One Record Shattered, Another Record Tied: Cal Raleigh Dumps Two in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — So much of Cal Raleigh’s 2025 equipment is ending up in the Hall of Fame that the Seattle backstop is starting to run short on lumber.
“I might need them to send me some new bats,” Raleigh joked. “They keep taking them away!”
It is the tail end of a summer where so many records have tumbled down, struck by the big wood in Big Dumper’s hands. And yet, the lines of the history books keep getting filled, as Raleigh went deep twice on Tuesday. The first, his 55th of the season, broke the all-time single season record for home runs by a switch hitter, a mark previously held by Mickey Mantle. An inning later and from the other side of the plate, Raleigh cracked his 56th, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for the most by a Mariner in a single season.
Only a few minutes before Raleigh surpassed Mantle, the Mariner catcher experienced something that tells you why no catcher had ever yet ascended the peaks that Raleigh as thus far climbed. In the bottom of the second, with Logan Gilbert on his way to working out of a first-and-third, nobody out jam, Seattle’s starter spiked one in the dirt. The ball bounced back up and clocked Raleigh on the side of the neck, a sight that brought out Mariners manager Dan Wilson to check on him, though he ended up being fine.
“It was all good, it just stung a little bit,” Raleigh remarked. “It’s one of those things that happens every once in a while. Not often.”
Gilbert, for his part, was also fine, working out of the inning without giving up a run. Kansas City took the field as the top of the third began, and Raleigh stepped up to the dish to lead things off. On a 1-1 count, Royals starter Michael Wacha—in the middle of receiving a seven-run shellacking from Seattle—hung a curveball right down the pipe.
Raleigh launched a towering fly ball down the line. There was question as it hung in the air whether or not it would fall inside or outside the foul pole, but it held fair as it landed in the seats of Kauffman Stadium. “MVP” sounded out across the ballpark, with even the road fans rooting for Raleigh in his contest with Aaron Judge despite the fact that Raleigh had just extended Seattle’s lead to 4-0.
By the time the Mariners catcher came back up to the plate, the situation had changed quite a bit. A monster third inning had extended Seattle’s advantage to 7-0, and there was nobody out in the fourth inning with Randy Arozarena on first base. Wacha had been taken out of the game and replaced with left-hander Daniel Lynch IV, so Raleigh was in the right-handed batter’s box as he saw a first pitch changeup on the outside edge of the plate.
Seattle’s catcher swung and drilled the ball to deep center. At first, it didn’t look like a home run, just a deep fly ball. But as Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel jogged back to the wall and helplessly peered upwards, it became clear that the ball was about to carom in Kauffman Stadium’s tiered batter’s eye. Once again, “MVP” could be heard doing some auditory caroming of its own, but this time, the milestone was all Mariners.
Just one Seattle Mariner had ever hit 56 home runs in a season before: Ken Griffey Jr. himself. “The Kid” did it twice, both in 1997 and in 1998, a year he was initially slated as a contender to break Roger Maris’ then-record of 61 dingers during a season. This comes after Raleigh joined Griffey as the second Mariner to win the home run derby; it seems there is a new all-time Seattle slugger on the block.
Cal Raleigh, interestingly, also tied another Mariners-related record with his Tuesday homer duo: he now has 149 career home runs, the exact same total as one Mike Zunino—though only 95 of those blasts were in a Mariners uniform (he also hit 51 for the Rays and three for the Guardians).
The Griffey milestone, I think, carries much greater weight—as does the fact that the Mariners won Tuesday’s game, 12-5.
