Seattle – A great season. An incredible campaign. And then… a shock that stunned the baseball world. Cal Raleigh – the man who made 2025 his own – had just become the only player in MLB history to hit 60 home runs for a playoff team without winning MVP.
That’s right. Not a sensational headline, not a rumor. It was the cold, statistical truth: since 1931 – when the BBWAA began voting for MVPs – no one had ever accomplished Raleigh’s feat without being honored.
And it was that moment that ignited anger, regret, and respect for a season in which Cal Raleigh literally put his heart on the field: He gave his absolute best.
When Seattle needed a leader, Raleigh stepped up. When the Mariners needed a morale boost, he smashed the ball with the atomic force of his bat. When the season seemed to be slipping away, Big Dumper pulled the team back with a thousand-pound home run.
It wasn’t just the numbers. It was the temperament, the spirit, the roar that shook T-Mobile Park every time he stepped up to the plate.
A catcher hitting 60 home runs in a season? The impossible. What baseball history only dares to call a “dream,” Raleigh made it happen.
And he still wasn’t MVP.
As soon as the voting results were announced, social media exploded:
“Robbery!”
“Redefine MVP!”
“Without Cal Raleigh, the Mariners are going nowhere.”
Thousands of fans, experts, and even some players from across MLB all spoke up. Because they understood one thing: sometimes seasons are not measured by votes.
They are measured by influence, by bearing, by moments when the entire stadium stood up for a single man.
Cal Raleigh was more than just a power hitter. He was the heart of the team. A catcher who took every pitch like a sledgehammer. A man who led the Mariners’ rotation all season long. A warrior who silently endured pain to stand behind his mask, game after game.
And he still attacked like a walking fortress.
Everything Raleigh did this past season was beyond “good” or “excellent.” He played like there was no tomorrow. Like every game was the last of his career.
He gave his absolute best.
And that makes the 2025 season legendary.
Sometimes baseball—like life—is unfair. MVP didn’t call him, but the entire MLB knew who the soul of the 2025 Mariners was.
The award may have been missed.
The vote may have been controversial.
But the legacy was not.
In the hearts of Seattle fans, in MLB history, and in indelible numbers, Cal Raleigh left something that no poll can deny:
He wrote one of the greatest seasons of all time.
And sometimes, those are the things that last longer than any trophy.
