It wasn’t the high-stakes Game 162 the Mariners expected to play just a few short weeks ago — but it certainly made Sunday’s 6-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers all the more easier to stomach.

Los Angeles legend Clayton Kershaw threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the final regular-season start of his career, superstar Shohei Ohtani blasted his 55th home run of the season, and the Dodgers bested the Mariners, 6-1, in their regular-season finale at T-Mobile Park.

And while the result wasn’t what a sellout crowd in Seattle wanted on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the playoff field is set: The Mariners enter the postseason as the American League’s No. 2 seed, securing a first-round bye for the first time since 2001.

“We want to win a World Series,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said. “I think the at

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