Cal Raleigh On The Verge Of Making More History After 60th Homer

Cal Raleigh is on fire, and it might be enough for him to beat out Aaron Judge for the American League MVP Award. 

On Wednesday night in Seattle, Raleigh launched two more home runs against the Colorado Rockies, en route to giving the Mariners their first division title since 2001. That's been the story of the season for the 28-year-old catcher, hitting for power from both sides of the plate and almost singlehandedly moving his team towards the playoffs. 

But what made Wednesday particularly special was that Raleigh's second homer of the game, coming in the bottom of the 8th inning, was his 60th of the season. 

That made him just the seventh player in Major League Baseball to hit 60 in a season, joining Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Aaron Judge. And just the fourth player to reach that number without being associated with steroids or performance-enhancing drugs. 

But the most impressive part? He could make even more, and more impressive, history in the coming days.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JULY 14: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners competes during the Home Run Derby at Truist Park on July 14, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Cal Raleigh Could Break Aaron Judge's Record

It was just 2022 when Judge set the American League home run record, hitting his 62nd of the season against the Texas Rangers. Raleigh has four games left, and needs just two homers to tie Judge's mark and three to break it.

And lucky for him, he gets to face the Rockies again on Thursday, then the Los Angeles Dodgers and their league-worst bullpen for the final three games of the regular season. Three homers in four games? It's no guarantee, but it's eminently realistic. 

"I'm going to be honest with you, it's crazy," Raleigh said after the game. "Sixty is, I don't know what to say. I didn't know if I was going to hit 60 in my life. And then I did it like this. Just tonight, I mean, what a way to do it."

"That definitely was the coolest one for sure," he continued. "They're all great, don't get me wrong. But to do it, and in this fashion, on this night, in front of these fans, Mom and Dad here, obviously, it was really cool."

After the game, Raleigh described what it meant to him and the rest of the Mariners to finally clinch the AL West again after more than twenty years. And in a, well, explicit fashion, he said their sights are set even higher.

Record-setting or record-tying year, and the Mariners' first World Series ever? Could be quite a year for Big Dumper.