The Seattle Mariners star and 2025 Home Run leader with a historic 60 seems to be finding form after a rough start to the season. After a three-home-run game on Monday night, Cal Raleigh homered in his first at-bat yesterday against the Phillies in their 4-1 win. This ties a Seattle record for home runs in four consecutive at-bats.

The 362-foot home run off of Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola was his 18th home run of the season, well off his pace from last year. His streak ended in the sixth inning with a strikeout.

Raleigh’s finding this type of pop again is significant, especially for the former MVP candidate who fell just short of Aaron Judge last season and has had an extremely tough follow-up year after his historic breakout. He is batting just .169 this season, down from .247 last year, and was on pace for just 26 home runs before the last two games. Now he is back on pace for 33, closer to his career median.

Even with the recent form, he is still outside the top 100 in MLB in batting average, RBIs and home runs.

The Seattle Mariners made the playoffs last year for just the second time in the last 24 years, largely due to the role Raleigh played for the team in his MVP-caliber season. With Raleigh’s season not going as planned this year, the Mariners are outside a playoff spot and three games back of a Wild Card spot.

Raleigh turning his season around could be the difference for the Mariners in a tight American League race this year. Six teams are currently within 5 games of the last Wild Card spot, and it’s tough to see the Mariners steal that if Raleigh doesn’t keep improving over the next few months.

Raleigh can continue his streak today against the Phillies.

The Seattle Mariners are in second place in the AL West and have one of the wild-card spots in the American League.

Seattle finished the 2024 season with an 85-77 record, which was good enough for second place in the AL West, but not good enough to make the postseason.

The Mariners had a quiet offseason. Seattle signed veteran first baseman Donovan Solano and re-signed second baseman Jorge Polanco.

Seattle also extended all-star catcher Cal Raleigh to a six-year $105 million contract.

The Mariners’ offense has been up and down, led by Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena.

Seattle is inside the top five for home runs and the top half of the league for on-base percentage, slugging percentage and RBIs. Despite Seattle being towards the top of the league for many hitting metrics, the Mariners are in the bottom half of the league for batting average and are in the bottom five for strikeouts.

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The Mariners’ pitching has been solid this season, led by Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, and Logan Gilbert.

Seattle is in the top 10 for strikeouts and the top half of the league for walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP), ERA and batting average allowed.

A significant factor in Seattle’s success has been Raleigh. He has the most home runs and RBIs in the major leagues this season, and he’s currently the front-runner to win the American League MVP at -130 odds.

Seattle was very active during the trade deadline. The Mariners traded for third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The two were dealt in separate deals, but both players will provide production offensively.

Suárez has 36 home runs this season, and the second most RBIs, only behind his teammate Raleigh.

The Mariners also traded for reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates. This season, Ferguson has a 3.65 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP.

Seattle is in a great position to make the postseason; the only question is whether the team can go on a run. With a solid offense and a strong pitching staff, Seattle has the tools to make a postseason run, but it will be challenging, as the American League is loaded with talent this season.

Seattle Mariners Tickets & Schedule

• August 10: vs. Tampa Bay Rays
• August 12: at Baltimore Orioles
• August 13: at Baltimore Orioles
• August 14: at Baltimore Orioles
• August 15: at New York Mets
• August 16: at New York Mets
• August 17: at New York Mets
• August 18: at Philadelphia Phillies
• August 19: at Philadelphia Phillies
• August 20: at Philadelphia Phillies
• August 22: vs. Athletics
• August 23: vs. Athletics
• August 24: vs. Athletics
• August 25: vs. San Diego Padres
• August 26: vs. San Diego Padres
• August 27: vs. San Diego Padres
• August 29: at Cleveland Guardians
• August 30: at Cleveland Guardians
• August 31: at Cleveland Guardians
• September 1: at Tampa Bay Rays
• September 2: at Tampa Bay Rays
• September 3: at Tampa Bay Rays
• September 5: at Atlanta Braves
• September 6: at Atlanta Braves
• September 7: at Atlanta Braves
• September 8: vs. St. Louis Cardinals
• September 9: vs. St. Louis Cardinals
• September 10: vs. St. Louis Cardinals
• September 11: vs. Los Angeles Angels
• September 12: vs. Los Angeles Angels
• September 13: vs. Los Angeles Angels
• September 14: vs. Los Angeles Angels
• September 16: at Kansas City Royals
• September 17: at Kansas City Royals
• September 18: at Kansas City Royals
• September 19: at Houston Astros
• September 20: at Houston Astros
• September 21: at Houston Astros
• September 23: vs. Colorado Rockies
• September 24: vs. Colorado Rockies
• September 25: vs. Colorado Rockies
• September 26: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
• September 27: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
• September 28: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Seattle Mariners Odds

Seattle is in a great position to make the postseason with odds of -350. Seattle has +650 odds to win the American League and +1800 odds to win the World Series.

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It took more than two decades – but the Seattle Mariners are back in the playoffs.

In a 1-1 game in the ninth inning, the team was looking for a hero.

That was 21-year-old catcher Cal Raleigh, who came up with the biggest hit of his life.

With two outs left he drove a breaking ball off Oakland Athletics pitcher Domingo Acevedo out of the ballpark to walk it off.

As you’d imagine the Mariner’s home crowd went wild, as it marks the first time the team will qualify for a postseason birth since 2001.

For context on how long it’s been, Mariner’s Japanese star outfielder was just 27 years old in his rookie season.

The U.S. has had four different presidents since then.  

The New England Patriots and Tom Brady have combined for seven Super Bowls.

Heck, the Chicago Cubs even won a World Series in a non-video game fashion.

While the pain is finally over at least for now for Mariners fans, there are teams with some long active droughts.

None are more than two decades long, but NBA’s Sacramento Kings have the longest one – not qualifying for the postseason since 2005-2006.

The Kings are followed by the NFL’s New York Jets and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, which both haven’t appeared in the playoffs since 2011, or 11 years.

To end the long playoff droughts, the Mariners have been active since the offseason in making moves.

That includes the Mariners acquiring infielder Eugenio Suárez and pitcher Luis Castillo in trades.

Additionally, young talents including pitcher Logan Gilbert and especially Julio Rodríguez have emerged.

Rodriguez reportedly recently signed a 12-year contract worth around $210 million.

And now it’s playoff time for the Mariners.

But it won’t be easy as they will have to play a best-of-three game series against either the Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians or the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card round.