Cal Raleigh’s 2025 season has gone from dream year to full-blown disaster, and the Mariners are feeling every bit of it.
A year after he became just the seventh player in Major League history to hit 60 home runs, Raleigh has spent this season searching for anything close to that version of himself. The drop-off has been brutal. He sits in the first percentile for overall Batting Run Value, carries a negative bWAR, and is projected to finish with career lows in both batting average at .161 and slugging percentage at .303.
There are explanations, at least at first glance. The World Baseball Classic situation involving Randy Arozarena could have affected him early, and Raleigh also tried to play through a right oblique issue before eventually going on the Injured List. But he has been back and healthy for nearly two months now, and the results still haven’t come.
That reality has started to show up in the Mariners’ lineup decisions. For last Friday’s home series opener against the Rays, Seattle dropped Raleigh to eighth in the order.
That move wasn’t hard to understand, either, because his decline has been massive by any measure. His wOBA has fallen by .132 compared with last season, the biggest drop of any hitter in the league, with George Springer next at -.040.
The numbers get even uglier when you zoom out to the history books. Raleigh’s year-to-year wRC+ decline is currently the second-biggest of the live-ball era, which began in 1920. A post from SoDo Mojo on August 10, 2026 noted that Raleigh trails only George Scott, whose drop came from 1967 to 1968, in that category.
That kind of collapse is hard to square with what Raleigh had become over the previous four seasons, when he was arguably the best catcher in baseball. Nobody expected a repeat of 60 homers, but this level of regression is something else entirely.
And for the Mariners, the timing couldn’t be worse. Raleigh’s bat has a direct impact on how many close games Seattle can steal, and this season has flipped that equation.
If he had merely been the 2024 version of himself - 34 homers, 100 RBI - the team’s record could look very different. Instead, with Seattle now seven games below .500, the sense that this season is slipping away has only grown stronger.
In Other News...
Cal Raleigh Just Sparked A Bigger Mariners Blame Debate
Cal Raleigh didnt try to pass the buck after another rough stretch for the Mariners. Instead, the catcher owned his own performance, acknowledged the offense has fallen short and suggested the group needs to make some adjustments in how it is going about its business. In a season where the lineup has too often stalled, that kind of blunt self-assessment stands out because it comes with a clear message about where the accountability starts.
Raleigh also drew a line around the larger conversation, defending the front office and coaching staff while saying the players are the ones responsible for the teams current problems. For a Mariners club already dealing with bigger questions about roster construction and decision-making, his comments sharpen an old debate rather than settle it. The tension now is whether that internal message sparks a real change in approach, or simply adds another layer to the pressure surrounding a team that still has to prove it can turn frustration into results. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Pressure Is Rising Around Dan Wilson And His Staff
The Angels latest round of coaching changes offered a familiar reminder of how quickly a season can turn into a referendum on the people in the dugout. After poor results piled up, Los Angeles moved on from pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, and the explanation included concern that the staff was not making enough use of available technology. It was another example of an organization deciding the message had to change when the performance did not.
For the Mariners, that kind of shakeup is only going to sharpen the attention already circling Dan Wilson and his staff. Seattles struggles have put Wilson under scrutiny, and the hitting side has not escaped it, with Edgar Martinez and Kevin Seitzer part of the conversation as the club looks for answers. Other teams, including the Phillies and Red Sox, have already shown how quickly front offices will redraw the map when results lag, and that is the backdrop hanging over Seattle now. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Add Catching Insurance Behind Cal Raleigh
The Mariners added a little catching depth to the organization this week, claiming Willie MacIver off waivers from the Blue Jays and sending him to Triple-A Tacoma. It is a straightforward move on the surface, but one that fits the kind of roster housekeeping contending clubs often do when they want to keep the position insulated without forcing a bigger shuffle at the major league level.
MacIver gives Seattle another name to stash in the system behind Cal Raleigh and the rest of the current catching group, with the club having room on its 40-man roster to make the claim. The Blue Jays had just designated MacIver for assignment after picking him up from the Rangers, so the Mariners were able to jump in and add an experienced depth option while leaving the bigger question of how far he might climb in the organization for later. [Read more 🡒]