Browsing: Cal

A second early bye week might not have been enough time for Bill Belichick to solve the problems with UNC’s offense.

The Tar Heels returned from the break only to fall behind 14-10 in Saturday’s first half against Cal.

North Carolina was outgained 163-152 through two quarters as college football fans questioned why the program’s head coach ability to recover from the early deficit.

North Carolina’s opening drive ended in lost fumble from Shanard Clower. It took Cal just four plays to run the ball in for a touchdown the other way.

UNC tied the game on an 18-yard touchdown run from Benjamin Hall later in the quarter, although Belichick’s defense was unable to stop Jacob De Jesus from putting the Golden Bears back in front with a one-handed touchdown reception.

The Tar Heels held the Golden Bears without a point in the second quarter, but had to settle for just a 41-yard field goal of their own.

Belichick’s team went into the break still trailing four total punts in the final three minutes of the half.

North Carolina is off to a 2-3 start to the season, most recently having dropped consecutive blowouts to UCF and Clemson.

Belichick’s debut season as a college coach has been further marred by off-field drama surrounding his and general manager Michael Lombardi’s management of the program.

The UNC head coach will look to get positive media attention back on the field by leading his team to a comeback victory in the second half of Saturday night’s ACC matchup.

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SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh has bigger things to worry about than the Rawlings Gold Glove Award announcement that landed on Wednesday morning, with his Mariners just two wins away from advancing in this American League Championship Series against the Blue Jays.

Yet Raleighâ€s absence from the list of three finalists among AL catchers spurred intrigue, given that the Mariners†backstop won the Platinum Glove Award last year for being the ALâ€s top overall defender.

Rawlings announced that Detroit’s Dillon Dingler, Torontoâ€s Alejandro Kirk and Bostonâ€s Carlos Narváez were the ALâ€s finalists at catcher. Separately, Seattleâ€s Julio Rodríguez was among the ALâ€s three finalists in center field for the second time (2023) as he looks to win his first Gold Glove.

Hereâ€s how the criteria is determined: The 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team vote from a pool of players in their league, excluding players from their own team. These votes comprise 75% of the selection total, with the SABR defensive index counting for the other 25%.

Obviously, year-over-year production can change, and Raleigh had a dip in caught-stealings (32 to 21) and caught-stealing rate (from 28.3% to 21.2%) while seeing a slight decline in his framing numbers — though he was still above average in this category.

The one stat that was maybe his most remarkable was that Raleigh didnâ€t have a passed ball until Game 5 of the AL Division Series vs. the Tigers — and playoff numbers are not factored into the criteria for Gold Gloves.

Raleigh was asked whether he felt he was worse defensively this year.

“A lot of that is based off of numbers and analytics,†Raleigh said. “So I think this year with the new strike zone, it kind of changed a lot. You saw it early on and, obviously, that big article came out, and they mentioned they shrunk the zone for the umpires — or at least the shadow zone of what can and can’t be called down from two [inches] to 0.75. So I would say that was a big factor early on.â€

The article in question was published by The Athletic in May that detailed a smaller buffer zone that players, including Raleigh, said might have affected their framing numbers.

Raleigh was worth +7 catcher framing runs, which was tied with Dingler for fifth-best in MLB, while Kirk ranked second (+16) and Narváez tied for eighth (+5). Last year, Raleigh was worth +20, which was fourth-best.

On a month-by-month basis, Raleigh was worth +2 framing runs in March/April, +1 in May, +1 in June, zero in July, +2 in August and +2 in September. Those figures are calculated by converting strikes to runs saved on a .125 run/strike basis, and they include park and pitcher adjustments. To qualify, a catcher must receive six called pitches per team game.

“Right now, I’m not crazy looking into it,†Raleigh said. “We’ve obviously got bigger things ahead of us. So that’s something maybe I’ll address in the offseason, take a look at something I can do better, kind of dive a little deeper into that.â€

Thereâ€s also the reality that Raleigh is the backstop for a Mariners pitching staff that throws a ton of pitches that have downward movement and regularly force him to block balls in the dirt — such as the splitters from Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller and the slider from Andrés Muñoz, among many others. Over the entire strike zone, Raleigh ranked poorest at the bottom third in framing.

“When you look at some of the stuff that he has to deal with in terms of our pitching staff — a lot of split-fingers, particularly Logan — and then the amount of blocking he does, his throwing has been great,†said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, a former catcher. “There are some tough things that happen along the way, and you’d love for all your guys to be nominated for those kinds of things. But I think the season, the year that Cal has had, has just been outstanding.â€

While Raleigh wonâ€t bring home Gold Glove hardware, itâ€s still possible that he wins AL MVP — and the argument for him over Yankees two-time winner Aaron Judge is largely rooted in Raleighâ€s premium position and the fact that he hit 60 homers while playing in 159 games, most of them in the sportâ€s most demanding role.

And, as Raleigh noted, the ultimate award is still in front of him, too — the Commissionerâ€s Trophy for winning the World Series.

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With it, they are just three wins away from their first World Series in franchise history — and theyâ€ll now have home-field advantage over the rest of this best-of-seven bout.

“We’ve talked about just how resilient these guys are,†Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “and tonight was one of those instances again.â€

Raleigh dug out and demolished a 420-foot solo homer on a full-count splitter from Kevin Gausman with two outs in the sixth inning. Then, after Julio Rodríguez drew a walk and ended Gausmanâ€s outing, Raleigh advanced to second on a wild pitch from lefty reliever Brendon Little before scoring easily on Polanco’s 110.7 mph go-ahead single into left.

Little was explicitly brought in to turn the switch-hitting Polanco around, but the move from Blue Jays manager John Schneider backfired.

“Cal went out there and took a really good at-bat for us,†Polanco said. “He got the homer, he tied the ballgame, and from there, weâ€re just trying to stay focused on the game. We were in the game from the first inning. It was only 1-0. But he delivered it really good, and we just tried to keep going.â€

Polanco one-upped himself in the seventh, this time batting left-handed off reliever Seranthony Domínguez and yanking a chopping single through the right-side hole — a carbon-copy of his game-winner in Friday nightâ€s 15-inning marathon that clinched the AL Division Series against Detroit.

He now has six hits in the postseason, five of which have driven in runs — including a pair of booming homers off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in ALDS Game 2. And dating back to Sept. 1, heâ€s hitting .306 with a .951 OPS, continuing a resounding turnaround after undergoing surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee this week last year.

“He’s been kind of our heart and soul over this last month,†said Raleigh, a fellow switch-hitter. “Really happy for him that he’s healthy and he’s playing every day and it’s consistent — and that does make a big difference, because he went through a lot last year with injuries and even earlier this year. I’m just happy he’s healthy like that, and he’s been huge from both sides of the plate.â€

Raleigh and Polanco were the vessels to victory on a night when the Mariners had nothing going early vs. Gausman. But they grinded their way through with one pesky at-bat after another as the game reached its tensest stages.

The Mariners havenâ€t flexed their offensive might much in these playoffs, outside an eight-run outburst in ALDS Game 3. And really, after taking a 3-0 lead in Detroit the next day with the chance to put that series away, theyâ€d been limited to a 13-for-79 clip (.165) before Raleigh went deep, dating back to when the Tigers scored nine unanswered runs to force the winner-take-all Game 5.

As for Raleigh, on the heels of his historic 60-homer season, Sunday’s long ball in Toronto was his second this postseason. But the venue was even more part of the story, as Raleigh now has nine homers in 14 career games at Rogers Centre — the most of any player in his first 14 games in Toronto (regular season and postseason).

Raleigh’s nine in Toronto since 2022 are the second most by a visiting player, behind only Aaron Judgeâ€s 11 — and Judgeâ€s Yankees obviously play in the same division at Toronto, with double the games here in the regular season compared to Raleighâ€s Mariners.

“I don’t know if it’s one thing,†Raleigh said. “I think really I try to go out there with the same plan, and sometimes it’s more coincidence than anything with it being here.â€

Schneider said he considered intentionally walking Raleigh but opted not to with a 1-0 lead and Rodríguez on deck. That decision, along with opting for Little to face Polanco despite Gausman only being at 76 pitches, allowed the Mariners to pounce.

Had they stuck with Gausman for Polanco — who has a .931 OPS vs. lefties this season and a .786 OPS vs. righties, and again, with two outs — Little mightâ€ve been a better option for a left-on-left battle with Josh Naylor, who was on deck.

“You’re kind of getting into game-state, inning-state,†Schneider said. “I wish there was a little bit more swing-and-miss. You’ve got a fully rested bullpen and wanted him to get Julio. It’s kind of pick your poison there. I was kind of reading the situation after the walk.â€

Beyond a few clutch hits, the Mariners have been able to eke out wins on the shoulders of their pitching staff, which has a 2.95 ERA in the postseason while holding hitters to a .567 OPS — both best among the four teams still alive. That heavily taxed group will now make another big ask of Gilbert, whoâ€s been tabbed for ALCS Game 2 on Monday despite throwing 34 high-stress pitches on Friday.

Heâ€ll look to follow up Bryce Miller, who was brilliant in what might have been the Mariners†best start of these playoffs. Miller rebounded from a leadoff homer to George Springer on his very first pitch but kept Sundayâ€s game within reach, even as Gausman retired 16 Mariners in a row at one point.

The tide turned once Raleigh went deep amid a smattering of boos with his majestic blast beyond the visiting bullpen, followed up by Polanco’s second big hit.

“It’s a hostile environment,†Raleigh said. “We all knew it was going to be coming into today and everybody was going to be getting that kind of treatment, and that’s what it’s like in playoff baseball. Like I said, you tune that stuff out and you try to go out there and execute and slow the game down.â€

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TORONTO — Only five days had passed since Cal Raleighâ€s last home run, but for these Seattle Mariners, it felt like an eternity.

That made sense, considering the circumstances. Quite a bit transpired between Raleighâ€s blast in ALDS Game 3 on Tuesday in Detroit and his game-tying big fly in Seattleâ€s 3-1 ALCS Game 1 win on Sunday in Toronto.

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Hereâ€s an exhausting, inexhaustive list.

The Mariners jumped to an early lead in ALDS Game 4, wasted that golden opportunity with an untimely bullpen implosion, flew home to Seattle, participated in one of the wonkiest, most unforgettable playoff games this century, drank some beers, sprayed some Champagne, basked in the joy of a city in revelry, caught a few hours of precious shuteye, located their passports, endured a lengthy flight delay caused by a mechanical issue on the team charter, jetted across the continent and readied themselves to compete for a trip to the World Series.

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And while the entire experience has been draining for everybody in navy and teal, nobody has shouldered more of the load — physical and emotional — than Raleigh. He is, of course, the de facto leader of this bunch, the heart, soul and cushioned backside of the 2025 Seattle Mariners. The MVP contender caught all 15 innings of that Game 5 thrill ride, rising from and lowering into his squat before and after all 209 pitches from Mariners†arms. The Big Dumperâ€s lower half, despite its heralded girth, was surely sore and achy the next day.

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“The mental part of it is definitely more exhausting than the physical,†Raleigh said on Saturdayâ€s off day. “Obviously, you’re physically tired, but mentally, having to deal with new pitchers and trying to face guys six, seven, eight times — whatever amount it was — it gets to be tough.â€

But on Sunday in Toronto, Raleigh showed absolutely no signs of weariness.

“If he is tired, he never says anything about it, that’s for sure,†Mariners pitcher Emerson Hancock told Yahoo Sports after the game. “He shows up every day, gets his work in, and he’s ready to rock and roll.â€

Raleigh, unsurprisingly, was Seattleâ€s driving force once again in Game 1 of the ALCS.

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His sixth-inning, two-out laser tied the score at one, jolting awake a Seattle offense that looked understandably tired in the early going. It also kept the inning alive, allowing the Mariners to score again two batters later on an RBI single from Jorge Polanco, the hero of Game 5.

But Raleighâ€s jack was a vintage Big Dumper swing, controlled but powerful. The long ball, his 62nd of the year, was Seattleâ€s first since Raleigh went yard way back in the ninth inning of ALDS Game 3. It was another enormous moment in a season full of them.

“I don’t want to say we feel accustomed to it, because obviously it’s special, but I think it’s just what he expects of himself,†Mariners starter Brian Woo told Yahoo Sports afterward. “So yeah, you know, we’re not surprised.â€

“We’ve seen Cal do that so often in a big situation there to get us back tied,†Mariners skipper Dan Wilson said in his postgame media conference. “I thought that was a big lift in terms of our dugout and getting us back in it.â€

Raleigh also got the Mâ€s going with a single in the top of the first, but Jays starter Kevin Gausman was able to work out of trouble. Gausman proceeded to retire the next 15 Mariners he faced. Seattle hitters were perplexed by the right-handerâ€s trademark splitter, and it seemed like Gausman was in line to deliver a legendary performance in front of a hopping home crowd.

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As it turned out, the only run support the lanky right received came on the very first pitch seen by a Blue Jay on the night: a leadoff tank from DH George Springer that sent Rogers Centre into a frenzy. After that blemish — Springerâ€s 21st career postseason tater — Mariners starter Bryce Miller also cruised through six relatively uneventful innings.

Miller, forced into a start on short rest after Seattle used multiple starters in relief during the ALDS clincher, was outstanding, scattering three walks and just one additional base hit as he shut down a Toronto offense that was firing on all cylinders last round against the New York Yankees. The 27-year-old righty, who burst onto the scene last season, had an uneven, injury-impacted 2025, scuffling to a 5.68 ERA across 18 starts. No qualified pitcher in baseball surrendered a higher average exit velocity than Miller this season. But he seems to have rediscovered his good stuff at just the right time, first with a solid showing in ALDS Game 4 and now with a masterful outing in ALCS Game 1.

“Really give Bryce credit — going on short rest and going six innings like that. It was really huge, especially for our bullpen, who threw a lot of pitches the other day,†Raleigh gushed afterward.

But Seattleâ€s bullpen — or, at least, the relievers who threw in Game 1 — didnâ€t seem particularly impacted by the heavy workload. Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz combined to twirl three perfect innings, finishing Millerâ€s gem and propelling the Mariners to an unlikely and invigorating 1-0 lead in this ALCS.

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On Monday in Game 2, Seattle will turn to Logan Gilbert, fresh off a seven-strikeout, zero-walk masterpiece in ALDS Game 3. Heâ€ll go up against Toronto rookie Trey Yesavage, who baffled the Yankees into oblivion in his fourth career big-league start last week.

Raleigh, certainly, will have an impact on the evenings of both men.

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The Seattle Mariners claimed a 3–1 victory on the road in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

Fresh off a 15-inning Game 5 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS on Friday, No. 2 seed Seattle returned to action against the top-seeded Blue Jays, who had several days off after defeating the New York Yankees 3–1 in their series last Wednesday, Oct. 8.

Cal Raleigh finished 2-of-4 at the plate with a solo home run, while Jorge Polanco added two RBI while. Randy Arozarena stole two bases and scored a run in the win.

With starters limited after Friday’s 15-inning game, Seattle ace Bryce Miller delivered a standout performance, setting the tone with a dominant outing. He struck out three over six innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run.

Fans took notice as Raleigh, Miller and the Mariners shined in their Game 1 victory on the road.

The Blue Jays energized the home crowd early as George Springer launched a leadoff home run on the first pitch he saw, giving the team an early spark.

The Mariners answered in the sixth inning with two runs—a 420-foot home run from Raleigh, followed by a Polanco single that brought in Julio Rodríguez to give Seattle a 2–1 lead.

It was déjà vu in the eighth inning as Polanco delivered another RBI single, set up by Arozarena’s two stolen bases, extending the Mariners’ lead to 3–1.

Game 2 of the ALCS is set for 5:08 p.m. ET on Monday from Toronto.

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Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh met up with a fan who went viral after catching his 61st home run on Tuesday.

Following the Mariners’ win over the Detroit Tigers, the catcher met the fan who wore a shirt that said “Dump 61 Here.” The fan offered to give the ball back to Raleigh, but he told him to keep it. Raleigh also gave him a signed ball and bat.

Raleigh’s 61st home run this year came on the road in Detroit, so the fact that it ended up in the hands of a Mariners fan—let alone one wearing a “Dump 61 Here” shirt—seems like something out of a movie.

After catching the home run, the fan switched to a shirt that read, “Dump 62 Here,” but he wasn’t quite lucky enough to catch another home run from Raleigh.

Raleigh is coming off a historic regular season, hitting the most home runs (60) and the third-most RBI (125) while leading the Mariners to the postseason. He broke the single-season home run records for primary catchers and switch hitters and set a new Mariners franchise record, surpassing Ken Griffey’s 57.

Seattle is hoping to ride the MVP play of Raleigh into a deep postseason run. The Mariners already won their first AL West title since 2001, and they’re now just a win away from advancing to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2001, when they came up short against the New York Yankees.

They’ll look to close the series out on the road on Wednesday, and they might want to have the fan from Tuesday night’s game there for good luck.

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One of the few Mariners fans in a crowd of Tigers fans in Detroit had a very specific request for Cal Raleigh Tuesday night. Raleigh was happy to oblige.

Raleigh entered the ninth inning of Tuesday’s ALDS Game 3 on a sizzling playoff streak, hitting 5 for 12 with an RBI in two-plus games. But Big Dumper had yet to do what he does best — hit a home run.

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That changed in the ninth. With his Mariners holding a 6-1 lead, Raleigh punctuated an 8-4 win with his first home run of the postseason, a two-run opposite-field shot that cleared the left-field wall.

It was a powerful exclamation point on a game that gave the Mariners a 2-1 series lead to move within a win of the ALCS. But what happened after Raleigh’s contact was even more remarkable.

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The ball bounced into the bullpen and up toward the first row of the outfield stands. There, an opportunistic fan snagged the ball with his glove. Said fan was the only Mariners fan sitting in a sea of Tigers fans.

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And his shirt conveyed the aforementioned specific request. The Mariners teal shirt read “DUMP 61 HERE” in large silver font.

That’s exactly what Raleigh did. After a historic, 60-home run campaign in the regular season, Raleigh dumped his 61st of 2025 directly where the fan asked for it.

And said fan was ready for more. He stripped his shirt to reveal another that read “DUMP 62 HERE.”

That ask, alas, proved to be too much. Raleigh didn’t have another at-bat. Maybe our hero will have another shot in Wednesday’s Game 4.

In the meantime, he’ll surely settle for home run ball No. 61, a meet-and-greet with Raleigh and an autographed bat from his hero.

What a night for Raleigh and one of his biggest fans.

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The Mariners took a 2-1 lead in the American League Division Series over the Detroit Tigers with a 8-4 win on the road Tuesday, energizing Seattle and MLB fans with an impressive offensive showing.

Cal Raleigh capped off his stellar Game 3 performance with a two-run, 391-foot homer in the top of the ninth, sealing the Mariners’ victory. Raleigh finished 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI, finishing with a .462 batting average.

J.P. Crawford added two RBI, going a perfect 2-for-2 with a home run and a .333 batting average. Eugenio Suárez chipped in with a homer and an RBI, while Randy Arozarena added another RBI.

Raleigh and the Mariners’ offense electrified MLB fans as Seattle took Game 3 on the road against the Tigers.

Mariners ace Logan Gilbert set the tone with a dominant performance, posting a 1.50 ERA over six innings while allowing four hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts.

Caleb Ferguson stepped in to close the game in the bottom of the ninth with the Mariners holding an 8-1 lead but struggled, allowing three earned runs on 19 pitches as fans looked on in disbelief. Andrés Muñoz then entered to secure the final outs and seal the win for Seattle.

Detroit starter Jack Flaherty, meanwhile, struggled to find a rhythm against Seattle’s lineup, lasting 3 1/3 innings and giving up four hits, three earned runs and a home run with six strikeouts. Reliever Brant Hurter surrendered a solo homer to Crawford, and closer Brenan Hanifee gave up a two-run shot to Raleigh.

The winner of the ALDS between the No. 2 Mariners and No. 6 Tigers will advance to face the winner of the series between the No. 4 New York Yankees and No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.

Seattle will play Game 4 in Detroit on Wednesday, with first pitch scheduled for 3:08 p.m. ET.

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Image credit:
Cal Raleigh (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Most catchers are just built differently—and then thereâ€s Cal Raleigh.

The 28-year-old Mariners backstop did things in 2025 that would have seemed impossible a year ago. But Raleigh is just built differently, even more so than his current catching brethren.

Catchers rarely win major awards, mostly on account of playing time disadvantages and the blunting effect of the battering they take behind the plate. Only Joe Mauer in 2009 and Buster Posey in 2012 have won the writers†MVP vote in the 21st century. In the expansion era, the list expands by just four names: Ivan Rodriguez in 1999, Thurman Munson in 1976, Johnny Bench in 1970 and â€72 and Elston Howard in 1963.

And while Baseball America chose Aaron Judge as our MLB Player of the Year, it was not a unanimous decision. Here are the main pillars in the case for Raleigh in 2025.

Season Shorthand

When fans reflect on the 2025 season, Raleighâ€s American League-leading 60 home runs will be one of its most memorable aspects. He also led the AL with 125 RBIs.

Raleighâ€s 60 homers are the most ever for a primary catcher, topping the 48 that Salvador Perez hit in 2021. Raleighâ€s .342 isolated slugging percentage is the highest ever for a primary catcher with 500 plate appearances, topping Roy Campanella in 1953 (.299) and Johnny Bench in 1970 (.294).

Raleigh also holds the single-season home run record for a player in the lineup at catcher. He hit 49 of his 60 homers while playing catcher, topping the 42 Javy Lopez hit in 2003. Campanella, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza (twice) are the only other players ever to reach 40 homers in a season while in the lineup at catcher.

Another historical signifier for Raleighâ€s season is team success. He helped the Mariners to 90 wins and their first AL West title since 2001.

Catcher Value

No player on the field takes more of a licking and keeps on ticking than the catcher.

He takes foul balls off the face mask, off the hands and off the thighs. He risks getting struck by batters†back swings. Breaking balls in the dirt can bounce unpredictably and evade his body armor.

Catchers also play a key role in game-planning and preparing plans of attack for opposing hitters. He must also build rapport with the 13 pitchers on his teamâ€s staff, plus more than a dozen more when accounting for callups and fill-ins.

In Raleighâ€s case, he is more than just a player whose position happens to be catcher. He is a strong defender, as well. According to Statcast, Raleigh ranks fifth in framing runs this season and is above-average in terms of throwing out basestealers.

Because pitch framing is such a crucial skill for catchers, Raleigh is assessed as a huge defensive asset—87th percentile—via Statcast’s overall fielding runs.

Switch-Hitting Value

Raleigh excels from both sides of the plate at a time when switch-hitting is on the wane.

Switch-hitters took 20,594 plate appearances in 2025—the fourth-lowest total of the 30-team era, trailing only the 2024, 2023 and 2021 seasons. Raleigh and other switch-hitting stars such as Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor and Ketel Marte are keeping the art alive.

Switch-hitters have to work daily to refine two swings rather than one. Even though a switch-hitter will use his righthanded swing only about 25 percent of the time, he must be ready to use it in case he faces a lefthanded reliever in a game started by a righthanded pitcher.

That takes a level of preparation and dedication that is not required for a player who bats from only one side of the plate.

Elite hitters such as Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani are, by definition, elite versus pitchers of both hands. But among mere mortals, Raleighâ€s switch-hitting boosts his value.

This season, Raleigh obliterated Mickey Mantleâ€s 61-year-old record for home runs by a switch-hitter. Mantle hit 54 homers in 1961 and 52 in 1956. Before this year, those were the only two 50-homer seasons by a switch-hitter.

But Raleighâ€s accomplishment goes deeper than his overall home runs total. This year, he became the first player in MLB history to hit at least 20 home runs from both sides of the plate in a season. He hit 38 homers with a .909 OPS vs. righthanders and 22 homers with a 1.032 OPS vs. lefthanders.

Incredibly, Raleigh has a .798 OPS from both sides of the plate for his career.

Park Factors

Seattleâ€s T-Mobile Park is the toughest hitterâ€s park in MLB in terms of runs scored. It is also well below-average for home runs but not the very worst.

Mariners players also have the roughest travel schedule in MLB because Seattle is geographically isolated from all other team clusters.

These effects had no impact on Raleighâ€s raw production this season. He produced a .999 OPS in road games and an .893 mark at T-Mobile. This is consistent with his career norms.

Raleigh overcame his home park and travel rigors to set the Mariners franchise record for home runs, bettering Ken Griffey Jr., a Hall of Famer who hit 56 in both 1997 and â€98.

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As the ball jumped off Spencer Torkelsonâ€s bat and raced down the right-field line, it looked like a special night — and season — in Seattle might slip away.

The Tigers†first baseman laced a double to score two runs and tie the game in the top of the eighth inning of ALDS Game 2, a dramatic counter to the Mariners†efforts to record the final few outs required to even the series after they dropped Game 1 in frustrating fashion in 11 innings. With Torkelsonâ€s swing, a 2-0 lead earned against the mighty Tarik Skubal and secured through seven innings vanished, and the prospect of losing both home games to open the ALDS started to creep into the minds of Mariners fans long conditioned to expect the worst.

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But the postseason is all about how teams respond after absorbing a devastating blow. So once reliever Matt Brash kept the game tied at two heading to the bottom of the eighth, the stage was set for Seattleâ€s two biggest stars to deliver a rebuttal.

For the second straight night, Tigers reliever Kyle Finnegan entered for the bottom of the eighth in a 2-2 game with the top of the Mariners†lineup scheduled to hit. In Game 1, Finnegan surrendered a two-out single to Cal Raleigh but struck out Julio Rodríguez with a nasty splitter to end the frame and keep the game deadlocked. In Game 2, Raleigh and Rodríguez found the upper hand.

Following a Randy Arozarena strikeout leading off the inning, Raleigh smoked a first-pitch splitter from Finnegan into the right-field corner for a double. The ball came off Raleighâ€s bat at 110.9 mph — the hardest-hit ball of the evening for either team — and restored optimism in the stadium that, unlike the night before, this close contest might fall in the home teamâ€s favor.

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Two pitches later, amid a chorus of “JULIO†chants, Rodríguez did his part to ensure that would be the case. He ripped a double to left field to drive in Raleigh and nab a 3-2 lead that would hold for an enormous victory — the franchiseâ€s first home postseason win since Game 5 of the 2001 ALDS.

“That’s kind of the nature of playoff baseball,†manager Dan Wilson said afterward. “There’s back-and-forth. There’s momentum shifts. I gave our guys a ton of credit. This was a bounce-back game for us, and they did just that. And to lose the lead late like that and to come right back and score a run was huge. I thought those at-bats by Julio and Cal were tremendous and just a huge momentum shift back to our dugout.â€

Raleigh and Rodríguez collaborating on the crucial go-ahead run represented a brilliant encore to what the top-tier duo accomplished in Game 1, when they notched three hits apiece and Rodríguez drove in both Mariners runs, including a solo homer.

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But the problem for Seattle in the opener was that those contributions accounted for almost the entirety of the offense — batters not named Rodríguez or Raleigh combined to go 0-for-28 with two walks — and that proved woefully insufficient in the extra-innings defeat. If the Mariners were going to bounce back from that difficult Game 1 loss, other bats needed to step up in Game 2, particularly against a pitcher of Skubalâ€s caliber.

To say Jorge Polanco merely “stepped up†would be quite the understatement.

It didnâ€t happen right away. Facing Skubal in the first inning, Polanco swung at a first-pitch fastball up-and-in and popped out harmlessly to third base to end the inning. But in the bottom of the fourth, Polanco found himself in a favorable 2-0 count after Skubal sailed a first-pitch fastball outside and couldnâ€t quite land a changeup at the bottom of the zone. Skubalâ€s next pitch was a slider over the heart of the plate, and Polanco didnâ€t miss it, scalding a line drive to left field that snuck over the wall and into the Mariners†bullpen for a 1-0 lead.

That swing alone felt monumental, considering the guy on the mound, but Polanco wasnâ€t finished. Skubal continued to carve through the rest of Seattle’s lineup until a third encounter with Polanco in the seventh inning. After falling into a 1-2 hole, Polanco carefully watched two enticing changeups fall below the zone to work a full count. Rather than try a third changeup or the slider that Polanco crushed in the previous at-bat, Skubal came with the heat — and Polanco was ready. Skubal unleashed a sinker at 99.1 mph, but it was right down the middle, and Polanco pulverized it, sending another ball soaring beyond the left-field fence for his second home run of the game and a 2-0 Mariners lead.

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“He’s such a good baseball player,†Rodríguez said postgame of Polanco. “He’s a grinder. All year long, he’s been having great at-bats, coming up clutch in so many situations. And today, to have hit two homers against the best pitcher in the game right now, it’s awesome. There are not enough words to describe what he means to the team.â€

Skubal recalibrated after Polancoâ€s second blast to record four more outs and complete seven frames. Against the rest of Seattleâ€s lineup, he looked like his dominant self, racking up nine strikeouts. And for Skubalâ€s two missteps to come against the same hitter marked an ultra-rare sequence for the spectacular left-hander: It was the first time in more than four years that he had allowed two home runs to one batter in the same game. In other words, since Skubal became thisversion of Tarik Skubal, no batter had done what Polanco did Sunday.

“You know, you don’t see the same guy get good swings against Tarik very often,†Tigers manager A.J. Hinch conceded afterward.

With some breathing room afforded by Polancoâ€s solo shots off Skubal, a trio of Mariners pitchers combined to blank Detroitâ€s bats through the first seven frames. Veteran right-hander Luis Castillo got the start and overcame a few lapses in command to keep Detroit off the board in the early going. Castillo did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning, at which point he made way for left-hander Gabe Speier, who struck out the dangerous Kerry Carpenter with runners on the corners to end the threat.

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Speier returned to the mound to retire the side in order in the sixth before handing the ball to another unheralded yet vital bullpen arm, Eduard Bazardo, who tossed a scoreless seventh. After Detroit tied the game vs. Brash in the eighth, closer Andres Muñoz slammed the door with a perfect ninth just 24 hours after he recorded six high-stress outs in Game 1.

Between the Tigers’ extra-innings triumph in the series opener and the daunting challenge of facing Skubal in Game 2, Detroit seemed to deal a swift, seismic blow to Seattleâ€s morale. But thanks to Polancoâ€s stunning performance and Raleigh and Rodríguezâ€s late rally, suddenly, this series has become a best-of-three.

The action now shifts to Detroit for Game 3 on Tuesday, marking a return home for the Tigers after more than two weeks on the road. Itâ€s safe to say the vibes will be drastically different than the last time the Tigers played at Comerica Park, when Detroit finished its regular-season home slate with seven consecutive losses, an ugly skid that contributed to its ceding the AL Central title to Cleveland.

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While that historic collapse remains part of this Tigers teamâ€s story, they can make it a footnote with a memorable run deep into October. Game 2 marked a disappointing outcome for Detroit but also a hard-fought defeat against a quality opponent looking to write its own postseason story.

If the nature of these first two games is any indication, whichever club emerges victorious from this series is going to remember it for a long time.

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