The Seattle Mariners are dealing with a heartbreaker that's gotten the best of them. On Monday, the Mariners lost Game 7 of the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays, bringing an end to a truly remarkable season.
Afterward, their star catcher, Cal Raleigh, was in tears reflecting upon the defeat. In the process, Raleigh begrudgingly uttered his least favorite word when describing the loss, per Andy Nesbitt of Sports Illustrated.
Ultimately, though he didn't want to say it, he referred to the season as a failure.
“I’m super proud of these guys. It was a great team effort. I love every guy in this room but ultimately it’s not what we wanted,” Raleigh said when asked to sum up his team's year. “I hate to use the word failure, but it’s a failure. We expected to get to the World Series and win the World Series and that’s what the bar is and what the standard is and it’s what we want to hold ourselves accountable to but yeah, it hurts. But I don’t want that to take away—like I said I’m proud of the guys in the room, I thought we fought all the way to the end and like I said I think it’s a great group of guys and I love every single one of them.”
At the same time, Mariners manager Dan Wilson referred to the defeat as “tough to swallow”.
Seattle finished the year at 90-72 and made it to their first ALCS since 2001.
Cal Raleigh didn't fail as an individual.
As for Raleigh, he had one of his best seasons. Altogether, he batted .247 with 147 hits, 60 home runs, and 125 RBIs during the regular season.
In the postseason, Raleigh batted .308 with 12 hits, two home runs, eight RBIs, and eight runs scored.
On Monday, Raleigh hit his 65th total home run, surpassing Yankees slugger Aaron Judge's 64 from 2022.
At the same time, Raleigh is in a tight battle with Judge for the AL MVP honors.
