Cal Raleigh hits 59th and 60th home runs

SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh quite literally went all the way up on Wednesday night, crushing a pull-side home run from the left side and sending it sailing 438 feet and into the upper deck beyond right field at T-Mobile Park for No. 59 in his historic season.

Then he went higher, not by distance exactly, but instead for the round number of 60 — a mark only six other players in history have reached.

Raleighâ€s first homer came in the first inning of a runaway, 9-2 win that clinched the Mariners their first American League West title since 2001. Then, he went for a curtain call in the eighth to achieve 60, as “MVP†chants echoed louder than ever in his storybook season.

“I’m going to be honest with you, it’s crazy,†Raleigh said. “Sixty is, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I was going to hit 60 in my life. And then I did it like this. Just tonight, I mean, what a way to do it.”

After No. 60, Raleigh emerged from the home dugout for a curtain call in front of the packed crowd — as the Mariners were moments away from securing the division. Making the moment sweeter was that his father, Todd Sr., who was on the mound when he won the Home Run Derby in Atlanta, was in attendance along with his mother, Stephanie.

“That definitely was the coolest one for sure,†Raleigh said. “They’re all great, don’t get me wrong. But to do it, and in this fashion, on this night, in front of these fans, Mom and Dad here, obviously, it was really cool.â€

In separate-but-related historical context, the upper deck in Seattle is territory that only seven others had reached in the ballparkâ€s 26 seasons of existence, as Raleigh joined Luke Raley (2024), Shohei Ohtani (2021), Joey Gallo (2020), Daniel Vogelbach (2019), Nomar Mazara (2019), Carlos Delgado (2001) and Mo Vaughn (1999) as the only players to homer to that part of the ballpark, per Mariners PR.

Raleigh became just the seventh player to reach 60 in a single season, joining Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001), Mark McGwire (1998, 1999), Barry Bonds (2001), Roger Maris (1961), Babe Ruth (1927) and Aaron Judge (2022) — the latter of whom heâ€s in a head-to-head race for this yearâ€s American League MVP Award.

Judge homered twice for the Yankees earlier on Tuesday for his 50th and 51st of the season, which helped New York tie Toronto atop the AL East. (The Blue Jays own the tiebreaker.)

Both players steamrolling to the end of the regular season on a heater has made the AL MVP race as close as it’s been all season. The final poll from MLB.com, released on Tuesday and featuring input from some of the actual voters from the Baseball Writers†Association of America, showed a razor-thin margin.

Those who spend every day with Raleigh might carry bias, but they still staked their case for him in a champagne-drenched clubhouse.

• Julio Rodríguez: “Judge is having an unbelievable season, but just to be able to do it at the position that Cal is doing and just how special and rare his year has been, I just think he has that, he has to win it.â€

• Logan Gilbert: “Itâ€s the whole picture. Itâ€s what he does blocking, saving runs, throwing guys out, getting banged up. Itâ€s him doing everything. So if itâ€s truly the most ‘valuable†player, then it has to be the guy that brings everything to the table. And I think thatâ€s him.â€

• George Kirby: “I mean, I don’t see other guys catching games like he does and hitting home runs like he does. And yeah, I’m really hoping that he gets it. He deserves it. He’s a great team leader. He’s just an incredible hitter right now.â€

• J.P. Crawford: “He’s playing every day. He’s catching. He’s playing probably (the hardest) position on the field, and he’s doing it while getting beat up every day.â€

Raleigh has already set the single-season records for most home runs in Mariners history (previously Ken Griffey Jr.’s 57 in 1997 and ’98), most by a switch-hitter (54 from Mickey Mantle in 1961) and most by a primary catcher (48 by Salvador Perez in 2021). And heâ€s firmly in range of the AL record of 62 set by Judge in 2022.

The argument between Raleigh and Judge will likely come down to what criteria voters value more.

Raleigh has a comfortable lead in counting stats such as homers and RBIs (125), and he plays the sportâ€s most demanding position regularly; Wednesday was his 155th game of the season and 119th at catcher.

Judge, meanwhile, leads the AL in all three slash line categories, with a clip of .328/.455/.681 for a 1.136 OPS. However, Judge was limited almost exclusively to a designated hitter role for a full month upon returning from a right flexor strain on Aug. 5.

The AL MVP Award wonâ€t be announced until mid-November, meaning this conversation will be tabled after Sunday. But at least for the next few days, itâ€ll be a fascinating discussion — thanks to Raleighâ€s latest historic act.

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