The Seattle Mariners are one of the many teams in a dogfight for an American League wild-card spot, and with the club sitting four games back of the Minnesota Twins it received fantastic news Friday.

Both Felix Hernandez and James Paxton are set to rejoin the rotation next week, according to manager Scott Servais.

"Very encouraging, positive signs, and both guys look on track to get in the rotation next week," Servais told reporters, including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.

The addition of the two hurlers should greatly increase Seattle's chances of nabbing a postseason spot, as both are proven big-league starters.

In fact, Paxton was one of the game's best across 20 starts before going on the disabled list with a strained left pectoral muscle, owning a 12-3 record with a 2.73 ERA.

Hernandez, a former Cy Young winner, may have been in the midst of a down year (4.28 ERA, 9.7 H/9), but he's still an incredibly effective arm, which the Mariners rotation sorely needs.

Seventeen pitchers have started a game for the Mariners this season. They're ninth in the AL in rotation ERA (4.75), which is only that low because of Paxton.

Mariners current rotation

PITCHER GS IP ERA WHIP OPP AVG Mike Leake* 28 167 4.10 1.31 .282 Andrew Albers 4 21 3.43 1.38 .276 Erasmo Ramirez** 15 107.2 4.35 1.16 .244 Ariel Miranda 28 156.1 4.72 1.21 .225 Andrew Moore 7 44.1 5.89 1.22 .270

* with SEA & STL

** with SEA & TB

Servais doesn't anticipate both players coming back for the same series, but does appear to have a plan for their returns.

"You might see one in Texas and one in Houston," Servais explained. "We've played around with a couple different scenarios depending on what it looked like today. We'll talk about it some more and get it mapped out."