Raleigh Reaches 60, M’s Clinch AL West: Magical 9-2 Win Accomplishes Regular Season Goals
SEATTLE, Wash. — The last time the Mariners clinched a division victory, it was Sept. 19, 2001. It was just the second game after the post-9/11 resumption of the season. Less than 24 hours later, George W. Bush addressed Congress and declared the Global War on Terror.
The big drought may have ended in 2022, but Seattle’s division title drought, until Wednesday, was older than NCIS, Olivia Rodrigo, Cole Young, and American Dad!. Seattle’s previous divisional victory occurred before Spike TV, Howard Dean’s memorable yahoo, or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election to the governorship of California; and before the premieres of Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, or Veer-Zaara.
The key word in all of that is was: on Wednesday night—8,771 days after their 2001 clinch, also on a Wednesday—the Seattle Mariners finally secured another AL West crown.
“They’ve wanted this for so long—and here we are,” manager Dan Wilson remarked. “I give them all the credit: they fight hard, they fight together, they love each other, and that’s what it’s all about.”
First Inning Sets Tone
In what was something of a victory lap game, with the September pressure finally abating, Seattle’s very own MVP candidate got things going. Cal Raleigh hit a 1-1 fastball about as far as any Rawlings has ever been struck. The ball soared majestically through the air, a no-doubt blast that landed in the upper deck in right.
There was no rest for Rockies starter Tanner Gordon. Julio Rodríguez doubled up on Raleigh’s shot with a homer of his own, marking the 32nd of his 2025 campaign, and Jorge Polanco topped off the first inning hat trick with a screaming two-out liner.
Seattle got going in that frame and never looked back. It was the fourth inning before Colorado scored, and by then, the M’s had already put up five. Over the first seven innings, the Mariners put up 13 hits, seven for extra bases. Dominic Canzone, who came into the game with a .359/.395/.692 slash line in September, had another excellent night, going 3-4 with a double.
The end result of Wednesday’s contest was never truly in doubt. Attention, however, did not dwindle for a second.
Number 60
After Raleigh’s first homer, all 42,883 fans in attendance at T-Mobile Park knew what lie ahead. Seattle’s backstop sat with 59 home runs, one behind a mark that only six other men had ever reached before.
Barry Bonds. Mark McGwire. Sammy Sosa. Aaron Judge. Roger Maris. Babe Ruth.
Such elite company would have to wait a little bit. With two on and two out in the bottom of the second, Raleigh reached down to golf an 0-1 changeup down the right field line for a two-run double. “MVP” roared out from T-Mobile Park as he stood at second, but excitement swelled within a sellout crowd as the innings progressed. At-bats in the fourth and sixth were surrounded by the deafening chants, yet Seattle’s desires would have to wait until the greatest moment.
It was the bottom of the eighth. Rockies reliever Angel Chivilli, in a game that had long since escaped Colorado’s grasp, had been tasked with getting the visitors through the final two innings (the ninth, obviously, notwithstanding). Already in the seventh, he had yielded Eugenio Suárez’ 48th home run of the season, but the extended inning did something else that awarded Wednesday’s long-decided game the eyes of the baseball world once more: it brought Cal Raleigh up in Seattle’s final home inning.
He didn’t waste any time. Chivilli’s first pitch was a fastball at the bottom of the zone. With the three-letter mantra surrounding him, he put yet another mighty swing on the baseball. The crack of the bat was all anyone needed to hear. There was nothing Chivilli—nor Rockies right fielder Yanquiel Fernández—could hope to do.
Chivilli’s saving grace, perhaps, is that he’s young enough to have time to define himself as someone else than the guy who gave up Cal Raleigh’s 60th home run.
For Raleigh, the moment was ecstasy. A man who had been laser-focused on his team all year, downplaying all his incredible accolades any time someone with a microphone asked him about the home run chase, sat in the dugout with a glorious grin plastered across his face. The moment was happiness; it was also exhaustion. Harry Ford caught the final inning, marked by a run that will be forgotten to time as Seattle won 9-2.
The Mariner catcher went back out for a curtain call in front of countless cheering fans, as Seattle serenaded their star with “MVP” chants so thunderous as to dwarf even The Who’s legendary Charlton 1976 ear-burster.
60 home runs will never be forgotten.
Rock Over Rockies
Luis Castillo’s outing on Wednesday night was a sight that can only be described as vintage. He worked through Colorado’s hapless bats with a breakneck efficiency and effortless control, striking out 10 and walking none over 7 ⅓ innings of work. Castillo brought a perfect game into the fourth inning and held the Rockies to one hit throughout his whole start, putting on a show that gave Seattle a boost of confidence in la Piedra with the postseason knocking on the door.
That one hit wasn’t even much of a mistake. Rather, Blaine Crim guessed a top-of-the-zone 2-2 four-seamer perfectly and drilled it over the wall in deep center, the fifth home run of his early career. Still, with Seattle already out to a titanic lead, it was easy for Castillo to get back in that easy groove and continue his remarkable outing.
Facing a lineup of mostly right-handers, Castillo largely went without his fading changeup, but a mix of fastballs and sliders was more than enough to handle the Rockies’ lineup. Compared to some of his recent starts, he was using more sinkers, but the way he utilized that pitch—and, to be fair, the Rockies’ season-long issues at the plate—kept Colorado from doing the damage that the Mets, Phillies, or Rays did against it a month prior.
His efficiency through six produced hope that he may even go eight full innings for the first time since Aug. 2022, but some longer at-bats in the seventh drove his pitch count up to 92 through seven frames. Castillo walked back to the bump to get one last out in the eighth before leaving with a standing ovation.
More encouraging than one night against the Rockies, however, is the run of form that Castillo is on. Counting Wednesday night, he has a 1.07 ERA in his last four starts, racking up 24 strikeouts and two walks over 25 ⅓ innings of work. There was a fair amount of concern surrounding Castillo after some bad blowup starts in August, but at the moment, he has put those worries behind him.
The fact that this was the third best thing to happen on Wednesday was a testament to the perfection—or as close as can be achieved by all of us mortals—that occurred in T-Mobile Park on Wednesday.
On Deck
All the results fell Seattle’s way on Wednesday. Not only did the win guarantee a division title over the Astros (who lost, by the way), it brought them one step closer to clinching a first-round bye. Just one Seattle win or one Cleveland loss will clinch a second seed placement in the American League.
But all the marbles, for the first time in a long time, lie at least a week ahead. There will be, after all this time, rest for the weary. The question is quickly becoming: can they keep it up after the bye?
Of course, that is only one small part of the greater question that is rising—even as all experience tells it not to—in the minds of millions.
Is this the year?
