Mariners Game Notes — Sept. 28 vs. Texas

AS YOU KNOW…J.P. Crawford reached base 4 times in last night’s game (HR, 3 BB), recording his 11th game this season in which he reached safely 4+ times, and…AS YOU MAY KNOW…his 11 games reaching base 4+ times rank tied for 4th-most in the American League (also: Adley Rutschman-BAL), trailing only Yandy Díaz-TB (15 G), Alex Bregman-HOU (13 G) and Shohei Ohtani-LAA (12 G), but…DID YOU KNOW?…Crawford’s .380 on-base percentage this season is on-pace to be the best by a Mariners batter since Robinson Canó posted a .382 OBP in 2014?…prior to Cano in 2014, Ichiro had posted to most recent .380+ OBP season with a mark of .386 OBP in 2009.

TONIGHT’S TILT…the Mariners continue their final homestand of the regular season (1–2) with the first of 4 games against the Texas Rangers…Seattle opened the homestand with a 3-game series against the Houston Astros…tonight’s game will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS with Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers on the call…the game will be broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) and Mariners.com with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims.

ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners fell to the Astros by a 8–3 score in last night’s game…the Mariners are 22–19 over their last 41 games, 30–21 over their last 51, 32–22 over their last 54, 35–23 over their last 58, 38–25 over their last 63 and 47–31 over their last 78 contests…the Mariners are 66–26 when scoring at least 4 runs and 19–47 when scoring 3-or-fewer…the Mariners are 42–35 at T-Mobile Park and 43–38 on the road this season…they are 28–27 in day games and 57–46 at night.

• West is the Best — Each of the Top 4 players in the American League by fWAR play in the AL West: Shohei Ohtani-LAA (6.6), Marcus Semien-TEX (6.2), Corey Seager-TEX (6.2) and Julio Rodríguez-SEA (6.0)…it’s the first time that each of the Top 4 players in the AL have been in the same division since 2000 when 4 members of the AL West also led the league in fWAR: Alex Rodriguez-TEX (9.5), Darin Erstad-ANA (8.7), Troy Glaus-ANA (8.2) and Jason Giambi-OAK (7.7).

POSTSEASON PICTURE…the Mariners have 4 regular season games remaining vs. the Texas Rangers…Seattle enters play today 4.0 games back of the Rangers for the AL West Division lead and a 1.5 games back of the Houston Astros for the 3rd and final AL Wild Card spot…the Astros have 3 games remaining (3 at ARI) and Toronto has 4 games remaining (1 vs. NYY, 3 vs. TB).

TIEBREAKERS…Seattle holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Houston and Toronto, while Texas holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle…in the event of a 3-way tie for the AL West with Texas and Houston, Seattle would win the 3-way tiebreaker, with Houston finishing 2nd and Texas 3rd…Seattle, Houston and Texas can finish the season in a 3-way tie with a Mariners sweep of the Rangers (4–0) and an Astros series win (2–1) over the D-Backs.

WALTER’S WORLD…Logan Gilbert has tallied 486 strikeouts in his career, most by any pitcher in the Majors drafted in 2018-or-more-recently, ranking ahead of Spencer Strider-ATL (476) and Brady Singer-KC (475)…Gilbert’s 32 career wins are 2nd-most among all pitchers drafted since 2018, trailing only Shane McClanahan-TB (32) and ranking ahead of Spencer Strider-ATL (31) and Alek Manoah-TOR (27)…Gilbert’s 486 strikeouts over his first 3 seasons are 2nd-most in Mariners history over a player’s first 3 Major League seasons, trailing only Mark Langston (521 K, 1984–86) and ranking ahead of Hisashi Iwakuma (440 K, 2012–14), Félix Hernández (418 K, 2005–07) and Freddy García (412 K, 1999–01).

J.P. MAKING HISTORY…J.P. Crawford hit his 6th leadoff home run of the season in last night’s game tying the Mariners record for most leadoff home runs in season, previously set by Julio Rodríguez in 2022 (6 HR)…this season Crawford has already set career-highs in home runs (18) and RBI (58) and is on pace to set additional highs in on-base percentage (.380), slugging percentage (.434) and OPS (.813)…J.P. leads the American League with 93 walks this season…no Mariners player has ever led the league in walks in franchise history (ties included)…Crawford’s .380 OBP ranks 4th in the AL behind Ohtani (.412), Yandy Díaz-TB (.408) and Corey Seager-TEX (.394).

SILVER AND GOLD CATCHER… Cal Raleigh leads Major League catchers in home runs (30) this season, and is set to do so in back-to-back seasons after leading catchers with 27 HR in 2022…Raleigh is the first catcher in Mariners history with a 30+ homer season…Cal also leads the Majors in catcher caught stealings this season, nabbing 24 would-be base stealers and ranking ahead of Shea Langeliers-OAK (23 CCS)…Raleigh could become the first catcher in 30 years to lead the Majors in both categories (HR & CCS)…the last catcher to lead the big leagues in home runs as a catcher and catcher caught stealings in the same season was Hall of Famer Mike Piazza-LAD in 1993…Piazza led the way with 35 home runs and 58 catcher caught stealings.

GLOVELY DEFENSE…defensively, Cal Raleigh’s 24 catcher caught stealings lead the Majors…Julio Rodríguez’s 12 Outs Above Average rank T-2nd among American League outfielders with Kevin Kiermaier-TOR, trailing only Luis Robert Jr.-CWS (13)…Eugenio Suárez’ 11 OAA rank 2nd among AL third basemen, trailing only Maikel Garcia-KC (12).

YOUNG PITCHING STUDS…Seattle pitchers age 26-or-younger lead the Majors in fWAR (13.7) by a wide margin over next-closest Los Angeles-NL (9.6), Cleveland (9.2) and Miami (8.9)…the Mariners have 4 pitchers that rank in the top-15 in MLB (age 26-or-younger): George Kirby (4.1 fWAR, 3rd), Logan Gilbert (3.2, 7th), Matt Brash (2.1, 14th) and Bryce Miller (2.0, T-15th).

THE J-ROD SHOW: AL MVP CANDIDATE?…Julio Rodríguez leads American League outfielders in fWAR (6.0), ranking ahead of Aaron Judge-NYY (5.2) and Luis Robert Jr.-CWS (5.0) …among AL outfielders with at least 400 plate appearances for the rate stats, Julio ranks 1st in hits (179), 2nd in stolen bases (37), 7th in batting average (.280), T-4th in home runs (31), 2nd in runs scored (101), 3rd in RBI (102), T-8th in slugging percentage (.490), T-8th in OPS (.833), T-5th in wRC+ (129), T-2nd in doubles (37), 1st in total bases (313) and 2nd in extra-base hits (70)…in 2022, Julio won an AL Silver Slugger Award in his rookie season, alongside outfielders Aaron Judge-NYY and Mike Trout-LAA.

JULIO & GEORGE: SOPHOMORE STARS…Julio Rodríguez has produced 6.0 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement this season, 4th-most in the American League behind Shohei Ohtani-LAA (6.6), Corey Seager-TEX (6.2) and Marcus Semien-TEX (6.2)…George Kirby’s 4.1 fWAR places him 7th among AL pitchers…the second-year stalwarts produced 5.4 and 3.0 fWAR, respectively, during their 2022 rookie campaigns…Rodríguez and Kirby became the first position player/pitcher rookie duo to accumulate 5.0+ and 3.0+ fWAR, respectively, as teammates since Alvin Davis and Mark Langston did it for the 1984 Mariners…Rodríguez and Kirby are the first teammate duo in Major League history with 5.0+ and 3.0+ fWAR, respectively, in their follow-up season of their rookie campaigns.