Two weeks ago, Cal Raleigh pinch-hit a four-hundred-and-fifty-foot home run against the Oakland Athletics to send the Mariners to the playoffs.
While the game score was low, the Mariners took out the A’s starter after the fifth inning, with Dylan Moore scoring from a Ty France double.
The only run the A’s put on the board was a solo home run by Shea Langeliers, their catcher.
Logan Gilbert, the Mariners starter, lasted 8 innings and gave up 3 hits, in the longest start of his career.
Gilbert also won the Mariners pitcher of the year award, and led the team in wins for the regular season. After a dramatic ending from Raleigh’s walk off, the team was back to the field for more celebrations and pictures. This game may seem like a regular game for some, but it will go down in history as the game the Mariners ended a 21-year playoff drought. “The fact that we can end the drought is unbelievable” Raleigh says in a postgame interview, according to MLB.com.
It was a normal night for Raleigh; he leads the MLB in home runs at the catcher position with 27. Raleigh also leads the MLB at catcher for barrels per plate appearance, a very important and underused stat. “It’s better than what you could dream it to be”, said Scott Servais, manager of the Seattle Mariners, according to ESPN.com. Although the Mariners have won an MLB record 116 games, they are the only team that have never competed in a World Series.
The next matchup for the M’s features Luis Castillo, who hopes to rebound from a couple mediocre starts. Castillo hopes to lead the push to finish higher than Toronto so the team can clinch the home field advantage. Many Seattle fans have waited their whole lives to taste the postseason, but that is no more, Seattle will play in October!
Chase Koehler • Oct 10, 2022 at 3:57 pm
Cool article! Very informative!