Emotional Cal Raleigh Discusses Gut-Wrenching Mariners Loss
The Seattle Mariners will be thinking about last night for many years to come. Seattle had a 3-1 lead late in Game 7 of the ALCS and were eight outs away from the franchise’s first World Series berth, when Toronto Blue Jays DH George Springer launched a three-run jack into history.
Seattle’s offense was unable to respond to Springer’s epic swing. In the ninth inning, particularly, Mariners hitters repeatedly chased pitches out of the zone and appeared way to shell-shocked by the moment to settle down and manufacture another run.
Seattle’s franchise player, Cal Raleigh, shouldn’t feel any regret about his postseason. After a record-breaking, 60-home-run regular season, Raleigh continued producing once the playoffs began. Raleigh hit .304 in the 2025 postseason with 14 hits, five home runs (including one in Game 7 of the ALCS), eight RBIs and 8 runs scored in 12 games for Seattle.
That production didn’t do much to lessen the bitter sting of defeat for the Big Dumper, as Raleigh’s emotions were on full display during his postgame interview immediately following Game 7 on Monday night.
When asked to reflect on the season and series, Raleigh offered a very respectable mixed reaction.
“I’m super proud of these guys,” Raleigh said. “It was a great team effort. Love every guy in this room, but ultimately… I hate to use the word ‘failure’, but it’s a failure … what we expected was to get to the World Series and win a World Series … that’s what the bar is and (what) the standard is.”
“But I don’t want to take away from … (how) we fought all the way to the end,” Raleigh continued. “Like I said, it was a great group of guys, and I love every single one of them.”
Despite Seattle falling a few plays short of the World Series, and despite Raleigh’s insistence that the campaign was ultimately a failure for the Mariners, 2025 was undeniably a triumphant season for Big Dumper and his squad.
Raleigh etched his name into the annals of MLB history, which can never be undone, and he helped lift the Mariners back into the highest level of relevance, a feat that will reap fruits in 2026 and beyond.
Seattle will be a contender once again next season.