Raleigh hit his 59th and 60th home runs of the season on Wednesday night as the Seattle Mariners captured the American League West title for the first time since 2001.
The Seattle Mariners beat the Colorado Rockies 9-2 on Wednesday night to clinch the first American League West title for the organization since 2001. At 89-69, the Mariners are a season-high 20 games over .500 with four games to play, and they are currently on track to clinch a first-round bye in the looming American League playoffs.
The M's are just one game behind (plus tiebreaker) the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, meaning there's even an outside chance of them getting the No. 1 seed.
Wednesday's game was brilliant on multiple fronts, as Luis Castillo earned the win on the mound, going 7.1 innings and striking out 10. Julio Rodriguez, Eugenio Suarez, and Jorge Polanco each hit solo home runs, and catcher Cal Raleigh hit two, giving him 60 for the season.
More history re-written
It's been a magical year for Raleigh, as he's put together one of the best seasons we've ever seen, on so many levels. With his 60th home run, he becomes just the seventh player in baseball history to hit 60 in a season, joining Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Aaron Judge, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.
And according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, he also made more history among backstops.
Most multi-HR games in a season playing catcher:
2025 Cal Raleigh: 9
2003 Javy Lopez: 8
1995 Mike Piazza: 6
The MVP case
Locked in a battle with Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Raleigh is seeking to become the first M's player since Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 to win the American League MVP.
Judge has the edge in several relevant categories including batting average (.328 vs. .248), on-base percentage (.455 vs. .361) and OPS (1.136 vs. 959), but Raleigh has the edge in homers (60 vs. 51), RBIs (125 vs. 109) and stolen bases (14 vs. 12).
He also has the fact that he's a catcher working for him, and we'll see how the voters weigh that against Judge's season.
What's next
The Mariners and Rockies will play again on Thursday night at 6:40 p.m. PT. The Mariners have not announced a starting pitcher yet, as Bryan Woo was supposed to take the ball, but he's out with right pec inflammation.
RELATED MARINERS STORIES
LATEST PODCAST IS OUT: Brady Farkas is back for the latest episode of the Refuse to Lose podcast, breaking down the M's sweep in Houston, and his trip to see it. He discusses the latest on Bryan Woo and is joined by reliever Gabe Speier, as well as former MLB OF Doug Glanville. LISTEN HERE:
CAL MAKES MVP PUSH: Cal Raleigh hit his 60th home run of the season on Wednesday night, making one last push for the American League MVP Award in the battle with Aaron Judge. CLICK HERE:
SPECIAL SEASON FINALE: The Mariners will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend, with Clayton Kershaw set to make his final regular season start in the finale. CLICK HERE
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