Cal Raleigh’s Strange Slump Ritual Turned Into The Mariners’ Perfect Breakthrough Story

We probably don’t need to overcomplicate what happened on May 12, in Houston. Raleigh got a two hits. The Mariners won 10-2. Everybody exhaled. Very normal. Except, of course, it wasn’t. 

Because before Raleigh finally snapped the longest hitless streak by any player in the majors this season, he apparently took the kind of advice that can only come from a teammate, and a clubhouse willing to lean all the way into the absurd. Logan Gilbert told him to wash off the bad mojo. Raleigh did that by showering in full uniform after Monday’s game. Jersey, pants, the whole thing.

The important part here is not pretending the shower fixed his swing. It’s that the Mariners found a way to make Raleigh’s slump feel less suffocating.

When a player as important as Raleigh goes hitless in 38 straight at-bats, every plate appearance starts to feel like a public trial. So when he singled in the seventh inning off Astros reliever Jayden Murray, it looked and felt like more than one ball finding grass. Bryan Woo waved towels after Raleigh scored on Randy Arozarena’s RBI double. Josh Naylor even pretended to retrieve the ball, though it was not actually the ball Raleigh hit.

But underneath the comedy was the point. The Mariners were not only happy Raleigh got a hit. They were relieved for him.

Dan Wilson said there was “a lot of relief” and that everyone was screaming for Raleigh. Raleigh later added another single, giving him his first multi-hit game since April 25. 

The Mariners Needed Cal Raleigh’s Slump To End Without Making It Feel Even Heavier

This is where Seattle deserves a little credit. There are a lot of ways a team can handle a brutal slump. The Mariners didn’t bench Raleigh or give him additional days off. They didn’t pretend it wasn’t happening either. They moved him in the lineup, let him keep playing, and let the clubhouse find its own way to loosen the mood.

Raleigh didn’t emerge from the shower as Edgar Martinez. The bat still has work to do. Raleigh is still hitting just .166 with a .249 on-base percentage, both near the bottom among qualified hitters. He also has 55 strikeouts, tied for ninth-most in baseball. So the concerns aren’t magically gone.  

But slumps are mechanical, mental, and social. At times they become a weight the whole dugout can feel, especially when the player stuck inside it matters as much as Raleigh does.

Tuesday was at least a start. That’s the healthiest way to view it. The Mariners got the result they needed without needing to turn it into something bigger than it was. That is what made the whole thing work. The hits mattered most, obviously. But the weirdness around them made the moment feel human, and the Mariners needed that almost as much as they needed the box score to finally stop bullying their catcher.

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