SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh‘s historic season reached its most monumental milestone yet on Sunday afternoon, as the Mariners catcher crushed his 48th homer that tied him with Salvador Perez in 2021 for the most in a single season for a player with at least 75% of games as a catcher. Then for good measure, he upped the ante with his 49th one inning later.
And, perhaps fittingly, they were among his most majestic yet.
In the first inning, Raleigh ambushed a 91.7 mph, middle-middle fastball from A’s lefty Jacob Lopez and sent it sailing 448 feet — his longest of the season — and into the second deck at T-Mobile Park, giving Seattle a much-needed lead for its scuffling offense. Then in the second, he jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Lopez and yanked it 412 feet, off the out-of-town scoreboard in left. Both were two-run shots to back good friend Logan Gilbert on the mound.
After the second, as the “MVP” chants were as audible as they’ve been all season, Raleigh emerged for a curtain call and tipped his helmet to the home crowd.
Sunday’s homers were Raleigh’s 39th and 40th while starting behind the plate, while he has nine more as a designated hitter. Perez, the Royals icon, had 33 in games played as a catcher in his historic season and another 15 at DH.
The overall record for most homers in a single season by a primary catcher while playing catcher is 42, set by Atlanta’s Javy Lopez in 2003. Only three others — the Marlins’ Todd Hundley in 1996, the Dodgers’ Roy Campanella in 1953 and Piazza in 1997 with the Dodgers and 1999 with the Mets — have reached 40 in games played behind the dish in a single season.
The next big milestone for Raleigh to clear will be the single-season home-run record by a switch-hitter, which is 54 from Mickey Mantle in 1961. Raleigh passed Mantle in another way on Sunday, though, by registering his ninth multi-homer game as a switch-hitter, and the overall record is 11, done thrice. He also passed Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) for most multi-homer games in a season in Mariners history.
It’s been a season of two halves for Raleigh, whose 38 homers before the All-Star break were the most in history other than Barry Bonds (39 in 2001), but who has scuffled some since his epic showing at the Midsummer Classic in Atlanta, where he won the Home Run Derby. Entering Sunday, he was hitting .202 with a .709 OPS, compared to .259 with a 1.011 OPS prior.
And he’s been particularly susceptible vs. lefty pitching of late — as have the Mariners on a whole — with a .143 batting average and .443 OPS against southpaws in the second half.
