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MLB Makes Historic Cal Raleigh Announcement During Mariners-Cubs Game

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Zach Kaplan | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 5:31 PM ET

It's no secret that Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has been on a historic tear this season. Prior to 2025, his season high in home runs was 34...over a 153 game span.

With not one, but two home runs against the Cubs on Friday, Raleigh has 29 in just 73 games.

Not only is he now three blasts ahead of Aaron Judge for the league lead in home runs, on the verge of shattering his own record and potentially Judge's own American League home run record, but Raleigh's historic season continued with another massive announcement.

Raleigh's 28th home run, his first in Friday's game, tied Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for the most home runs by a primary catcher before the All-Star break. Obviously, his 29th was what broke the record, and in just 73 games, he broke Bench's record in 14 fewer games.

It's an astonishing feat for easily the game's best catcher, and one of the only reasons the Mariners, whose offense has looked anemic aside from Raleigh, are competitive in 2025.

Raleigh's current home run pace after this game is 64 on the season, which not only destroys Salvador Perez's record-setting mark of 48 in 2021 but would reset Judge's American League home run record of 62 set in 2022.

Raleigh's OPS is now 1.021, and his .270 average is 38 points above his previous career total.

What Raleigh is doing right now is nothing short of astonishing, and baseball fans should stop and appreciate the kind of season he's having.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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