The Seattle Mariners rolled into Sunday’s series finale against the Athletics still buzzing from a 19-1 blowout the night before, a result that evened the set and left manager Dan Wilson with one last chance to take the series at Sutter Health Park.
The clubhouse news that accompanied that rubber match was quieter than the scoreboard, but it mattered to anyone watching Cal Raleigh’s year unfold.
After catching the first two games, Raleigh stayed in the cleanup spot and moved to designated hitter, with Jhonny Pereda taking over behind the plate, via Underdog MLB.
Wilson’s choice was less a statement about Raleigh’s bat than a practical one about the grind of September. Bryce Miller was lined up to start for Seattle against left-hander Jacob Lopez, and giving the catcher a day off the squat while keeping his bat in the middle of the order is the kind of small adjustment clubs make when a season is running on fumes.
The rest of the card stayed familiar: J.P. Crawford at short, Randy Arozarena in left, Dominic Canzone in right, Julio Rodríguez in center, Josh Naylor at first, Michael Arroyo at second, and Weston Wilson at third.
The move lands differently because of the season Raleigh is having. A year after finishing second in American League MVP voting and leading the majors in home runs and RBIs, the switch-hitting catcher has spent 2026 searching for the same rhythm.
Through 114 games he was hitting .180 with 21 homers and 60 RBI, a .367 slugging percentage and a .663 OPS that sit far below the numbers that made him one of the most feared middle-of-the-order bats in baseball last October.
The power has not vanished so much as it has become inconsistent, and the average has stayed stubbornly low.
That drop-off is why a DH assignment on a Sunday afternoon in West Sacramento is more than a footnote.
Raleigh still occupies the cleanup hole because the Mariners have not found a better option there, and because even a struggling version of last year’s slugger can change an inning.
Sliding him off catcher for a day also acknowledges the physical cost of the position after more than 90 games behind the plate.
Pereda’s appearance is the sort of late-season rest day that rarely makes headlines unless the player being rested is the face of the franchise.
Sunday’s game was never going to rewrite the Mariners’ 70-79 record or the Athletics’ place at 60-89. It was a chance to pocket a series and send Raleigh to the plate without the extra wear of calling a game.
For a club that spent last fall riding his historic power, the decision was a reminder of how quickly a season can tilt from historic to ordinary, and how managers try to squeeze one more productive at-bat out of a star who is still finding his way back.
