Mariners Veteran Makes Candid Astros Admission After Monstrous Sweep

It HAD to feel good to punish Houston

Sep 21, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford (3) watches after he hits a grand slam against the Houston Astros in the second inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

For a Major League Baseball team, there's nothing quite like exorcising some demons from the past, and that's just what the Seattle Mariners accomplished this weekend.

Heading into a three-game series, the Mariners and Houston Astros were deadlocked atop the American League West. But Seattle stormed into town and took all three games from Houston in front of its own fans in convincing fashion.

Sunday night's 7-3 finale was the completion of a weekend-long humiliation, and Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford quickly delivered a knockout blow with a grand slam in the top of the second inning. That put the Mariners up 5-0, soon to be followed by a Cal Raleigh two-run blast.

J.P. Crawford on standing up to Astros

Sep 21, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford (3) grabs the trident from right fielder Victor Robles (10) after he hit a grand slam against the Houston Astros in the second inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Crawford has been around longer than anyone else on the Mariners' roster, and he's taken a lot of punishment at the Astros' hands. So the seventh-year Seattle shortstop had some candid thoughts about finally punching back.

“I've definitely had a bunch of bad memories here from years previous,” Crawford said, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “So it's really bittersweet to have this series and end it like this with a sweep."

Seattle now leads Houston by three games, and owns the tiebreaker, with six to play. That gives the Mariners a magic number of three to clinch their first division title since 2001.

The Astros, who joined the AL West before the 2013 season, have won the division seven times in the last eight seasons.

Crawford, reflecting on how far this Seattle team has come, talked about the meaning of being one of the primary veterans on a squad that's now on the verge of a long-awaited accomplishment.

“I'm grateful,” said Crawford, per Kramer. “I’m glad that all these young guys look up to me, and I take pride in it every day. I was taught by some really good vets when I came over here and I just want to be like them.”

Seattle's next three games are against the Colorado Rockies, the team with the worst record in all of baseball. If it can win all three, it will lock up an AL West crown no matter what the Astros do the rest of the way.

More MLB: Mariners' Magic Number To Clinch Division, First-Round Bye After Sweeping Astros