On Thursday night, Seattle Mariners infielder J.P. Crawford played in his 1,000th career game at the big league level. As noted by the Mariners television broadcast, only seven percent of big league players end up playing at least 1,000 games, meaning Crawford occupies a special spot in league history.

He's also played in nearly 930 games for the M's, giving him the 10th-most games played in team history. Though he's recently transitioned to third base, he's played the most games at shortstop in team history as well.

Because of defensive regression and a slumping batting average (.214), Crawford isn't quite the same player he was when the Mariners acquired him before 2019, but he deserves a lot of praise for what he's meant to the franchise.

I spoke more about this on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.

"Mariner fans owe J.P. Crawford a huge debt of gratitude. And J.P. Crawford is going to be on the 50 Greatest Mariners of All Time, and he's going to get that gratitude. And he might end up one day in the Mariners Hall of Fame. He really might. And I think he will continue to get his due from Mariners fans.

But I just want to hammer the point home.

Remember, it wasn't that long ago that the Mariners were just missing the playoffs in 2018 and tearing the roster down to the studs. And we saw them lose 100 games in 2019, and things looked generally bleak at that time. But then COVID hit in 2020, the team was under .500 again, and then 2021 happened.

And that was the year that the upswing really started. And yes, the Mariners missed the playoffs, and they officially missed it on the last day of the season. But that was the start of this kind of fun run the Mariners have been on for the last few years. Yes, they've only made the playoffs twice in the five years since 2021. I get it. It's been frustrating also. But this run of competitiveness really started in 2021, and J.P. Crawford's at the forefront of it.

He has been an on-field performer, a Gold Glover in 2020 before the run started, and still a very good defender early in that run. He's been a leader of this team. He's been an energy source for this team as they got to the playoffs in 2022. He hit 19 home runs in 2023. He led the American League in walks in that same year, I believe.

He's been a leader in the clubhouse. He's not a particularly vocal person, but he's carried himself well in the clubhouse. He's been here for nearly a decade. He has set records for the franchise, and he is at the forefront of this franchise's return to relevance.

Because for a lot of us, if you are in your 30s and older, you remember the Mariners as being irrelevant for much of your fandom and, in a lot of cases, a lot of your life. That's certainly the case for me. The Mariners were irrelevant for a lot of my life. 2019, the reimagining of the roster, and then into 2020 and '21, that is when this franchise got back to relevance. That is when it started to gain relevance, and they ultimately made the playoffs in 2022 and broke the drought.

And J.P. Crawford is at the forefront of that. He is one of the biggest figures in the last decade of Mariners baseball. And he's going to be on the Top 50 list. And again, he might be in the Mariners Hall of Fame by the time it's all said and done.

But no matter what you think J.P. Crawford is now, what he's been deserves your respect and deserves a round of applause."

Crawford is a free agent at the end of the year.

The Mariners will open up a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at T-Mobile Park. First pitch is set for 7:10 pm. PT.

The most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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