Cal Raleigh's injury update basically clears 1st-place Mariners for full launch

The Seattle Mariners have gone from sputtering to rolling, winning seven in a row and checking boxes for claiming the AL West lead and getting over .500. And all this without Cal Raleigh, so one wonders what they could do if they ever get the 2025 version of "Big Dumper."

Well, the moment of truth is nearly upon them. Raleigh remains on the injured list with a strained right oblique, but the updates are getting more and more positive. He's been able to take swings in the last few days, and was spotted both catching and running at T-Mobile Park on Monday.

As per Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, Raleigh said in passing that he was feeling good. Dan Wilson described the 2025 AL MVP runner-up's status as being less about rehabbing and more about "getting into some of the baseball work that he needs to do."

Barring any setbacks, the signs are pointed toward the 29-year-old starting a rehab assignment soon. Those can last as long as 20 days, but it's generally a good idea to bet the under.

For the meantime, it's remarkable how much the Mariners haven't missed Raleigh. You could argue — and not even in bad faith, honestly — that him going on the IL figured to be addition by subtraction, given that he hit just .161 with negative WAR through 41 games. But Mitch Garver and Jhonny Pereda have still impressed, notably by posting the 10th-best wOBA of any catching corps since May 14.

Cal Raleigh's return could help the Mariners put the AL West race to bed sooner rather than later

Even so, this is not a "Mariners don't need Cal Raleigh, actually" take.

Even before he went off for 60 home runs in arguably the greatest season ever by a catcher, Raleigh was already an annual 30-homer threat with creds as the game's most well-rounded backstop. And even if 60 is out of the question, he still has time to at least get to 30 homers. He has seven, and the Mariners will have 100 games left after Tuesday's action.

Plus, has anyone looked at the schedule? Do that, and you'll see that the Mariners getting Raleigh back soon is a case of the rich getting richer, and then stumbling upon a gold mine.

Counting the current one against the New York Mets, the Mariners have 12 series left to play before the All-Star break. Eight of those are against teams with sub-.500 records. Of the other four, only two are against fellow first-place clubs.

As it is, Seattle's playoff odds never fell very far even as the team was failing to launch. They have unsurprisingly skyrocketed lately, with FanGraphs now giving the Mariners a 70.6 percent chance of winning a second straight AL West title.

It's hard to argue with that. It'll be even harder if Raleigh comes back and goes full "Dumper."

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