NEWS FLASH: The Seattle Mariners have officially signed LA Dodgers first baseman to a five-year, $176.7 million contract, per MLB insider knowledge.

Mariners Breakdown Video: What’s the level of concern with Julio?

The Seattle Mariners are back home for nine games beginning Friday, but their recent road trip left reason for concern.

3 Takes: Big questions about Mariners halfway through season

That especially goes for star center fielder Julio Rodríguez, whose slow start has now graduated past that with the M’s now into the second half of the season.

Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob sat down for his weekly Mariners breakdown video, and that’s one of the topics he covered. Here’s a look at the questions he answered, which you can watch at the top of this post:

What does the Mariners’ 3-6 road trip say to you?
• What’s your level of panic with Julio at the plate right now?
• Can you make an argument for one than one Mariners All-Star right now?
• Who’s the potential trade target you would be happiest to see the Mariners get?
• With the nine-game homestand starting Friday, who’s your pick to click?

For more, catch Wyman and Bob every weekday on Seattle Sports beginning at 2 p.m.

As for the Mariners, they head into Friday leading the American League West with a 46-37 record, which is 4 1/2 ahead of second-place Houston (40-40). The M’s will open a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins (45-36), who are currently in a wild card position, at 6:40 p.m. Friday. Mariners radio coverage starts at 5:30 with the pregame show on Seattle Sports. For details on how to stream Mariners radio broadcasts from Seattle Sports, click here.

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Both the Dodgers and Giants beat Chicago teams three times Monday through Wednesday. They meet for three games at Oracle Park in San Francisco starting Friday night.

Unless the two longtime rivals meet in the postseason this year, this weekend will be the Dodgers’ final trip to San Francisco of the 2024 season, playing the Giants for three games beginning Friday night at Oracle Park.

We’ve talked about some schedule quirks this season — more games against American League teams than National League foes in June, a Sunday off day after the Angels series for a third year in a row — but perhaps the oddest of all is that, with the diminished divisional dalliances of the current MLB schedule, the Dodgers and Giants won’t play each other in the season’s final two months.

After this weekend in San Francisco, their only other matchup this year is a four-game series at Dodger Stadium from July 22-25.

For this weekend at Oracle Park, it’s a contrast of pitching rotations. Sure the Dodgers are depleted with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler on the injured list, Clayton Kershaw’s rehab halted, and Bobby Miller struggling in his two starts back. Rookie Landon Knack will start the opener in San Francisco. But the Dodgers look downright robust relative to the Giants, who have two, maybe three starting pitchers currently on the roster.