Seattle Mariners Improve Standing Behind MVP Candidate

The weekly power rankings from MLB.com have dropped, and Seattle now sits two spots higher from where they were last week. Now in eighth place, Raleigh has been the key factor for success.

"Is Cal Raleigh going to make himself an MVP contender?" asks Will Leitch of MLB.com. "He has never finished higher than 12th in the voting (last year), but he’s fourth in the Majors in homers, putting up career-high numbers in batting average and on-base percentage and playing Gold Glove-caliber defense behind the plate. And he’s doing it for a team still in first place, though that gap is closing with the Astros now right behind them."

It has been a terrific performance from the catcher, and now over 1/3 of the way into the campaign, the "small sample size" caveat really no longer applies.

Things are going swimmingly in the Pacific Northwest, and if Raleigh can continue the current tear he is on, we may be looking at the heir apparent to J.T. Realmuto for the moniker of Best Catcher In Baseball.