If this was it for J.P. Crawford, he’s left a lasting impact on Mariners

SEATTLE – J.P. Crawford fell behind 0-1 on a foul tip into the catcher’s mitt leading off the Seattle Mariners’ season finale against the Los Angeles Angels. He then took the next three pitches to work a 2-2 count before sending a hard line drive up the middle for a leadoff base hit off left-hander Yusei Kikuchi.

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It wasn’t the type of at-bat that will stand out in the box score. There was no home run, no RBI, no extra-base hit. Instead, it was a well-struck single to end a quality at-bat – something Crawford has put up many of his during his lengthy Mariners career.

Crawford, the longest-tenured player on the roster, played perhaps his final game in a Mariners uniform on Sunday at T-Mobile Park. If it indeed was his final game playing for Seattle, it’s the final one of a Mariners career that should land Crawford in the team’s Hall of Fame.

The club’s 31-year-old shortstop is set to hit free agency this offseason following an eight-year tenure that has included 974 games played, over 1,400 times reaching base and a club-record 940 games played at shortstop.

Crawford has expressed his desire to return to Seattle. He wants to be a Mariner for life. He rediscovered his love of the game after he was traded here. He started his family here.

“Hopefully I’m back,” Crawford told reporters postgame Saturday night, shortly after he hit his 78th homer as a Mariner. “Seattle’s my home. I started my life here and there is nowhere else I’d rather play. This is my home.”

But as the Mariners go through this offseason – one that is expected to be interrupted by a lockout – and retool their roster after a disappointing 76-86 campaign, it’s hard to see how Crawford would fit this roster moving forward.

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Seattle has its shortstop of the future in Colt Emerson, who struggled in a rookie season that ended with a wrist injury but figures to get every shot to start ’27 as the club’s opening-day shortstop. The past few years have also shown Crawford is ready to move off of the position. He no longer has the range he had when he was a Gold Glove winner in 2020, and has been one of MLB’s worst defenders there by defensive metrics the past couple years.

Perhaps there is a role for Crawford as Seattle’s fifth infielder. He began playing third base this season in order to allow Emerson to play to his natural position. Second base also seems like a position Crawford could play. Maybe even some first base. And his propensity for coming up with clutch hits would make him an ideal bench bat. But the Mariners’ abundance of left-handed-hitting infielders – every projected starter for next season at this point is a lefty bat – would seem to make Crawford a redundant piece, even if his on-base skills and quality at-bats could help this team.

All this isn’t to say there is now way he will be back next season, but it seems unlikely.

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The final weekend of the regular season was deservedly focused around the retirement of iconic play-by-play voice Rick Rizzs. But Crawford also received his moment. Two of them, to be exact.

With the Mariners leading 6-4 in the seventh inning on Saturday night, Crawford stepped to the plate and launched a two-run homer deep into the right-field seats for what may go down as the final home run of his M’s career.

GOODBYE, BASEBALL! pic.twitter.com/8dCpK0t176

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) September 27, 2026

Crawford pointed to his wife, Kathy, and daughter, Korra, in the crowd as he touched home plate, and the chants of “J.P.” echoed throughout T-Mobile Park well beyond when he finished his home-run trot.

“It meant everything. Bittersweet for sure,” Crawford said of the crowd reaction. “A lot of emotions and just glad I was able to get one more.”

Crawford received perhaps his final send-off Sunday. After he went out to his usual position at shortstop to start the sixth inning, Leo Rivas was subbed in as a defensive replacement, allowing Crawford a moment to embrace his teammates on the field, acknowledge the crowd and be serenaded by the “J.P.” chants once more as he walked off to a standing ovation.

A big ovation for J.P. Crawford as he is subbed out to start the sixth inning in perhaps the final game of his Mariners career. pic.twitter.com/GBYTmtktiU

— Zac Hereth (@ZacHereth) September 27, 2026

It was a moment akin to one Crawford was a part of back in 2021, when longtime M’s third baseman Kyle Seager played what ended up being the final game of his career. After that game, Crawford spoke about what the veteran Seager meant to him.

“I wouldn’t be in this spot without him today,” a teary-eyed Crawford said during a postgame interview Oct. 3, 2021. “We wouldn’t be in this spot without him. (Heck) of a leader, better teammate and a better friend.”

Crawford seems to have had a similar impact since becoming the player in that veteran role.

“Since day one, he’s been such a good friend and teammate, and he’s just helped me out in so many different ways,” second baseman Cole Young said Sunday. “It’s an honor to share an infield with him.”

But it isn’t just the younger players on the Mariners’ roster like the 22-year-old Young that Crawford has had an impact on. He has been with the team since being acquired from the Phillies in December 2018, a trade that marked that the start of a rebuild and new era of Mariners baseball.

“J.P. has been here the entire time we’ve been in this organization… He’s been a great person, a great leader, a great staple in the clubhouse, and it’s just been a pleasure being his teammate – and I hope we get him back,” Cal Raleigh said. “Again, it gets a little difficult with business and how things go, but I know I love J.P. the player, I love the person, and it was a little emotional seeing him walk off the field not knowing what’s going to happen.”

Center fielder Julio Rodríguez described Crawford as a “brother.”

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“Even before I got to the big league club and I got to play with him, we were tight. We always had a great relationship before then,” Rodríguez said. “But after I started playing with him, he became my brother. It’s definitely uncertain what’s going to happen with him, but he knows I’m in his corner and we’re always going to be brothers. Baseball is one thing, but the person that he has shown me that he is, is definitely a special person. … I love him, man.”

When asked Saturday night what he would like his legacy to be if this year was his last in a Mariners uniform, Crawford said: “I laid it all on the line every night. I gave my all to this city, to the fans, to my teammates, and I can hang my head high at the end of it.”

If Sunday was indeed Crawford’s final game as a Mariner, he should be remembered for more than just someone who gave it his all. He should be remembered as one of the greatest to put on their uniform, and as a leader who helped usher in one of the most successful eras in franchise history.

J.P.’s accolades

• Team record 940 games at shortstop
• Most opening day starts at shortstop in team history (six)
• 2020 AL Gold Glove winner at shortstop
• 16th in AL MVP voting in 2023
• Second-most leadoff home runs in team history (19)
• Seventh-most walks in team history (476)
• Ninth-most bWAR in team history (21.7)
• Ninth-most times on-base in team history (1,406)
• 10th-most games played in team history (974)

Seattle Mariners news and more

• Seattle Mariners players speak on manager Dan Wilson’s exit
• Hear Rick Rizzs’ final inning, farewell as voice of the Seattle Mariners
• How sweet it was – 41 years of Rick Rizzs as the voice of summer and hop

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