It took 20 years for a Mariner to do it once. It took almost 30 more years for another Mariner to do it. Twenty teams—twenty—have never had a player do it. So understand that you may never see it again: A Seattle Mariner has hit 56 home runs in a season.
Cal Raleigh had already smoked a double as part of a three-run first inning by the time he stepped into the box to lead off the third inning, and he wasted little time in tacking on another run. It was the fifth run of Seattle’s night, but the 55th
home run by Cal Raleigh this year, taking a hanging curveball and wrapping it around the foul pole.
That swing sent Cal Raleigh past Mickey Mantle for the most home runs by a switch hitter in a single season. And then he did it again. On the very next pitch he saw, he tied Ken Griffey, Jr. for the franchise record by any hitter period.
As if to put an exclamation mark on passing Mantle, Cal did it from both sides of the plate in the same night. Both went more than 400 feet. And those are really just afterthoughts. One thing I hope is not an afterthought is that, as you can see in the videos, he’s got a red mark on his neck. That’s because in the top of the third, he took a ball off his throat. Watch it in slow motion:
Cal took a minute to gather himself, longer than he usually does after he wears one that really hurts. And right after taking off the gear, he hit a home run and still had enough in the tank to do it again on his next at-bat. It makes him the easy choice for tonight’s Sun Hat Award.
But some awards matter more than others. And moments like that make one thing perfectly clear that I hope people, and especially the BBWAA members with votes, keep in mind when debating the American League MVP. WAR can do a lot. But one thing it does not and probably cannot ever do is properly account for what it really means to catch 1,000 innings in a season. The positional adjustment does something to account for the run-prevention value of playing the toughest position, but it does not capture what it’s like. It’s why you almost never see someone hit like an All-Star DH while donning the tools of ignorance.
Not to be outdone, Dominic Canzone also hit two home runs tonight, including his first career big fly off a lefty. And then he hit another one, making him the first Mariner to hit three home runs in a game since Kyle Seager boinked one off a colliding Brandon Dixon and Niko Goodrum in Detroit six years ago. Jorge Polanco extended his hitting streak to 13 games. And the Mariners offense reached into the Royals’ bullpen in just the third inning of Game 1 of the series. The Mariners own bullpen got a little shaky late in the game, this being a Mariners game in Kansas City after all. But twelve runs was enough to secure the Mariners’ tenth win in a row and hold onto first place. Speaking of things that haven’t happened in a couple decades.
