ARLINGTON Roger Maris Jersey , Texas (AP) — Marco Gonzales has himself in position for an upbeat finish to easily the best season of his career.Now the Seattle left-hander knows for sure his final start, if he gets another one, won’t have any impact on the postseason.Robinson Cano broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the fifth inning while Gonzales allowed one hit in six innings, but the Mariners were eliminated from the AL wild-card race despite a 13-0 trouncing of the Texas Rangers on Saturday night.The longest playoff drought among the four major pro sports was extended to 17 years when Oakland finished off Seattle’s fading hopes with a 3-2 win against Minnesota, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth about an hour after the Mariners’ victory.Seattle inherited the longest postseason absence last December when the Buffalo Bills ended a 17-year drought by making the NFL playoffs.Gonzales (13-9) faced one batter over the minimum while allowing his fewest hits in 42 career starts for his first win since July 29. The left-hander walked one and got a double play grounder from Jurickson Profar right after allowing a single to Delino DeShields.The 26-year-old Gonzales allowed two hits twice this season, both times over seven innings. He had five major league wins before this breakthrough year.“At this point, I’m just trying to focus on recovery and trying to bounce back from every start and just trying to keep everything the same,” Gonzales said. “Just trying to find that beginning/middle season rhythm. That’s kind of the goal as we get towards the end here.”Manager Scott Servais wouldn’t commit to one more start for Gonzales http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-matt-carpenter-jersey , who has made 28 after a career-high eight last year — one for St. Louis and seven for the Mariners following a trade.“It certainly looks like he’s got plenty left in the tank,” Servais said. “He does want to finish it off.”Mike Zunino connected for his 20th homer , a solo shot in the sixth as the Mariners topped their previous season high of 12 runs. Cano, who added an RBI double and had three hits, has nine homers — five since returning from an 80-game drug suspension Aug. 14.Dee Gordon connected for his third homer, a two-run shot in the eighth off Bartolo Colon in the 45-year-old’s fourth relief appearance to go with 24 starts. Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 11 games with three hits and scored three runs.Mike Minor (12-8) allowed six hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings with three walks and four strikeouts for the last-place Rangers, who matched their largest losing margin of the season in their 11th loss in 15 games.“What hurt him more than anything was just the pitch count,” interim manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He made the one mistake to Cano and that cost him. He pitched out of some jams Tim McCarver Jersey , but it was some really good fastballs, elevated fastballs.”CRANKING CANOThe eight-time All-Star is 11 of 15 on a four-game hitting streak. His four RBIs were a season high.DRAB DAYS INDEEDThe Rangers were shut out for the third time in five games on their final homestand, a day after manager Jeff Banister was fired and replaced by Wakamatsu. The 13-run margin matched a 16-3 loss to Cleveland on July 21.TRAINER’S ROOMMariners: LHP James Paxton, who is battling pneumonia and flu, threw a bullpen session. Manager Scott Servais said Paxton is hoping to start Monday at home against Oakland. The Mariners finish the season with seven games in Seattle.UP NEXTMariners LHP Wade LeBlanc (8-4, 3.49 ERA) opposes fellow lefty Martin Perez (2-6, 6.33) in the Rangers’ home finale. LeBlanc is 38-39 in his 10-year career. Perez is making his first start since getting demoted to the bullpen Aug. 29. He had a 2.45 ERA in six relief appearances after the move. Perez’s past three outings were scoreless. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred placed some of the blame for why Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout isn't a more marketable player on the All-Star himself.ESPN.com shared Manfred's comments, which suggested Trout doesn't spend as much time marketing himself off the field as he could:"Player marketing requires one thing for sure -- the player. You cannot market a player passively. You can't market anything passively. You need people to engage with those to whom you are trying to market in order to have effective marketing. We are very interested in having our players more engaged and having higher-profile players and helping our players develop their individual brand. But that involves the player being actively engaged.Mike's a great http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-lou-brock-jersey , great player and a really nice person, but he's made certain decisions about what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do, and how he wants to spend his free time and how he doesn't want to spend his free time. That's up to him. If he wants to engage and be more active in that area, I think we could help him make his brand really, really big. But he has to make a decision that he's prepared to engage in that area. It takes time and effort."Trout has a number of things going for him in terms of his marketability, not the least of which is his once-in-a-generation type of talent.He is a mere 26 years old and is already a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year Ken Boyer Jersey , two-time All-Star Game MVP and five-time Silver Slugger. He drilled a home run during Tuesday's All-Star Game, helping the American League win its sixth straight in the annual showdown.Trout already has 25 home runs this season, marking the seventh straight year he reached that total. He also plays in a big market and was visible to a national audience during Tuesday's contest when he conducted an interview with the Fox broadcasters while playing the field.Despite his immense talent and a career that has put him on a sure path to the Hall of Fame, a number of features have delved into the question of why isn't he a bigger star, pointing to factors such as the long schedule, the lack of transcendent stars in baseball compared to other sports and his satisfaction in simply showing up to the park and dominating on the field.For his part, Trout said "I got to pick and choose when I want to do things" outside of the game, per ESPN.com.One thing holding Trout back from a bigger national presence is the fact that his Angels have made the playoffs just once during his career and were promptly swept in the first round in 2014. The playoffs are when household names in local markets play in the biggest moments in front of larger audiences http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-mike-shannon-jersey , and he hasn't had the opportunity to consistently do so.That doesn't seem likely to change this year either with his Angels sitting at 49-48 and in fourth place in the American League West.Trout remains a singular force on the field, but the commissioner believes he can do more to market himself even if his team appears set to fall short of the playoffs yet again.