Eugenio Suarez is back at T-Mobile Park, and for the Seattle Mariners, that means a familiar face is walking into a place where he left a real mark.
The Reds third baseman/designated hitter returned to Seattle on Monday for the first time since leaving the Mariners in free agency after last season. He’s now on the other side of a three-game series that opens at 6:40 p.m. PT, with the Mariners coming in having won three of their last four and sitting at .500 at 50-50.
Seattle also arrives fresh off a series win over the San Francisco Giants, and the club is within reach of first place in the American League West.
Suarez’s history with the Mariners is layered. Seattle first brought him in from Cincinnati on March 14, 2022, and he became part of the team that snapped a 21-year playoff drought that season. In that first run with the club, he hit 31 homers and drove in 87 runs.
After the 2023 season, the Mariners sent Suarez to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He spent the next year-and-a-half there and made his second All-Star team in 2025.
Seattle then brought him back at the trade deadline last season, looking for more power. In 53 games during that second stint, Suarez hit .189/.255/.428 with a .683 OPS, along with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 31 RBIs.
That return came during one of the most successful stretches in franchise history. The Mariners won the AL West for the first time since 2001 and reached the ALCS for the first time since 2001 as well. They pushed that series to Game 7 before falling to the Toronto Blue Jays, who would go on to win the pennant.
Suarez delivered one of the biggest swings of that postseason run. In Game 5 of the ALCS, his final home game at T-Mobile Park as a Mariner, he launched a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the eighth.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson made it clear before Monday’s game that Suarez’s value went well beyond the box score.
"Really good to see Geno," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Monday. "Just an incredible person.
Incredible player, what he's done on the field is remarkable, but what he's done off the field and just what he brought to our clubhouse and what he brings to this game - he's one of the good people in this game. Goes beyond just being a good teammate.
He's got the ability to show up and be the same person every day. I think that's a superpower in this game, and he's got that in spades. ...
He's just a solid person all around."
Suarez’s upbeat presence became part of the Mariners’ identity during his first stint. In 2022, he coined the phrase "good vibes only," and it stuck. The line became a calling card for the club’s drought-breaking season and now lives on in a bright neon sign in the tunnel between Seattle’s dugout and clubhouse.
Back in town, Suarez said the feeling was mutual.
"Very special (place)," Suarez said in a pregame interview Monday. "Seattle's been nice to me.
It's got part of my heart here. The way they treat me, the way they treat my family, it was really special for me.
I think I had a lot of good moments here in Seattle. ... That last game here was very special to me. ...
It's very special to be back and already see fans on the street around the hotel room and the hotel recognize my face and say 'hello' to me and 'welcome back home.' It is very special. ...
It feels good to be back."
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