The Mariners open up a six-game homestand on Tuesday, and two key names figure to be returning from the 10-day injured list. Manager Dan Wilson told the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude and other reporters that catcher Cal Raleigh should be activated depending on how Raleigh feels after playing today in the fifth game of his minor league rehab assignment. J.P. Crawford also expects to be activated after a minimal 10-day stint due to a bruised hand.
Assuming Raleigh is ready to go, it’ll mark almost exactly one month since an oblique strain sent the slugger to the IL back on May 14. Raleigh tried to play through the discomfort for a couple of weeks before going onto the injured list, which partially explains his dismal early numbers. After a 60-homer season in 2025 that almost won him AL MVP honors, Raleigh was hitting only .161/.243/.317 with seven home runs over his first 181 plate appearances of the 2026 campaign.
As Jude noted, the Mariners actually went on a hot streak with Raleigh sidelined, and the M’s are now up to a 37-36 record that puts them atop the inconsistent AL West. If the IL stint acts as a reset to Raleigh’s season, the Mariners will only benefit by having an in-form slugger back in the heart of their lineup.
Crawford rebounded from a slow start to become one of Seattle’s hottest bats in the month leading up to his hand injury, which was caused after he was hit by a Framber Valdez pitch on June 5. The IL stint also delayed plans to move Crawford to third base to accommodate Colt Emerson at the shortstop position, and Crawford has been working diligently at the hot corner during his rehab process. Jude wrote that Crawford played exclusively as a third baseman during pregame infield drills over the previous three days, so Tuesday could mark Crawford’s first MLB game at third base since 2018.
Randy Arozarena is another player to watch for Tuesday, as the outfielder hasn’t played since making an early exit from Friday’s game due to left hamstring tightness. The injury isn’t considered to be particularly serious, so between Arozarena’s weekend off and Seattle’s off-day on Monday, the hope is that he’ll be fully healed for the start of the Guardians series.
Amidst all of this good health news, however, were a couple more injury scares coming out of Sunday’s 10-1 loss to the Nationals. Josh Naylor left the game in the sixth inning after fouling a ball off his right shin, and reliever Andres Munoz left in the eighth inning due to back tightness.
Both injuries may be less serious than they appeared at first glance. Wilson told the media that x-rays were negative on Naylor’s shin, and the first baseman told Jude and company that he was “doing all right.” Likewise, Munoz told MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other reporters that his back issue is “nothing to worry about,” and Wilson described Munoz’s situation as day-to-day.
Munoz normally wouldn’t have been called upon for mop-up work in a blowout, but the closer hadn’t pitched since April 8 and today marked only Munoz’s fourth outing in June. The lack of usage has been more to do with game situations, though Munoz’s usually elite form has taken a dip. A huge increase in hard-contact numbers and a spike in homers has resulted in a 5.92 ERA over 24 1/3 innings for Munoz, though his strikeout rate is still superb and he is posting his lowest walk rate since 2022.
