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The Seattle Mariners may have lost their division lead to the Houston Astros — oh, and fired their manager without telling him first — but they still have a shot at clinching a Wild Card berth with a month and change to play. They’ll have some help in their quest to make it to the postseason in the form of the returning J.P. Crawford.
Crawford, who has been out since July 22 with a right hand fracture after getting hit by a pitch, has officially been reinstated from the 10-day injured list while outfielder Dominic Canzon is heading down to Triple-A. Even in a down year, the shortstop will be very helpful to have back in the lineup.
J.P. Crawford returns to Mariners lineup after missing a month
Like most of the Mariners this season, Crawford has not been great at the plate this season. In 77 games this season, he has a .645 OPS and a brutal .204 batting average, the worst of his MLB career. Still, he's one of their best players and has been very solid on defense this season. He ranks eighth on the team in RBI with 32 despite playing way fewer games than the others around him on the leaderboard.
After losing 10 of their last 14 games, the Mariners have to get on a roll with Crawford back. They have won three of their last five games under interim manager Dan Wilson and have one more home matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays before embarking on a 10-game road trip.
The Mariners head into their first game with Crawford back with a record of 67-66. They are 5.5 games back of the postseason and will probably only make it there by beating out the Astros, who lead them in the American League West by 3.5 games. They will host the M's for a three-game set later in September.
