Is another Gold Glove in Crawford's reach?

OAKLAND -- In the eyes of his teammates, the American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop should already be signed, sealed and delivered to J.P. Crawford for the second straight season.

Seattle’s standout defender again put his glove on dazzling display in Tuesday’s win over the A’s to back Marco Gonzales, then he homered in the ninth inning for good measure in what was one of his best all-around games of the season.

Crawford could have more competition for this year’s honor than in 2020, when he ranked first or second among AL shortstops in defensive runs saved, outs above average and ultimate zone rating -- among the most mainstream of the advanced defensive analytics.

This year, Crawford trails Astros All-Star Carlos Correa and the Rangers’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa in those categories, two players who figure to be his toughest competition for the honor. Correa has never won a Gold Glove, while Kiner-Falefa took home the hardware as a third baseman last year.

“It's always fun to help get my pitchers out of jams and to keep runs off the board,” Crawford said. “It's one of the main things I take pride in, my defense every day. I try to keep my pitchers out of jams and make that play. I mean, I expect myself to make that play 10 out of 10 times. It's something I work on every day. I was just happy to help Marco get out of a jam.”

Regardless of how the Mariners finish this season, whether they make the postseason or not, it's been a hugely positive campaign for the 26-year-old, who set out to play every single day, and barring something unforeseen, will finish the season having started all but three games. He entered Wednesday with more innings (1,315 1/3) than any shortstop in baseball.

While that might sound standard for a starting shortstop, there was a level of unknown for Crawford -- and really, most of the young Mariners -- given that the most games he’d played in a season were 93 in 2019. Yet in his first full marathon, he’s soared to a .269/.334/.374 slash line (.709 OPS) and been worth 2.7 WAR, per FanGraphs, surpassing his previous career high of 1.6.

And he’s done so by becoming a far more polished and complete hitter, spraying his hits to all fields to the point where most teams are reducing the use of the shift against him, down to just 28.7%. How does he feel about the idea of teams shifting him less?

“It’s a free hit, so I hope not,” Crawford said. “I put in a lot of work this offseason and trying to get my barrel and my hands in the right spot to where I'm not just rolling over a ball, and I really figured out what type of hitter I was last year and this year, too. I'm not trying to go out there and hit 20 [homers], I'm going to take my hits, get on base for my guys to drive me in.”

Mariners on fumes physically, on high mentally
After a 60-game sprint last year, Kyle Seager said he was more exhausted at the finish than he had been in any of his 10 seasons to that point, which was saying something given that he’s played in more games than just two players (Carlos Santana and Eric Hosmer) since debuting in 2011.

The toll of only four off-days, three doubleheaders, quarantined hotels, the Pacific Northwest wildfires in September that relocated nearly a week’s worth of games, and obviously, the pandemic, created unprecedented issues of the type that Seager -- or most players -- had never experienced.

The return of some normalcy was welcomed this year, but it also came with the gauntlet of a traditional six-month season. Beyond the nicks and bruises, how are the Mariners doing with just a week-plus left?

“We’re gassed, like every other team in baseball,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “But the one thing I can say, I can't speak to other clubs on this, but we may be dragging physically, but mentally, the edge, the effort level, the energy overall in our clubhouse is as high as it's been at any point in the season.

“Our guys, they really like each other and like hanging out with each other, giving each other a hard time. 'Nobody's allowed to get on us more than us' is a comment that I've heard in our dugout and in our clubhouse throughout the year.”