A slumbering slugger may be waking up just in time to salvage the Seattle Mariners' playoff hopes. Few players have regressed as steeply as Cal Raleigh this season. The catcher is batting .169 a year after swatting 60 home runs as the American League MVP runner-up to Aaron Judge.
Seattle's offense desperately needs Raleigh to turn the corner to stay alive in a hectic AL postseason hunt. The Big Dumper looks to be doing just that with a resurgent week. Raleigh returned to 2025 form by hitting three home runs in Monday's 9-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
He stayed hot on Tuesday, taking Aaron Nola deep in his first plate appearance of a 4-1 victory at T-Mobile Park. ESPN Insights noted that Raleigh joined Mike Cameron as the second player in Mariners history to homer in four consecutive at-bats. Raleigh previously had three home runs in August.
While it's still a massive downturn from a breakthrough 2025, Raleigh upped his season OPS from .579 to .632 in the last two games. Along with the dingers, the 29-year-old also drew three walks and recorded another single. Raleigh struck a hopeful tone after Tuesday's game, per Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports.
"I feel like I’ve been seeing the ball pretty well. I told you that like a week ago, and I think physically trying to get my hands back sooner, and I feel like I’ve done a better job of that. And then mentally it’s just been about, like I said, that belief and just having that hope and that optimism every single day and not getting too down, not getting too up, and trying to just be ready and prepared for the game.” The Mariners dipped to eight games below .500 after last week's historic 22-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Despite suffering another 19-2 blowout defeat on Saturday, they have won five of their last seven games and are only 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros for the division lead. A bounce-back September from Raleigh could make the Mariners a dangerous team this fall. They'll look to complete a sweep of the Phillies on Wednesday afternoon.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
