For much of the summer, it felt like the Seattle Mariners were watching history unfold through the bat and mitt of Cal Raleigh.
The team’s hard-hitting catcher, affectionately dubbed “Big Dumper,” had muscled his way into the heart of the AL MVP race, going toe-to-toe with none other than two-time winner Aaron Judge. When Judge landed on the injured list in late July with a flexor strain in his right elbow, Mariners fans dared to believe Raleigh’s first MVP award was no longer just a dream but a likely outcome, as long as he kept swinging at the record-setting pace that had carried Seattle’s offense.