Cal Raleigh has a historic Wild Card round for Mariners

I don’t think we can toot the horn of Cal Raleigh enough. Every time you turn around, it seems like he is doing something incredible once again. He had an incredible season this year, tallying a Mariners team record 27 HR from the catcher position, and he did it in just 119 games.

He also had a 3.8 WAR, with a 1.4 dWAR strongly contributing to that. The actual recap of Raleigh’s season can wait for the end of the postseason, cause I just want to talk about what all he ended up doing in the Wild Card round against the Blue Jays.

Cal Raleigh notched a handful of historic marks in the Mariners opening round of the 2022 playoffs.

It all started with his first at-bat. Cal Raleigh became the first Mariners player to homer in their postseason debut when he blasted this two-run bomb into right field in the first inning and gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead. As an added bonus, announcer cam, because it’s awesome.

Not only that, but he was just the third Mariners player to hit a home run in the first inning of a playoff game. It’s crazy that it’s that low, but with the Mariners having played nearly fewer postseason games than any other team in history, I can sort of see how it’s so low.

He was also just the fourth visiting catcher to hit a home run against the Blue Jays in their team’s history, which is a pretty cool stat in itself. He joins Salvador Perez (2015), Robinson Chirinos (2005), and Terry Steinbach (1992).

Check out this one. He is only the second Mariners player to reach base 5+ times in their first two games while hitting a home run as well. Guess who he joined? Griffey, of course.

Cal Raleigh just kept delivering when it mattered. He had a 3-hit game in game 2, starting off with a walk in the first inning. He wouldn’t get a hit until the 6th inning, hitting a single into LF. He’s single into LF again in the 8th inning, and would then cap it off by ripping a double at 111.4 mph into RCF, which would be exactly what the Mariners needed in the 9th. He’s score on the 2B by Adam Frazier to give the Mariners the 10-9 lead.

I love Cal Raleigh. Big Dumper for life. If you haven’t went and got yourself a sick T-shirt, you should probably go do that soon. They’re incredible, and I can’t wait for mine to get here. Big Dumper, Drought Buster!