The Seattle Mariners are clinging to the final wild card spot in the American League, even as they navigate a brutal slump over the last couple of weeks. However, Cal Raleigh continues to make history during his career year even while some of his teammates try to regain their rhythm.
On Sunday, Raleigh had another stellar day for the Mariners. He finished the day 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI, helping drive Seattle to an 11-4 win over the Athletics.
Raleigh tied a number of records on Sunday, including breaking the single-season home run record for a primary catcher and passing Salvador Perez's mark from his elite 2021 season. However, that wasn't the only historic mark that he passed. Raleigh also recorded his ninth game of the season with multiple home runs, breaking Mickey Mantle's record for the most multi-homer games in a season by a switch-hitter, according to ESPN.
The star catcher is not far off from the overall record for multi-homer games, needing just two more to tie the current record (11) and three to break it. With 31 games left on the schedule for Seattle, history in that regard feels attainable.
With 49 home runs on the season, Raleigh is also closing in on Mantle's record of 55 home runs, the most all-time in a season by a switch hitter. On his current pace, Raleigh will shatter that mark and claim arguably the best offensive season of all time by someone hitting from both sides of the plate.
From a team perspective, the Mariners have a lot of work to do to regain the form that they had about a month ago. At the moment, Seattle is just 3-7 in its last 10 games and has fallen two games behind the Houston Astros (who are also not playing their best at the moment) in the AL West.
Seattle is still three games clear in the wild card race, so a playoff berth feels overwhelmingly likely at the moment if it can snap out of its current slump. If the Mariners do get into the postseason, especially with a division title and home-field advantage, no pitching staff will want to face Raleigh in the postseason on his current tear.
