On a night when the Seattle Mariners finally put an end to the longest postseason drought in professional sports, catcher Cal Raleigh made some history of his own at the plate.
Seattle Mariners clinch postseason spot on Cal Raleigh’s historic home run
Raleigh, the second-year catcher for the Seattle Mariners who has shown plenty of pop all season, was called upon by manager Scott Servais to pinch hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Friday night’s home game against the Oakland A’s. With the game tied at 1-1, Raleigh worked the count full then fouled off a pitch before sending a slider from reliever Domingo Acevedo 406 feet into the right field stands, sending the Mariners officially into the postseason and the crowd of 44,754 into euphoria.
Going down just below the strike zone to power the ball out of T-Mobile Park, Raleigh logged his 26th home run of the season. That’s the third-highest mark this year for the Mariners behind Eugenio Suarez and Julio Rodriguez, who is still on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain.
IT’S A WALK-OFF! THE MARINERS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS! pic.twitter.com/VNGkrpDgXZ
— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) October 1, 2022
Raleigh’s blast wasn’t just a moment that will be relived by Mariners fans for years to come, but also the first of its kind in MLB history.
Cal Raleigh is the 1st player in MLB history to hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run to clinch a playoff spot for his team.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 1, 2022
h/t @EliasSports
The Mariners are officially in the postseason, but there is still more work to do over the final six games of the regular season. Seattle enters Saturday just a half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for the fifth seed in the upcoming postseason and 1.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the fourth seed in the AL bracket. If Seattle can reach the fourth seed, a best-of-three Wild Card matchup would take place at T-Mobile Park next weekend.