever World Series.

Imagine the Northwest going batty if they do.

Oh, my word!

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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.”