The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners battle in a tense ALCS matchup. The tense opener ended with a 3–1 Mariners victory. However, manager John Schneider suddenly found himself addressing something from the past. Nearly a year and a half after his remarks about Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh, Schneider admitted he regrets his words. Back in April 2023, following a 10–8 loss to the Mariners, Schneider said Raleigh was “not very tough to pitch to when you execute your pitches.”
At the time, Cal Raleigh had just homered twice against the Blue Jays, and the timing made Schneider’s remarks sound dismissive. “He’s hitting .200,” John Schneider said then. “I know he’s done damage against us. I think if you execute, he’s obviously got big damage potential and he’s got a lot of strikeout potential, too.” The quote didn’t age well, especially after Raleigh evolved into one of the American League’s most reliable catchers. Since then, he has become a cornerstone of the Mariners’ lineup.
As fate would have it, Cal Raleigh didn’t forget. When asked this week, he fired back with a calm but pointed response. “I know a lot of guys have beef with him in this league. If you don’t have anything nice, don’t say it at all, I guess, if you don’t want it to come back on you.” His words carried the confidence of a player who earned respect through performance rather than talk.
Ahead of Sunday’s ALCS game, Schneider faced the questions head-on and took responsibility. “That’s me as a young interim manager saying what I said to try to fire up my team, which obviously I shouldn’t have said,” he admitted. “I’ve got a ton of respect for him as a player and where he’s taken his game both at the plate and behind the plate. I don’t want that to be a narrative in this series at all. I think he’s a phenomenal player.”
Now, with the Mariners and Blue Jays battling for a World Series berth, all eyes turn back to the field. Yet Schneider’s reflection serves as a reminder that in baseball, words can linger. Just like rivalries, they often resurface when it matters most.
As tensions rise in this ALCS showdown, could old words fuel new motivation for both sides?
