All season long, Cal Raleigh has done things catchers aren’t supposed to do.
Tired legs are supposed to equal a tired bat, but not for the Seattle Mariners’ MVP-contending backstop.
Nope, Raleigh apparently doesn’t care that he caught 15 innings a couple days ago and added a 2000-plus mile flight on to the back of that to get to Toronto for Game 1 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays.
When the Mariners needed someone to get them on the board after falling behind 1-0 on a George Springer leadoff homer, Raleigh answered the bell.
It was his homer that tied the game 1-apiece before Jorge Polanco later delivered the go-ahead RBI.
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Raleigh had hit 60 home runs during the regular season, which broke the records for single-season homers by a catcher, a switch-hitter and a Mariner.
He added one homer in the ALDS, his 61st of the combined campaign.
And now Raleigh has gone deep again, 62 and counting since opening day.
It had to be Cal.
This magical Mariners season has had so many contributors, but Raleigh is at the heart of it all. The Big Dumper has captured the hearts of baseball fans in the Pacific Northwest and around the country.
And now he’s on his biggest stage yet, just three wins away from the first World Series appearance in Mariners history.
If Raleigh continues to deliver big flies like the one he hit Sunday night, the Mariners might just get there.
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