The Seattle Mariners have put themselves in a good position to make the 2022 MLB playoffs in large part because of the brilliance of rookie outfielder Julio Rodriguez. However, Rodriguez could be in danger of missing games in the home stretch of the regular season, as he is dealing with a troubling upper-body injury that caused him to exit early Thursday night's game against the Oakland Athletics on the road.

According to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Julio Rodriguez is scheduled to have an MRI test Friday to further diagnose the severity of the Mariners star's injury.

“Julio Rodríguez will undergo an MRI tomorrow in Kansas City, per Scott Servais, who called the issue ‘concerning.' Rodríguez didn't receive imaging when first experiencing lower back tightness over the weekend in Anaheim.”

Julio Rodriguez was able to hit a double and score a run before leaving the game that was eventually won by the Mariners, 9-5. The Mariners are already without third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who is on the injured list due to a hand injury, so potentially losing Rodriguez for a good amount of time will be a painful blow to Seattle, especially this late in the season.

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The Mariners currently occupy the third and final wild-card spot in the American League with the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox behind them by 4.5 and 6.0 games, respectively.

The hope for the Mariners is that Rodriguez did not suffer anything serious that would sideline him for a considerable time.

Julio Rodriguez entered the Oakland game batting .279 with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases.