Mariners get lift as Raleigh and Crawford (at third base!) return from IL

SEATTLE -- After two weeks of hit after hit on the injury front, the Mariners finally had some real reinforcements waiting for them when they returned to the Pacific Northwest to open a six-game homestand Tuesday.

And major reinforcements, at that.

Cal Raleigh returned to the club 33 days after landing on the injured list for the first time in his career with a right oblique strain. He headlined Tuesday’s transactions but wasn’t the only veteran leader to return to the lineup, as J.P. Crawford re-entered the picture 10 days after landing on the shelf with a right hand contusion suffered when he was hit by a pitch.

Simply put, that’s a lot of thump that just wasn’t available to manager Dan Wilson this time last week, and the promise of more stability.

“Obviously, getting Cal back is huge,” Wilson said. “Having him behind the plate and active and ready to go is a huge lift.”

The Mariners spent their 10-day swing to Detroit, Baltimore and D.C. dealing with one injury after another and rolling out lineups to adapt. Over the course of the road trip, the Mariners played three different players at shortstop, third base and second base, and rolled out four left fielders in their past three games. In their dramatic 10-inning win over the Orioles last Tuesday, the Mariners recorded the final out with Patrick Wisdom and Ryan Bliss -- both of whom have since been optioned -- in the infield, Cole Young at shortstop, Victor Robles in left field for the first time this season and Dominic Canzone making a rare defensive appearance in right.

While that was going down on the East Coast, Raleigh was back home and absolutely raking in his first career rehab assignment. After going 1-for-3 in his first game with High-A Everett, Raleigh moved south to Triple-A Tacoma, where he went 6-for-14 in four games with five home runs. In his first full game behind the plate on Saturday, he took advantage of the extra at-bats to go deep from both sides of the plate.

Those are the big swings the Mariners will be hoping to see more of from their star backstop -- with the hopes that they can jolt an offense that, while not lacking for power, has spent most of the year dealing with inconsistency. Raleigh himself was a large part of that; the “Big Dumper” ended only three games with a batting average over .200 and started May hitting .056 (2-for-36) before landing on the IL. Five of his seven home runs came in one week -- from April 20-27, when he went 10-for-29 with a 1.303 OPS -- but outside of that stretch, he went deep just twice in 149 plate appearances.

It was a far cry from Raleigh’s historic 2025 campaign, when he finished second in the AL MVP race in a season that saw him become the first Mariner, catcher and switch-hitter to hit 60 home runs, then followed it up with clutch moment after clutch moment in the postseason.

Then again, he was playing more injured than he ever had -- and for Raleigh, who’s played through everything from a broken tooth to a broken thumb, that’s a high bar. He has said that taking a step back from the team and recovering in Arizona provided him a chance to reset mentally, and the Mariners will definitely hope that comes with a boost at the plate.

“Obviously, I wasn’t swinging the bat particularly great,” Raleigh said. “I was hurt, but also, I wasn't swinging it great before then, either. Kind of just trying to get back to what I do really well, and make that adjustment physically and mentally."

Crawford’s road back was not nearly as lengthy or unsure. But the destination where the road ended was the most noteworthy, because Tuesday, for the first time since joining the Mariners in 2019, Crawford started at third base.

That’s something that’s been on the horizon even since Seattle signed top prospect Colt Emerson to a $95 million extension before he’d ever played a Major League game. Originally, Emerson was slated to play third base this season next to Crawford, who has started more games at shortstop than anyone in franchise history and whose contract expires at the end of this season. But Crawford has talked about wanting to be a “Mariner for life,” a line he dropped when he himself moved up the timeline by declaring his willingness to switch positions for the first time since coming to Seattle.

“He’s been on the left side of that infield for a long time,” Wilson said. “Just watching him at third base, the fluidity, the smoothness that he plays with at shortstop, you see that at third base, too.”

Crawford’s return also gives the Mariners a boost at the top of their lineup. He’s stepped into the leadoff role in Brendan Donovan’s absence, and is hitting .278 with nine home runs and three doubles in that role.