Their total hours of sleep were certainly diminished from an earned and deserved celebration that lasted into the night and early morning hours. The external motivating factor of earning a bye through the wild card had already been secured roughly an hour before Emerson Hancock fired the opening pitch of Thursday night’s game vs. the Rockies.

But given how this team has approached every game each season, and the mindset of their manager when it comes to “battling” and “fighting” for a win every night, there was no letdown due to an emotional or literal hangover from clinching the organization’s first American League West title 24 hours earlier. It also helped they were playing a team simply overmatched in talent, experience and execution.

With another large crowd — officially announced at 40,656 — packed into T-Mobile Park to watch one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Mariners rolled to a relatively easy 6-2 victory over the Rockies.

The Mariners groggily came into the day knowing that either a Detroit victory or their own win over Colorado would give them one of the top two seeds in the American League.

With no on-field batting practice or infield work, most of the Mariners arrived a little later than usual. They watched in the clubhouse as the Tigers held on for a 4-2 victory over the Guardians, salvaging one win in the three-game series and avoiding a sweep at Progressive Field.

With both Detroit and Cleveland now holding 86-73 records in the back-and-forth battle for the American League Central with three games left in their season, there was no way either could move past the Mariners. Seattle held the tiebreaker over the Tigers and Guardians after winning each of the overall series.

It’s why Wilson opted to change his starting lineup after the game was finished in Cleveland, moving Cal Raleigh to designated hitter and having Mitch Garver catch.

With a top-two seed clinched, the Mariners will have a bye through the wild-card round of the playoffs, meaning they will have five days off before opening the American League Division Series on Oct. 4 in Seattle.

As the No. 2 seed, the Mariners would play the winner of the wild-card series between the AL Central winner and the third wild-card. Those two spots will go to some combination of the Tigers, Guardians and Astros.

Cleveland hosts the Texas Rangers for the weekend series. The Tigers travel to Boston for a difficult three-game series. The Red Sox currently hold the second wild-card spot. After avoiding being swept in a three-game series with the A’s on Thursday afternoon, the Astros (85-74) sit one game back of both Cleveland and Detroit, but doesn’t have the tiebreaker over either team. The Astros will open a three-game series vs. the Angels on Friday.

Seattle has an outside chance at earning the No. 1 seed. The Blue Jays and Yankees, who are battling out for the AL East title have identical 91-68 records. Both teams hold the tiebreaker over the Mariners. Seattle would need both teams to lose two of three games this weekend, which seems unlikely.

Toronto hosts the Rays, while the Yankees host the Orioles.

Some might argue that the path to the American League Championship Series might be easier if seeded second rather than as the top seed.

With Hancock returning to the rotation for a fill-in start in place of Bryan Woo and Dan Wilson using every position player on the roster, the Mariners extended their winning streak to seven games. They’ve won their last 11 games at home and have won 17 of their last 18 games on the season.

Hancock, who was in the Mariners opening day rotation, was converted to a reliever in late August and has been solid coming out of the bullpen. But with Woo dealing with mild inflammation in his right pectoral, Hancock returned to the role he’d only ever known as a pitcher. He was outstanding, tossing four scoreless innings and allowing two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.

The Mariners provided plenty of run support led by Eugenio Suárez. The veteran third baseman clubbed his 49 th homer of the season — a two-run blast in the second inning off Rockies starter Bradley Blalock — that gave Seattle a 2-0 lead.

Seattle continued to add on. Mired in a 3-for-43 slump, Randy Arozarena added an RBI single and Suarez, who had three hits on the day, had another RBI single.

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