Cal joins Griffey in rare Seattle air with HR No. 50: 'It doesn't seem real'

SEATTLE -- For as much justifiable recognition that Cal Raleigh received when climbing to territory that no catcher in the sport had before Sunday, there was something also special about reaching a nice, round number one day later -- that also carried historical significance.

A little over 24 hours after he hit two massive homers to move atop the all-time leaderboard for the most in a single season by a primary catcher, with his 48th and 49th, the Mariners backstop one-upped himself with his 50th in the first inning on Monday, paving the way for Seattle’s 9-6 win over the Padres.

“It doesn't seem real,” Raleigh said. “I mean, 50 home runs, it's kind of a crazy number to think of. ... I thought I was a cool player when I hit five when I was young in high school or something. You hit five, you had all this power in the world. So it's just crazy.”

Raleigh won an eight-pitch battle with lefty JP Sears by working into a full count after falling behind 0-2 and crushing a 92.9 mph, low-and-in fastball 419 feet into the second deck at T-Mobile Park.

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“I was just trying to fight, honestly, anything close, and I was able to work it to 3-2,” Raleigh said. “I'm trying to stay on the heater, trying to stay with a good approach. I think that's kind of what helped me stay on some of those offspeed pitches. I didn't pull off them.”

Raleigh is now four homers shy of tying the record for most by a switch-hitter (Mickey Mantle in 1961) and six shy of tying Seattle’s franchise record (Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and '98). He became the first player in history to homer at least 20 times from both sides of the plate in the same season, and he joined Griffey as the only players in team history to reach 50.

The 50-homer threshold had been reached 50 times in MLB history before Raleigh went yard on Monday, done by 33 players. Raleigh is also the first to reach that mark in 2025, extending the MLB lead that he’s held for most of the season, now with five more than second-place Shohei Ohtani.

With his revered reputation, Raleigh is being pitched to more delicately -- but he’s also exploiting most mistakes.

“There's a fine line there, just because you want to be ahead of the game, and you want to be understanding how you're getting pitched and understanding situations,” Raleigh said. “But at the same time, you want to understand, ultimately, what is going to be best for you, and where your hot zones are -- and where you want the ball as a hitter.”

Raleigh is on pace for 61 this season, one shy of the American League record set by Aaron Judge in 2022. Judge is the only player to clear 60 since '01, when Sammy Sosa clubbed 66 and Barry Bonds set the all-time record with 73. Overall, only nine times (by six players) has the 60-homer threshold been cleared in a single season.

One distinction from Monday’s long ball was that he was in the lineup at designated hitter, marking his 10th homer from that position to go with his 40 when playing catcher. The overall record for most homers in a single season while in the lineup as a catcher is 42, set by Atlanta’s Javy Lopez in 2003.

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“I think everybody can tell you in there they're probably a little tired,” Raleigh said. “I mean, that's just how it is. It's part of the season. Bodies weren't meant to go through a full 162 like this. But I feel good. I feel strong. I've been keeping my routine pretty much the same all year, and that's been a big component to staying healthy.”

Beyond more Raleigh history, Monday’s win featured far more contributions from the rest of the Mariners -- and despite the comfortable final score, it also featured a notable comeback.

Immediately after Raleigh’s big blast, the Padres hit three of their own off Bryce Miller, yet Seattle responded by scoring eight straight to cruise to 4-0 vs. the team that it shares a Spring Training facility with.

And coupled with a three-game sweep in San Diego from May 16-18, the Mariners also clinched the Vedder Cup, complete with the newly minted trophy -- which Raleigh received on the field postgame -- in the form of a custom 1963 Fender Telecaster guitar, the design of which was primarily influenced by the frontman from Pearl Jam himself: Eddie Vedder.