Philadelphia Phillies at Seattle Mariners

Cal Raleigh hasn’t looked like this since the night he hit 60. Yet even during that historic 2025 season, he never had a game like this. The Mariners’ big backstop went for a full-fledged hat trick on Monday night against the Phillies, crushing three home runs for the first time in his career -- and more so, putting tangible evidence to what’s been brewing for weeks. The Big Dumper might be heating up, and at the most opportune time. Raleigh went yard in the first inning against Zack Wheeler, in the fifth -- again off Wheeler -- then once more in the seventh off reliever Chase Shugart, opening the floodgates toward a 9-2 win, as Seattle gained ground in the American League playoff race. “This last month will say a lot about us as a group and us as a team,” Raleigh said. “I think this is kind of where the boys are separated from the men. I believe in this group, and despite the struggles -- whatever it's been this year -- that kind of creates endurance. And from endurance you get character, and from character, you get hope. And that's what I see in this group.” In T-Mobile Park’s history, no Mariners hitter had homered thrice in the same game until Monday. And overall since this venue opened in July 1999, only one visiting player had -- fellow catcher Victor Martinez, who did so for Cleveland on July 16, 2004. Moreover, Raleigh also tied Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez for the second-most multi-homer games in Mariners history, with 22, behind only Ken Griffey Jr., who had 40. He also became just the 13th player in franchise history with a three-homer game, but he’s only the second catcher among that group -- joining his manager, Dan Wilson, who did so on April 11, 1996. “I think there's no comparison,” Wilson joked.