Game 84: Royals at Mariners

If four months ago you would have told me that in Jason Vargas' final start of the first half, he would be jockeying for the starting nod in the All-Star game, I would have probably laughed you out of the room.

But here we are.

Although the Royals still have to travel to Los Angeles for a date with the Dodgers before they go on their four-day summer break, this game seems like a fitting end to one of the more bizarre first halves in Royals history.

Vargas will take on the Mariners, one of his former teams and the squad Jarrod Dyson is pretending to play for, with the Royals looking for their first sweep of July.

He will be opposed by another left-hander in Ariel Miranda, who has been a nice little surprise for the Mariners, giving them a 3.82 ERA to date through his team high 17 starts.

However, his FIP does sit at a whopping 5.14, thanks in part to a friendly .218 BABIP. With that being said, he's still giving up virtually the same amount of hard contact as Vargas (28.3% to 27.5) and more soft contact (21.8% to 18.7%) so he's doing something right.

The lineups for tonight are as such:

Tonight's lineup as Vargy and the #Royals try to sweep away the Mariners in Seattle. #RaisedRoyal pic.twitter.com/EiTKR09iFL

— #VoteMoose (@Royals) July 5, 2017

#Mariners Gameday Info - July 5 vs. #Royals. Lineups, Game Notes & More: https://t.co/ZONFt6a93l pic.twitter.com/rV936w6UTI

— MarinersPR (@MarinersPR) July 5, 2017