Mariners' lethal secret weapon will make fans feel better about Dan Wilson

Even though Cal Raleigh didn't start for the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, it felt like just a matter of time before Dan Wilson asked him to grab a bat and make some magic in a late pinch-hitting appearance. And sure enough, this is exactly what happened.

With the Mariners trailing the Athletics 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Wilson sent Raleigh to the box with the bases loaded and one out. "Big Dumper" came through, drilling a two-run single into right field. It proved to be the difference, as the Mariners held on to win 5-3.

Granted, Raleigh making an appearance last night felt like just a matter of time in large part because of who he is. He's the Mariners' best player right now, and one who's slugging his way toward history. It's also not like he was treating his day off like, well, a day off.

“You just have to learn how to get yourself ready,” Raleigh said after the game, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “First of all, like getting your body hot, what you need to do, how you need to start preparing yourself mentally. It's kind of like just starting the game at a different point."

Dan Wilson loves to call on pinch-hitters, and it's a strategy that just keeps helping the Mariners

Yet there's another reason that Raleigh coming off the bench felt inevitable, and it has to do with Wilson's managerial playbook.

For anyone who's not keeping count, Raleigh's pinch-hit appearance on Tuesday was the 47th by a Mariners hitter in 2025. That is the second-most of any team in MLB, trailing only the Chicago White Sox (50). And the strategy is working, as Mariners pinch-hitters are slashing .300/.383/.400 with six walks, a double, a home run, and six runs batted in.

Raleigh's game-winning heroics marked the second time in three days that a Mariners win could be traced directly to Wilson's fondness for pinch-hitters. A duo of pinch-hitters sealed a 2-1 victory against the Texas Rangers on Saturday, with Jorge Polanco's double setting Rowdy Tellez up for a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth.

Look, we're not above dunking on Wilson when the situation calls for it. There was indeed one of those on Monday, when his baffling decisions in the 11th inning directly caused a heartbreaking loss that trimmed the club's lead in the American League West down to 1.0 game.

Yet it tends to be harder to give managers credit where and when it's due, as so much of what they do is either unseen (i.e., managing personalities in the clubhouse) or in the background of someone else's good work (i.e., a successful pitching change).

This is what's nice about pinch-hitting appearances, as it's perhaps the most obvious case of a manager trying to turn a game on its head. It's a one-shot roll of the dice, and Wilson just keeps rolling sixes.

Because Seattle's everyday lineup has been decimated by injuries to Victor Robles, Ryan Bliss, and Luke Raley, there is a bit of "necessity is the mother of invention" at play here. But all the pinch-hitting would be a sound strategy on Wilson's part even if the results weren't there. If nothing else, it's a reason why the Mariners are third in MLB with a 63.5 percentage of platoon matchups on offense.

Ultimately, the Mariners are 21-14 this year and 42-27 under Wilson overall. His .609 winning percentage is the best for any Mariners manager, ever. It's a small sample size and no manager can ever claim total credit for his winning percentage, but let's be real that he does at least one thing right.