The time is now for the Mariners. Just ask Kenny Loggins

Raul Ibañez, who had three stints with the Mariners during his well-traveled career of 19 years, returns Thursday night to Safeco Field. He’ll throw the ceremonial first pitch, a few minutes before Felix Hernandez delivers an authentic one.

Although Ibanez was a fan favorite in Seattle, recording artist Kenny Loggins, an Everett native, would have been more appropriate for the occasion. Loggins once won a Grammy Award for his performance of “This Is It.”

For once in your life, here’s your miracle

Stand up and fight!

This is it.

The 10-game homestand that begins Thursday finds the Mariners in a make-or-break mode. Considering the schedule – four games against a streaky Yankees team beefed up for the playoff run, followed by three games against the first-place Red Sox and three more against the lowly Mets – going 5-5 sounds like a reasonable expectation.

Wrong. A 5-5 homestand won’t be good enough. With August looming as the baseball version of American Gladiator for the Mariners – 20 of 27 away from Safeco Field – the time has come for them to exceed reasonable.

Please, no more grumbling about how injuries prevent momentum. Thanks to a road trip that concluded Wednesday with a 4-1 victory at Houston, the Mariners have achieved momentum.

The summer stage is theirs, and theirs alone, but the clock is ticking. When the homestand finishes July 30, a week from this Sunday, the Seahawks will be taking the field for their first practice.

In other words, the Hawks are about to dominate the local sports news cycle. No matter that their regular season doesn’t kick off until Sept. 10. Pro football rules this market: Five consecutive playoff appearances, two of which took them to the Super Bowl, will do that.

The Mariners, meanwhile, have served as little more than a casually regarded diversion for sports fans eager to watch football. Two of the past three baseball seasons have gone to the wire in Seattle, but a 16-year playoff drought has a way of fostering show-us-some-results blahs.

A pivotal series against the Bronx Bombers offers a cure for such ambivalence. Their lead over the Mariners for the second wild-card berth was shaved to 1.5 games Wednesday. The race remains up for grabs, and Yanks general manager Brian Cashman is all in.

He addressed two concerns this week, acquiring power-hitting corner infielder Todd Frazier and relievers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle in a trade for prospects with the White Sox. Cashman still wants to pick up another starting pitcher, but it’s clear he’s following a trend, established by the 2014-15 Royals and, more recently, the 2016 Indians, of relying on a lights-out bullpen to turn sixth-inning leads into virtually certain victories.

As for Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, he might swing a deadline trade to reinforce a rotation that’s shaky at the back end. Obtaining a veteran reliever could be in the mix, too, as bullpen arms tend to tire when required to combine for nine outs, night after night.

But here’s what’s fun about the homestand: The focus will be on the guys on Dipoto’s roster, rather than anybody who may or may not be acquired to supplement it.

Houston is on a cruise-control track to clinch the AL West in mid-September, so losing two of three against Seattle was no big deal for the Astros.

It was a very big deal for the Mariners, who on Wednesday confronted a powerhouse opponent and excelled in all phases. Starting pitcher James Paxton resembled an ace. The bullpen, anchored by closer Edwin Diaz, silenced the league’s most fearsome lineup.

The defense again contributed – Miguel Heredia’s pinpoint throw to third base off a favorable carom in left field was a game-changer – and on an afternoon Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager went hitless, the offense revealed its depth.

“We’ve seen that throughout the year,” manager Scott Servais said afterward. “The young guys at the bottom and at the top – with what Ben Gamel’s done and Heredia chipping in, Mike Zuniino had a big hit today – that’s what it takes. That’s what the good ball clubs have, one through nine. Those guys in the middle can’t do it every day. They get pitched pretty tough, and it’s hard to be on top of it all the time.

“That’s why everybody has got to contribute. It’s been fun to watch, and we’ve got a lot of fun baseball ahead of us.”

Specifically, the Mariners have a 10-game homestand ahead of them, a homestand challenging them to thrive in the spotlight.

Big crowds, ideal weather, playoff chances hanging in the balance.

This is it.

This story was originally published July 19, 2017 at 4:44 PM with the headline "The time is now for the Mariners. Just ask Kenny Loggins."