Cal Raleigh hits Mariners fans in the feels by summing up rough season

Cal Raleigh's thoughts on the 2024 Mariners are honest, and, well, appreciated. Players, coaches and front office members tend to sugarcoat how bad things actually were, especially for a team like Seattle that completely fell on their face in the final stretch of the regular season.

The Mariners missed out on the postseason by one game, making it the third time in four seasons the M's didn't get to play in October despite possessing the talent to do so.

Raleigh was blunt and open in his reflection of the season. Although it may sting a bit to hear it from a player, it's oddly refreshing to have someone who is aware of the situation and it isn't afraid to share his genuine feelings.

"Disappointing year overall. I thought there were some really good stretches. I thought there were some really bad stretches. And there just wasn’t enough good at the end of it and we weren’t able to get it done, which (is) just disappointing really," Raleigh said in the interview.

“It just never really got clicking. I feel like we’d win a few games there and we’d lose a tough one. Or then we go on those bad stretches and couldn’t pull one out when we needed to. And like I said, just frustrating. And I think looking back, a lot of games were kind of given away.”

The Mariners were in control of the AL West midway through the regular season. They were 13 games over .500 and didn't run into much trouble until after the All-Star break. They immediately dropped two of three to the Astros, then were swept by the Angels at home. Seattle was then swept two more times in August by the Tigers and Dodgers. All of this was enough for them to slide behind Detroit and Kansas City in the AL Wild Card race, and Raleigh knows they needed to nab a few of those games.

The Mariners didn't necessarily "fall apart" — they were 33-31 in the second half, which isn't all that bad. Teams like the Royals, Orioles and Yankees hovered around .500 since the start of June and they all made the playoffs. The M's just lost too many division games down the stretch and it cost them their season. And looking back on some others knowing every game counted, there are a couple they're definitely kicking themselves over.

Raleigh finished the season with a team-high 4.6 bWAR behind 34 home runs, 100 RBI and 70 walks and made MLB history by hitting the most home runs for a catcher across his first four seasons. Unfortunately, that achievement won't be remembered as fondly as it should because of the team's offensive woes as a whole that kept them from making a memorable run.