Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh hits a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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The last time the Seattle Mariners were in New York, they made some dubious history by taking a no-hitter along with a five-run lead into the eighth inning and taking a loss to the Yankees decided on a Aaron Judge sacrifice fly in the first overtime.
By the end of a muggy night, Cal Raleigh was outside the visiting clubhouse in a small corridor quietly explaining how the Yankees were able to decipher pitches thrown by closer Andres Munoz.
It was worst loss of the season type of territory for the Mariners, a team in recent incarnations known more for pitching and hitting and certainly not known for possessing the major league home run and RBI leader. They followed it up by sweeping the Tigers in Detroit and are 20-10 in 30 games since lamenting blowing a five-run lead with a no-hit bid.
Fast forward to a little over five weeks later, the alternating nature of the interleague schedule gave the Mariners a second trip to New York. This time Raleigh and others were talking about more pleasant topics such as the catcher getting to 46 homers and 100 RBIs with 39 games remaining in an 11-9 win over the Mets.
“It’s absurd,” rookie Cole Young said. “To already have 100 RBIs, yeah there’s no words I can describe that. It’s pretty impressive.”
Raleigh hit both marks in a unique record-setting display for the Mariners and a rare display in the history of baseball. Raleigh’s two-run homer into the second deck in left field occurred in his 447th at-bat or 101 fewer than last season when he finished with 34 homers and 100 RBIs in 153 games, following up his 2023 season of 30 homers and 75 RBIs in 513 at-bats.
“He’s been unbelievable,” manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s been consistent with all along. It hasn’t been spurts here and there and. He’s done it time over time and getting to 100 RBIs tonight is huge and there’s a lot more to play and there’s a lot more to come for Cal.
And Wilson would know a thing or two about appreciating 100 RBI-seasons. The Mariners are up to 44 100-RBI seasons in their history and Wilson was an active player in Seattle. for over half of those between 1994 and 2005. Among those seasons were Ken Griffey Jr’s record-setting 147-RBI performance in 1997 that was followed by his 146 RBIs in 1998 and preceded Edgar Martinez getting to 145 RBIs in 2000.
Raleigh is on pace to finish with 132 RBIs, a mark that would give him the ninth 130-RBI season in Mariners history and the chances are decent at him approaching or even surpassing it. The Mariners ended their nine-double affair at 565 runs (ninth), 542 RBIs (ninth), 174 homers (tied fourth) and getting those numbers despite an offense hitting .222 since the All-Star break.
“It’s a great feeling. RBIs are hard to come by, so those are important,” Raleigh said. “I learned early on in my career that is a very important stat. Sometimes, it gets overlooked. I’m very proud of it and it’s a good feeling.”
Raleigh left his visit to the Mets as the 10th catcher with multiple 100 RBI seasons and the first since Thurman Munson had 102 RBIs in 597 at-bats in 1976, 105 in 616 at-bats in 1977 and 100 in 617 at-bats in 1978. He also finished Friday with the second-most homers amongst catchers, making it a matter of when he will match and surpass Salvador Perez’s mark of 48 homers in 2021.
This season, Raleigh had three RBIs in his first 10 games, 12 in his first 20 and 18 in his first 30. His pace accelerated when he drove in five at Texas May 2 and he reached the end of May with 44 RBIs in 57 games.
By the close of June, Raleigh was up to 71 RBIs in 83 games and when the trade deadline ended on July 31 with the Mariners adding Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, he was up to 88 RBIs in 107 games.
“It’s pretty crazy, honestly,” Raleigh said of reaching 100 RBIs with 39 games left. “I don’t have any words. It’s a very cool accomplishment.”
Raleigh also finished with two of Seattle’s nine doubles and it was the 100th such game in baseball history. It was the second such showing this season, but the other was in Baltimore’s 22-8 win over Tampa Bay and this was the ninth time in a game when the team won by two runs or less.
It was one of those esoteric things that occurs if you focus on the entire game and not on the woes of one team such as the Mets, whose games are becoming an endless stream of “It’s a Hard Days Night” or “Highway to Hell”.
While Raleigh was doubling twice for the seventh time in his career, the Mets were left picking up the pieces of a 14th loss in 16 games and regretting the 11th blown lead in the past seven games.
“At the end of the day, no one’s going to feel sorry for us,” starting pitcher Sean Manaea said. “So we’ve just got to figure it out.”
Just like the Mariners will figure out more superlatives to discuss Raleigh, who is making a really strong case to be the AL MVP
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryfleisher/2025/08/16/cal-raleighs-100-rbis-with-39-games-left-leave-seattle-mariners-awestruck/