Seattle Mariners Lose Key Catalyst in the Mix of Playoff Chase

The Seattle Mariners have lost shortstop JP Crawford to the concussion injury list as they battle for a playoff spot.

The Seattle Mariners have won seven straight games and have pulled to within 1.5 games of a playoff spot in the American League wild card picture, but if they are going to make up further ground in the next week, they'll have to do it without shortstop JP Crawford.

The sparkplug at the top of the order was placed on the 7-day concussion injury list after colliding with Eugenio Suarez in Wednesday's win over the San Diego Padres.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Crawford was placed on the 7-day concussion injured list Friday, retroactive to Aug. 10, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.

ANALYSIS
The 28-year-old shortstop is enjoying a mini breakout this season, having registered a .266/.379/.411 batting line and a career-high 10 home runs through 107 games. He'll be first eligible to return to the Mariners next Sunday, but head injuries never come with a predictable recovery timeline. Jose Caballero and Dylan Moore will likely be the fill-in options at short.

It's a big loss for the Mariners as Crawford has ignited the M's offense over this recent hot streak that has them as the best team in baseball since July 1.

In Moore and Caballero, the M's have speed and versatility, but the offense will not figure to be as good.

The Mariners open up a critical series with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. First pitch is set for 10:10 p.m. ET as Luis Castillo (SEA) pitches against Kyle Gibson (BAL).

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