SEATTLE - J.P. Crawford got the kind of send-off that sticks with a ballpark.
Before the sixth inning of Seattle’s final game of the season against the Los Angeles Angels, the Mariners shortstop was lifted for Leo Rivas and met by a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 44,761 at T-Mobile Park. Crawford, the longest-tenured player on the roster, was visibly emotional as he walked off the field.
The moment carried extra weight because Crawford is set to become a free agent after this season, and Sunday could have been his last game in a Mariners uniform.
It also brought the scene full circle. Nearly seven years ago, Crawford was on the field when Felix Hernandez took his final walk off the mound to applause from the same crowd, back on Sept.
26, 2019. Crawford had only recently arrived in Seattle then, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in a trade on Dec. 3, 2018 - a move that helped kick off the Mariners’ long rebuild.
That rebuild eventually led to the end of the club’s 21-year playoff drought in 2022 and to Seattle getting as close as it ever has to the World Series, reaching Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in 2025.
If this was Crawford’s final chapter in Seattle, it was a bumpy one.
He started the season on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation and made his debut April 2. Later, he went back on the IL twice more, first with a right hand contusion from June 8-16 and then with left wrist inflammation from July 30-Aug. 25.
During those absences, the Mariners brought up top-10 prospect Colt Emerson, who signed an eight-year, $95 million contract extension before his debut. Seattle showed Crawford respect by shifting Emerson to third base instead of using him at shortstop, and Crawford even approached the club about making that move so Emerson could play the hot corner.
Emerson was dealing with a displaced tendon and struggled as a rookie before undergoing season-ending surgery, which sent Crawford back to his natural spot at shortstop.
For the year, Crawford finished with a .221/.335/.352 slash line, a .687 OPS, 12 doubles, 14 home runs and 40 RBIs in 116 games. His last homer came Saturday, a two-run shot in the second-to-last game of the season against Los Angeles.
Crawford has said repeatedly that he wants to remain in Seattle, and that willingness to move to third base was another example of how he has tried to do whatever helps the team.
After the game, Julio Rodriguez put into words what Crawford has meant inside the clubhouse.
"That's my brother, man," M's center fielder Julio Rodriguez said after the game Sunday. "Even before I got to the big league club and I got to play with him ... we always had a great relationship.
But after I started playing with him, he became my brother. It's definitely uncertain what's gonna happen with him but he knows I'm in his corner and we're always gonna be brothers."
Bryan Woo also pointed to Crawford’s presence as a steadying force.
"Really difficult to put into words," Starting pitcher Bryan Woo said in a postgame interview Sunday. "(Crawford's been) one of the veterans and captains of the team from the moment that I walked in the clubhouse.
It's everything from the way that he sets an example with how he shows up everyday and the things that he's about, showing the young guys how to be a true professional. The person that he is, the father that he is, the teammate that he is, all that stuff. ...
I think Seattle and the city, the team, the organization, the fans, everybody, he means so much. He was a true, true, huge piece in the turnaround of this organization."
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