Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez was removed from Thursday's game against the Oakland Athletics because of a back injury, the team announced.

The rookie doubled and scored in the first inning before coming out of the contest.

Rodriguez missed three games because of back tightness recently but returned to the lineup Tuesday.

He was placed on the injured list at the end of July after getting hit by a pitch on his hand. The injury came less than a week after jamming his wrist while sliding into a base, although an MRI showed no structural damage. He returned after missing 11 games.

The unlucky stretch still hasn't overshadowed an outstanding season for the emerging star.

The 21-year-old earned an All-Star selection after proving to be one of the top all-around talents of any age in the sport.

In 129 games, Rodriguez has a .280 average and .342 on-base percentage with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases.

Rodriguez also introduced himself on the national stage with an impressive showing at the Home Run Derby, eventually finishing second to Juan Soto.

It could be enough to not only make him a Rookie of the Year favorite but even get some MVP votes during his first MLB season.

Sam Haggerty replaced Rodriguez in right field Thursday, while the versatile Dylan Moore can also fill in as needed until the starter is back to full strength.

The Seattle Mariners made an unexpected roster addition Saturday, and they're hoping it pays off as they aim to reach the postseason for the first time since 2001.

The Mariners revealed they have adopted a clubhouse dog from Okandogs Dog Rescue in Cashmere, Washington. The four-year-old labrador/retriever mix named Tucker will be a clubhouse regular at T-Mobile Park as well as on the road.

It looks like Tucker is already making himself at home, too, and making some new friends with the players and coaching staff.

Manager Scott Servais told reporters that the idea of adopting a clubhouse dog had been in the works for more than a year:

"He got scouted very heavily. We ran people in there, and we cross-checked them. Jack ran in there. We got big-time numbers on this dog. So he went high in the Draft. We're happy to have him as a free-agent addition to our club. Really good. This guy will fetch and play with the guys all day long. You'll see him out here running around the field here the next few days. He's got the clubhouse covered right now."

What a year for the Mariners to adopt a pup, too. The team is currently second in the American League West with a 57-50 record and could make a deep playoff run. If that happens, Tucker will certainly be the life of the party.

The Seattle Mariners placed rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez on the injured list Sunday.

General manager Jerry Dipoto told reporters X-rays on Rodriguez's injured wrist came back negative.

Manager Scott Servais said the team will be cautious with its young outfielder:

Rodriguez was named to the American League All-Star team after a stellar first-half performance. The 21-year-old also had a breakout moment in the Home Run Derby when he hit a total of 81 homers, including 32 in the first round.

Coming out of the All-Star break, Rodriguez missed Seattle's first four games with a wrist injury. He had an MRI on July 23 that showed bruising with no structural damage.

In four games after returning to the lineup on July 26, Rodriguez showed no lingering effects from the injury. The Dominican Republic native had three extra-base hits (two home runs) and reached base six times in 17 plate appearances.

The Mariners were given a scare in the eighth inning of the July 30 game against the Houston Astros. Rafael Montero's fastball ran too far inside, hitting Rodriguez on the wrist and knocking him out of the game.

Manager Scott Servais told reporters after the game that Rodriguez was going to have X-rays and they "pray that it's not broken."

Rodriguez has been instrumental in Seattle's recent surge up the AL standings. He is hitting .271/.334/.482 with 18 homers, 57 RBI and 21 stolen bases, pacing the Mariners in all three categories.

The Mariners won 14 consecutive games between July 2 and July 17 and are currently in the second AL wild-card spot. They are chasing their first postseason appearance since 2001, the longest active drought in MLB.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez will undergo an X-Ray on his right hand after suffering an injury in Saturday's 5-4 win over the Houston Astros, manager Scott Servais told reporters after the game.

"We'll pray that it's not broken...back of the hand injury (right), he was not comfortable holding a bat, so we'll wait and see," Servais said.

Rodriguez was hit in the hand while swinging at a pitch in the top of the eighth inning. He played the field in the bottom half of the inning before being replaced by Abraham Toro for the ninth.

The 21-year-old also missed time recently with bruising on his left wrist. He suffered the ailment while sliding on a stolen-base attempt against the Rangers on July 17. He still competed in the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby but didn't return to the Seattle lineup until July 26 against Texas.

Rodriguez is in the midst of an impressive rookie season. He entered Saturday's game slashing .274/.338/.488 with 18 home runs, 57 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 95 games.

If Rodriguez misses time moving forward, Seattle can turn to Dylan Moore or Adam Frazier in center field. Moore has played five games in center field this season, while Frazier has not played there this year and has just 14 career games logged at the position.

Jarred Kelenic could also be an option, though he has spent much of this season in Triple-A after struggling in the majors to start the year.

The Mariners are second in the AL West with a 55-47 record, 11 games behind the first-place Astros. They hold the second wild-card spot and have an 80.8 percent chance to make the playoffs, per FanGraphs, though they'll need Rodriguez to remain healthy to compete with some of the top teams in the league.

The Seattle Mariners' rotation received a major boost Friday night when the team announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Luis Castillo from the Cincinnati Reds ahead of Tuesday's 2022 MLB trade deadline.

Seattle sent a heavy package of prospects to Cincinnati—two infielders (Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo) and two right-handed pitchers (Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore)—to secure one of the top players available on the trade market.

The Mariners still rank a modest 22nd in payroll at $109.9 million following the arrival of Castillo, per Spotrac. The two-time All-Star is playing under a one-year, $7.4 million contract and remains under club control for 2023 via arbitration.

Here's a look at the team's updated rotation following the blockbuster deal:

1. Luis Castillo
2. Robbie Ray
   
3. Logan Gilbert
   
4. George Kirby
   
5. Chris Flexen or Marco Gonzales
   

The Mariners didn't necessarily need a high-end starting pitcher leading up to the deadline, but making a splash with the trade for Castillo greatly enhances the team's chances of capturing a wild-card berth in the American League.

While Seattle (54-47) is a long shot to chase down the Houston Astros (66-35) in the AL West given the 12-game deficit, it currently owns the second of three wild-card spots in the league's crowded playoff race.

Just 5.5 games separate seven different clubs in the wild-card race, which is likely why the M's felt the need to bolster their roster.

Mariners manager Scott Servais expressed excitement about the arrival of Castillo and said it was time for the club to swing for the fences.

"He's one of the best pitchers in the game—he's really established himself as a dominant starter," Servais told reporters. "We've got a chance to do something really big here this year. You have to step out and take a chance once in a while if you ultimately want to get the reward, take a little risk."

Castillo is on pace for the best season of his six-year career with a 2.86 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across 14 starts. Those numbers are more impressive when you consider seven of those outings came in the bandbox known as Great American Ball Park.

Going from the Reds' home field, which is tied with the Colorado Rockies' Coors Field as the most hitter-friendly park in MLB, per Baseball Savant, to the league's most pitcher-friendly stadium in the Mariners' T-Mobile Park should help the 29-year-old right-hander maintain or improve upon his terrific numbers.

Looking ahead, if Seattle is able to secure a playoff berth, it should be quite dangerous in the postseason with a rotation of Castillo, Ray, Gilbert and Kirby.

Having shown they're all-in to push toward a World Series title with the deals for Castillo and Carlos Santana, who arrived from the Kansas City Royals in late June, it wouldn't be a surprise to see one more notable deal for a hitter before the deadline.

The M's rank 23rd in runs scored (409) and 15th in team OPS (.704), and even a modest boost to that performance could be enough to make a deep playoff run given the strong starting staff.

The Seattle Mariners acquired starting pitcher Luis Castillo from the Cincinnati Reds on Friday in exchange for a four-prospect haul that includes farm-system standout Noelvi Marte.

Castillo has been nothing short of sensational this season. The two-time All-Star has posted a 2.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 90 strikeouts over 85 innings (14 starts). He joins an already stacked starting rotation that includes four pitchers with sub-4.00 ERAs and a fifth (Robbie Ray) who also won the American League Cy Young last year.

ESPN's Jeff Passan and Joe Fann of WynnBET gave their takes on the move:

Castillo joins a Mariners team in the thick of the AL Wild Card race.

The New York Yankees and Houston Astros have all but sewn up the East and West divisions, respectively, accounting for two of the league's six playoff spots.

The third division-winning berth figures to go to one of the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians, who form the top three of the AL Central.

That would leave seven teams—the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, the two AL Central runners-up and the Mariners—fighting for the three wild-card spots.

All of those teams have between 49-55 wins. It's going to be a heated race, but the Mariners have a leg up now on most of the field.

They are holding the second wild-card spot with a 54-47 record. That puts them a game-and-a-half behind the Blue Jays for the first wild-card spot, a half-game ahead of the Rays for the last playoff berth and two-and-a-half games in front of the first team on the outside looking in (the Guardians).

And Seattle just got a whole lot better with Castillo. The Mariners have 61 games left, so Castillo should probably make around 12 starts. He posted a sub-3.00 ERA while pitching half of his games at the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, but now he'll get to work at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

Per Baseball Reference, he's been worth 3.3 wins above replacement in his 14 starts. If he keeps that trend up in Seattle, he could be worth an extra two to three wins down the stretch. Staff ace Logan Gilbert is the only pitcher with a WAR above 1.2 (2.8). All other starters are between 0.4 and 1.2.

The remaining slate is also on the Mariners' side.

According to Tankathon, they have the fourth-easiest remaining strength of schedule in MLB.

Seattle plays the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics (two series), Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers over their final 20 games. All of those teams are 10 games or more below .500, and the Mariners close the year with a 10-game homestand.

Now, they do have six games against the Yankees, two against the Astros and three against a tough Atlanta team. But that will all be over by mid-September. In sum, the good news is far better than the bad.

The bottom line is the Mariners were well positioned to make the playoffs before adding Castillo, but now they are clear favorites to lock in one of those wild-card spots with ease.

Major League Baseball suspended Seattle Mariners outfielder Jesse Winker and 11 others for their roles in Sunday's brawl between the Mariners and Los Angeles Angels.

Angels manager Phil Nevin was suspended 10 games, Winker was suspended seven games and Anthony Rendon was suspended five games:

The genesis of the brawl may have come in the Mariners' 5-3 win over the Angels on Saturday. In the process of earning the save, Erik Swanson drew the ire of Mike Trout when he threw a fastball up and in.

In the first inning of Sunday's contest, Andrew Wantz appeared to get some retribution when his 93 mph fastball flew behind Julio Rodriguez. That resulted in a warning issued to both teams.

Things escalated in the second inning when Wantz hit Winker with a fastball to the lower body.

Winker had words with Angels catcher Max Stassi before walking toward the Los Angeles dugout. That sparked a benches-clearing brawl that far exceeded what fans typically see in an on-field scrape.

Even Rendon, who recently underwent season-ending wrist surgery, was involved. And when tempers were beginning to cool, another shoving match began.

Once the teams were dispatched to their respective dugouts, Angels closer Raisel Iglesias added to the spectacle when he tossed a box of sunflower seeds onto the field and yelled across at Winker, his former teammate on the Cincinnati Reds.

Winker also made sure to say goodbye to the Angel Stadium crowd by letting them know they were No. 1.

By the time all was said and done, four representatives each from Los Angeles and Seattle were ejected from the game. The Angels were 2-1 winners thanks to a solo home run from Luis Rengifo and an RBI single by David MacKinnon.

In the immediate aftermath, it quickly became clear suspensions were inevitable and potentially lengthy ones for the biggest instigators in the brawl.

That was particularly troublesome for the Mariners, who had been building some positive momentum with a five-game winning streak prior to their loss Sunday.

Losing any regulars added more misery for the Angels, too. They've yet to recover from the 14-game losing streak that sent their season spiraling.

The Seattle Mariners and shortstop J.P. Crawford reportedly reached an agreement on a five-year, $51 million contract extension ahead of the club's Opening Day game against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported details of the deal, which will run through the 2026 MLB season.

Crawford has developed into one of the league's best defensive shortstops in recent years. His 14 defensive runs saved over the past two seasons ranks third behind only Carlos Correa and Trevor Story, per FanGraphs. He won a Gold Glove Award in 2020.

The 27-year-old California native was a first-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2013 MLB draft. He reached the major leagues with Philly in 2017 and played two seasons with the organization before getting dealt to Seattle in December 2018.

Although he's flashed the leather in the field, his results at the plate haven't lived up to the same standard. He's compiled a .698 OPS since joining the M's, which rates 25th out of 30 qualified shortstops over the past three years.

He showed modest signs of improvement in 2021, compiling career-high totals in batting average (.273), OPS (.715), home runs (nine) and runs scored (89) across 160 games for the Mariners.

Crawford is unlikely to emerge as an elite offensive producer, but if he can eventually push his OPS toward the .750 range while maintaining his status as a defensive stalwart, he'll provide the M's with plenty of bang for the buck over the next five years.

Along with his numbers, the infielder has also taken on an important leadership role for a club that's aiming to make the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

"He's the leader, he's the guy we look up to, to make the big play and all the routine plays and I think he brings a charisma and swagger to this team that is hugely important," reserve Dylan Moore told KING 5 Sports' Chris Egan in March. "It brings out some confidence in other players that might be closed off. So yeah, his value is unmeasurable, for sure."

Crawford added: "Oh, yes definitely, growing up I've always had a leadership role on my teams. So being here and knowing guys want to come up to me and ask me questions and stuff. I'm ready, I want to be that guy."

The shortstop will hit near the bottom of a much-improved lineup that features several key offseason additions, including Adam Frazier, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez.

Seattle opens the season with a seven-game road trip against the Twins and Chicago White Sox before returning to T-Mobile Park for their home opener against the Houston Astros next Friday.