Coming into Thursday evening's game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Detroit Red Wings had scored a combined two goals in their last three games, all regulation losses.
There was no better opportunity to break out of their funk against a high-flying opponent, and they made the most of it by finding the back of the net six times as part of their 6-3 victory at Little Caesars Arena.
Perhaps just as significant was the Red Wings breaking out of their special teams woes, scoring twice with the man advantage while also keeping the Ducks off the scoresheet while they were shorthanded.
With the win, the Red Wings improved their record to 10-7 and moved back to within two points for top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Following a scoreless opening 20 minutes of play, the Red Wings struck first after defenseman Moritz Seider beat goaltender Lukas Dostal with a seeing-eye shot from the point.
Both teams would go back and forth from that point on, as the Ducks knotted the score thanks to a goal from Cutter Gauthier.
Detroit's Michael Rasmussen, who has been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions this season, scored a highlight-worthy goal as he fired a blistering shot past Dostal, only to have Chris Kreider respond for the Ducks soon afterward.
Not even 60 seconds later, rookie defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka restored the lead with his second goal of the season.
Just 50 seconds into the third period, Alex DeBrincat deflected a Seider shot past Dostal on the power-play, giving Detroit their first two-goal lead of the evening.
While the Ducks managed to make things close thanks to a deflection tally from Mikael Granlund, Detroit once again went up by two after Dylan Larkin converted on a two-on-none rush with Lucas Raymond.
DeBrincat then added an empty net goal for his second tally of the game, sealing the victory.
Red Wings goaltender John Gibson, who was making his second start of the season against his former Ducks teammates, made several key saves in the first period during the scoreless tie.
After making 15 saves, Gibson was replaced by Cam Talbot for the third period. He had been hit in the mask twice by shots and also fell to the ice late in the second period after being sideswiped by a Ducks player.
There was no official explanation for Gibson's departure, but head coach Todd McLellan confirmed following the game that it was an upper-body issue; he didn't elaborate further.
The Red Wings will be back on home ice on Saturday evening for a tilt against the Buffalo Sabres, who had beaten them in regulation last month.
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Juan Soto grew close with Mets 1B coach Antoan Richardson last season.
From early in his first spring training with the club, Richardson made it a point of working with Soto to improve some of the weakest areas of his game -- outfield defense and baserunning.
All of that hard work the two put in certainly paid off.
Soto has long been one of MLB’s most prolific hitters, but with the help of Richardson, he added a new element to his game, finishing tied atop the National League with 38 stolen bases.
That more than doubled his career-high, which he tied two years ago in San Diego (12).
“We’ve put in a lot of work,” Soto said after joining the 30-30 club. “Antoan did an unbelievable job. He’s been helping me since Day 1, so I give all of the credit to him -- he’s the one who put me in this situation and in this spot to do what I’ve done.”
And it wasn’t just Soto who Richardson helped, as the Mets stole the fifth-most bases in baseball as a team (147) and were caught the second-fewest times (18).
But the two grew particularly close over the course of Soto's first season in orange and blue, so he was sad to see Richardson leave the organization for the division rival Braves last week.
“It was really sad,” he told reporters, including Newsday's Laura Albanese at the MLB Awards. “But you’ve got to understand it’s a business at the end of the day -- still the business of the game and you’ve got to take it like a man and move forward.”
New York still hasn’t filled Richardson’s spot on the coaching staff.
Heinen appears to be the odd-man out at forward, meaning that Philip Tomasino would get the spot on the fourth line. It's put up or shut up time for him since he has really struggled to open the season.
Brunicke has been scratched for three games in a row, but if he returns on Friday, his entry-level contract would kick in since it would be his 10th NHL game.
All three goaltenders (Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov, and Filip Larsson) got work during practice, but if head coach Dan Muse keeps up the rotation, Silovs would start on Friday. Larsson is up as a third goaltender for this trip after Murashov made his NHL debut last Sunday.
A win would get the Penguins to 10-5-3 and snap a two-game losing streak.
The Mets have a number of high-profile free agents they are looking to bring back, and Juan Soto is hoping New York brings back Pete Alonso and Starling Marte.
Speaking at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas on Thursday, Soto was asked about Alonso's free agency. The slugger is testing the open market for the second time in as many years. He eventually re-signed with the Mets this past February but opted out after putting together a bounce-back 2025, where he became the franchise's all-time leader in home runs.
The Alonso-Soto, 1-2 punch worked out for both players -- they combined to hit 81 home runs -- and Soto wants to run it back.
“I hope nothing but the best and I’m excited to see where he’s going to end up," Soto told the media, including The Post's Mike Puma. "He’s one of the best power hitters in this generation. I really enjoyed my moment with him in a Mets uniform and I hope we can have more times to come. We can have fun together.”
Marte may not get the headlines of Alonso or even Edwin Diaz, but the veteran outfielder is a free agent after four seasons in Flushing. Although his Mets tenure was marred by injuries, he was an All-Star in his first season with New York (2022) and was a solid player for them in 2025 as a bench hitter.
In 98 games, Marte slashed .270/.335/.410 with an OPS of .745 to go along with nine home runs and 34 RBI.
However, Soto cites Marte's leadership and presence in the locker room as big reasons the Mets should try and bring him back.
“You need a guy that helped you the most through those tough times and tried to bring the team back to where it’s supposed to be,” Soto said of Marte.
Whether or not the Mets have an appetite to sign the 37-year-old is unclear, but having an endorsement from your highest-paid player certainly doesn't hurt.
The Florida Panthers played their first home game in nearly three weeks on Thursday night when they welcomed the Washington Capitals to Sunrise.
Florida fell behind early but were quick to battle back, defeating the Capitals 6-3 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Washington took a 1-0 lead on a nice deflection by Brandon Duhaime that came on the heels of several great saves by Daniil Tarasov at the 8:25 mark of the first period.
Exactly 27 seconds later, Evan Rodrigues pounced on a Niko Mikkola rebound in the slot and beat Logan Thompson to quickly tie the game at one.
Florida would then take their first lead of the night early in the second period.
Just after the Capitals killed off a Tom Wilson holding penalty, Cole Schwindt deflected a point shot by Gus Forsling that eluded Thompson to give Florida a 2-1 edge at the 3:05 mark of the middle frame.
The Panthers doubled their lead later in the period, and this time they did it while on the power play.
A long shot by Carter Verhaeghe was stopped by Thompson, but Sam Reinhart was right there to backhand the rebound into the net to give the Cats a 3-1 lead with 5:22 to go in the second period.
It didn’t take long once the final period began for Washington to cut into Florida’s lead.
Former Panthers draft pick Justin Sourdif scored a tap-in goal off a great feed from Jakob Chychrun less than a minute into the third.
Florida reclaimed their two-goal lead a few minutes later, when Anton Lundell fed a wide-open Reinhart in the slot and his shot sailed past the flailing glove of Thompson to make it 4-2 Panthers.
With Nick Dowd serving a double-minor for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct, Florida added a fifth goal on a shot by Seth Jones that at first appeared to hit off the crossbar, but replay showed it quickly went in and out of the top of the net.
Caps defenseman Rasmus Sandin got a long shot past Tarasov with 7:20 to go, cutting the Cats lead back down to two, but that would be as close as they would get.
Eetu Luostarinen scored from just inside Florida’s blue line with 90 seconds to go, giving Florida a 6-3 lead.
Assisting on the goal was Brad Marchand, his second point of the game, giving him 1,000 points in his NHL career.
Photo caption: Nov 13, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) scores against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
Braden Smith scored 29 points, including 21 in the second half, and No. Purdue beat eighth-ranked Alabama 87-80 on Thursday night in the first matchup of top-10 teams this season. Trey Kaufman-Renn added 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Boilermakers (3-0), who notched the program's first road win against a top-10, non-conference opponent since winning at Louisville in 1982.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates as he runs for first on an RBI single in the sixth inning of the MLB National League Wild Card Game 2 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.
Sam Greene/The Enquirer/Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Shohei Ohtani likes winning Most Valuable Player awards. He loves winning the World Series even more.
The two-way Japenese star did both for a second season in a row for the Los Angeles Dodgers, earning his fourth career MVP on Thursday night while unanimously earning the National League honor. He’s just the second to win four MVPs after Barry Bonds with seven and the only player to win unanimously more than once.
Considering Ohtani is 31, overtaking Bonds doesn’t seem out of the question. Especially if it leads to more Fall Classic opportunities.
“If I’m playing well as an individual that means I’m helping the team win, so in that sense, hopefully I can end up with a couple more MVPs,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning games.”
In the American League, Aaron Judge became the New York Yankees’ fourth three-time winner, edging Seattle’s Cal Raleigh with 17 first-place votes to 13 for the switch-hitting catcher. The vote was the closest for an MVP since the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout topped Houston’s Alex Bregman by 17-13 in 2019.
Judge, who won the AL award in 2022 and 2024, joined Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle as three-time MVPs with the Yankees. The 33-year-old outfielder led the majors with a .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS while hitting 53 homers.
When asked about his place in MLB and Yankees lore, Judge acknowledged he’s in rare company.
“It’s tough for me to wrap my head around,” Judge said. “It’s mind blowing from my side of things, because I play this game to win, I play this game for my teammates, my family, all the fans in New York.”
Later he added: “You’ve got to pinch yourself every single day. It’s truly an incredible honor.”
Ohtani won a MVP for the third straight year, his second in the NL with the Dodgers after two in the AL with the Angels. He became the first to win in each league twice after getting the AL honor in 2021 and 2023. Ohtani signed with the crosstown Dodgers the following offseason and won NL MVP in 2024 during his first season in Chavez Ravine. He’s also won the World Series in both his seasons with the Dodgers.
Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber finished second in the NL with 23 second-place votes and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto was third with four.
Ohtani hit .282 and led the NL with a 1.014 OPS. He also had 55 homers, 102 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.
The right-hander returned to pitching in June after missing 1 1/2 seasons on the mound because of an elbow injury. He struck out 62 batters over 47 innings, slowly increasing his workload while preparing for the postseason.
Ohtani continued to shine in October with arguably the greatest single game in MLB history. He hit three homers while striking out 10 over six dominant innings on Oct. 17, leading the Dodgers over Milwaukee to finish an NL Championship Series sweep.
Schwarber, who earned a $50,000 bonus for finishing second, hit an NL-best 56 homers and led the big leagues with 132 RBIs for Philadelphia.
Soto overcame a slow start to the season to have his typically stellar offensive output. The four-time All-Star — who signed a $765 million, 15-year deal last December — had 43 homers, 105 RBIs and an NL-best 38 stolen bases. He received a $150,000 bonus for finishing third in the MVP voting.
Judge is the first AL player to win back-to-back MVPs since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera it in 2012 and 2013.
Raleigh, nicknamed “Big Dumper,” led the big leagues with 60 homers, the most for a player primarily a catcher. He started 119 games behind the plate and another 38 at designated hitter.
The 28-year-old also had a career-high 125 RBIs, leading the Mariners to one of their best seasons in franchise history. Judge said he got to know Raleigh a little during the All-Star break and the catcher asked for some leadership tips.
“Cal’s a special player,” Judge said. “I could sit here and talk all night about the player he is, but really the kind of leader and person he is really stuck out to me at the All-Star Game.”
Cleveland’s José Ramírez finished third in the AL.
Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo was fourth in the NL voting, earning him $2.5 million annual salary increases in 2028 and 2029 along with the price of Arizona’s 2030 club option.
The Mets are looking to retool their roster ahead of the 2026 season and that could mean moving one of their veteran players.
Jon Heyman of the NY Post reports Thursday that the Mets are "fielding trade inquiries" on Jeff McNeil.
McNeil, who underwent a procedure for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome earlier this offseason, is in the final guaranteed year of his contract. McNeil is reportedly expected to be ready for spring training, so his recent procedure may not deter teams looking to add in the trade market. The utility infielder -- and sometimes outfielder -- is owed $15.75 million in 2026.
This isn't the first time the Mets have been listening to potential trades for McNeil. SNY's Andy Martino reported in late July ahead of the trade deadline that the Mets were listening on several players, including McNeil.
With an expiring contract and at 33 years old, McNeil has value for a team looking for a versatile veteran. McNeil had a solid 2025 in various roles for the Mets. He played 122 games and slashed .243/.335/.411 with an OPS of .746 -- his highest since his batting title season in 2022.
But where McNeil flourished for New York was his versatility. He played five different positions this past season, giving manager Carlos Mendoza flexibility to play his younger players while also giving others a break, especially when injuries arose. He manned second base 79 times while playing center field in 34 games in 2025.
However, president of baseball operations David Stearns has already come out and said he expects McNeil to play less center field in the upcoming season.
As for the infield, the Mets are stocked with them. Although Pete Alonso is a free agent, and could still return, the Mets have Brett Baty likely to start at third base with Francisco Lindor playing shortstop.
That leaves Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuna and Ronny Mauricio fighting for playing time in the infield. And that's not to mention prospects like Jett Williams, who could break through this spring or during the season.
After 12 years, Stephen Curry and Under Armour have mutually agreed to end their partnership, making Curry a shoe free agent after the end of this season.
Under Armour will release the Curry 13 in February 2026, then they will part ways. Curry has been with UA since 2013, when the company signed him away from Mike.
Curry will retain sole ownership of the Curry Brand (which had been a subdivision of the Under Armour brand) and will seek a new retail partner.
"Under Armour believed in me early in my career and gave me the space to build something much bigger and more impactful than a shoe. I'll always be grateful for that." Curry said in a statement announcing the split. "Curry Brand was created to change the game for good and over the past five years, we successfully changed the game for kids, for communities, and for basketball. What Curry Brand stands for, what I stand for and my commitment to that mission will never change, it's only growing stronger. I'm excited for a future that's focused on aggressive growth with a continued commitment to keep showing up for the next generation."
"It's been an incredible privilege to work with Stephen, who as President of Curry Brand has been much more than an ambassador – he's become a thoughtful and strategic business leader," said Kevin Plank, Founder and CEO of Under Armour, in a statement. "Together with our teammates, he helped build something rare: a brand with credibility, community impact, and product that performs at the highest level. For Under Armour, this moment is about discipline and focus on the core UA brand during a critical stage of our turnaround. And for Stephen, it's the right moment to let what we created evolve on his terms. We'll always be grateful for what he's brought to the UA team."
Curry's signing with Under Armour was a massive win for the company. They released a series of shoes over the years, then in 2020 launched the Curry Brand (think of it like the Jordan Brand with Nike, a separate company under the umbrella of a larger one).
Now, that brand is going to be a free agent and it will be in demand.
Jaxon Kohler had 17 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, Jeremy Fears scored a career-high 15 points and had nine assists, and No. 17 Michigan State beat San Jose State 79-60 on Thursday night. San Jose State (0-3) scored the first eight points of the second half and later pulled within 10 points, but couldn't get closer.
Even after opting out of the two remaining guaranteed years in his deal with the Mets to hit free agency, the All-Star closer would like to find his way back to Queens next season.
With him set to test the open market, though, that doesn’t appear to be a lock.
Speaking with reporters at the MLB Awards on Thursday, Diaz put the odds of a return at an even 50-50.
There have already been some talks between his representation and the Mets about a potential new contract, but concrete details haven’t been discussed.
Diaz says that he is simply looking for the best deal possible for his family.
"I love New York. I would love to stay in New York, but if I have to go another place, I would be happy," Diaz told reporters, including Newday's Laura Albanese. "I want to win a ring, so wherever I go, I want to win a ring and enjoy the time.
"I like the organization. You know, if they came with the best deal for me, I’d enjoy to stay with them, but at the end of the day, I don’t know what they’re thinking."
The 31-year-old was once again Carlos Mendoza’s most-trusted late-inning arm this season, pitching to a 1.63 ERA and 0.87 WHIP while striking out 98 batters and locking down 28 saves.
This week at the MLB GM Meetings, David Stearns said that he’d love to have both Diaz and Pete Alonso back rocking orange and blue next season, but it’s too early to predict how things will play out.
"We love both Pete and Edwin. They've been great representatives of the organization," Stearns said. "We'd love to have them both back. At this stage of the offseason, it’s really tough to predict any outcomes, but certainly, we would love to have both those guys back."
The Mets did extend Diaz the qualifying offer, but he will most certainly decline that before Tuesday's deadline.
For the third time in the past four years, the Yankee captain is the American League MVP. Judge edged out Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh by securing 17 of 30first-place votes. It was the closest balloting for an MVP award since 2019, when Mike Trout defeated Alex Bregman by the same total voting margin of 355-335. This year’s tight race was a product of Raleigh’s historic season for a backstop and yet another dominant offensive campaign from Judge.
In many MLB seasons, Raleigh would have been a runaway winner. The switch-hitting Mariner clocked 60 home runs, 13 more than the previous record for a catcher. He simultaneously helmed a Seattle pitching staff that waded through a fair share of injuries, guiding the club to its first AL West title in over two decades. Raleigh even found time to win the Home Run Derby. By all measures, it was a special year.
But Judge, in the end, was too much for even Raleigh to overcome.
The 33-year-old outfielder is now the third player in MLB history to win three MVP awards in a four-year span, joining Barry Bonds and 2025 NL MVP Shohei Ohtani.
Judge’s season didn’t feature any sexy round numbers, home run chases or significant career milestones. Sure he flirted with a .400 average into June and captured his first career batting title with a .331 mark. But Judge’s 2025 season — ever so slightly worse than his 2024 season — was brilliant for, above all else, its consistency.
On Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers, Judge went 1-for-4 with a double, giving him a .250 average and .750 OPS . The next day, against a Brewers pitching staff so depleted that it unleashed the frenzied Torpedo Bat craze, Judge went 4-for-6 with three homers. From that point forward, his batting average never dropped below .300 and his OPS never dropped below 1.000. At no point did he slump as Judge never went three consecutive games without a hit.
Judge finished the year with a preposterous 1.144 OPS, a figure that led the American League by a whopping 185 points over Blue Jays DH George Springer in second place. Besides Raleigh’s tally of 60 home runs, Judge paced the American League in every significant rate-based statistical category. He was not just the best; he was the best by an overwhelming margin.
The OPS gap between Judge and Springer in second place was the same between Springer and Jarren Duran’s .774 OPS all the way down in 33rd in the AL. And for good measure, Judge improved significantly as an outfielder in 2025, according to most advanced defensive metrics. He is running a different race, playing a different game, obliterating the competition at every turn.
And that’s why, despite Raleigh’s unforgettably singular season, Judge is taking home the hardware for the third time in his career.
This third MVP all but secures Judge a place in Cooperstown. All the other three-time winners are either in the Hall of Fame (Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Mike Schmidt), not yet eligible (Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout) or would be first-ballot shoo-ins if not for alleged PED use (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez).
There is a strong case to be made that Judge is the single greatest right-handed hitter in the sport’s history, or, at the very least, after integration. His 179 OPS+ is the highest career mark for a righty since integration. Only 10 other hitters (Trout, Mark McGwire, Dick Allen, Frank Thomas, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Manny Ramírez, Frank Robinson, Ralph Kiner and DiMaggio) are even above 150.
Put differently, Judge is the type of hitter so unavoidably good that he supersedes seasons like the one Raleigh just put up. It’s yet another data point on Judge’s résumé as one of the best sluggers to ever play the game. There remains a gaping void in his trophy case; that ever-elusive first World Series title. But as this October showed us, one locked-in dynamo cannot carry a franchise alone. Judge dominated this postseason and it made little difference.
Whether or not his autumn moment ever comes is to be determined. It is, for the most part, beyond Judge’s control. He seems to have come to accept that humbling reality. And instead of stressing about his legacy and the understandably high standards of YankeeLand, Judge has directed that focus and intensity into his craft.
Cal Raleigh put up offensive numbers never before seen by a catcher, but it wasn't enough to win a tight MVP battle with Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. (Kyle Cooper/Getty Images)
Kyle Cooper/Colorado Rockies via Getty Images
The spectacular season of Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has arrived at its highly anticipated, hotly debated conclusion, as one last storyline needed finalizing with Thursday’s announcement of the 2025 American League Most Valuable Player award.
From early summer when the historic home run barrage began until mid-October as the Mariners sojourned deeper into the postseason than they ever had before, raucous chants extolling Raleigh’s case for MVP could be heard at T-Mobile Park with regularity, and even in road cities as traveling Seattle fans showered their franchise anchor with praise for his sensational performance.
While his top competition for the award, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, delivered yet another outlier season of epic offensive performance, Raleigh’s candidacy was rooted in unprecedented production from a position that so rarely yields such lofty statistical totals. Add in Raleigh’s substantial workload and positive impact on Seattle’s pitching staff as a defender behind the plate — particularly in relation to Judge, who started just 95 games in right field for the Yankees — and Raleigh’s most ardent advocates insisted that his case as AL MVP was as clear as day.
In the end, those cries for official validation were ultimately left unheard by the BBWAA electorate, with the voting results showing that Raleigh narrowly came up short, finishing runner-up to Judge, who garnered 17 of 30 first-place votes to claim the award for the third time in four years, further strengthening his legacy as one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time.
Though Raleigh ultimately fell short in securing the league’s annual top honor — an outcome far more reflective of Judge’s greatness than any obvious Raleigh shortcoming — it does not take much if anything away from his campaign, one that saw the switch-hitting catcher set home run records in multiple categories while powering the Mariners to their first AL West title in nearly a quarter-century.
Raleigh had already earned local legend status as early as 2022, when his pinch-hit walk-off home run clinched Seattle’s first playoff berth in 21 years. He continued to improve once cementing himself as the Mariners’ everyday backstop, showcasing impressive power relative to his positional peers and excelling especially behind the dish, earning Gold Glove honors in 2024. He even garnered some lower-level MVP support along the way, snagging a ninth-place vote in 2023 and five down-ballot votes in 2024. But he had still yet to make an All-Star team entering 2025, and his overall production at the plate was still more good than great, with a 116 wRC+ that ranked 49th among 115 qualified hitters from 2023-2024.
While Raleigh had quietly, if indisputably, already become one of the best all-around backstops in baseball, the broader recognition of his impact remained limited. In another timeline, Raleigh could have realistically settled in as a well-kept secret of sorts, an understated star who shined most brightly within the confines of his medium market. But in 2025, Raleigh’s profile exploded beyond the Pacific Northwest, where national stardom has historically been hard to come by.
It began shortly before Opening Day, when Raleigh and the Mariners agreed to a six-year, $105M extension. It marked a significant long-term partnership between player and team, but it also made headlines beyond Seattle for its magnitude. Very few catchers have landed nine-figure contracts, as the rigorous physical demands of the position often portend troublingly steep declines, and the average offensive output of even the best catchers in the game rarely resemble that of the elite players at other positions.
Raleigh joined Mauer, Posey, and Will Smith as the only catchers to agree to an extension worth more than $100M guaranteed, an exceptional peer group that in turn helped hint at what Raleigh might mean for the Mariners moving forward. Of course, even with the elevated expectations that came along with the hefty extension, no one could have foreseen the degree to which Raleigh would immediately validate Seattle’s decision to invest heavily in him as a franchise cornerstone.
It started slowly, with Raleigh going 1-for-12 in the opening four-game series against the Athletics. But Raleigh’s prolific power started to surface not long after, as he launched his first homer of the season on March 31 against Detroit and cracked another a week later in San Francisco. When the Mariners collected their first sweep of the season in mid-April at home against the Rangers, Raleigh homered in all three games. When Raleigh smacked two more homers at Texas on May 2, he found himself all alone atop the league’s home run leaderboard nearly one-fifth of the way through the season. An eight-game stretch without a long ball followed that game at Globe Life Park — the longest such “drought” of Raleigh’s season — but after that, the homers resumed raining down, often coming in bunches.
He added 14 homers over his next 24 games. A six-homers-in-six-games burst in late June brought his total to 32, rapidly approaching the career-high of 34 he had set the year prior. That hot week also raised his OPS to 1.049, the high watermark for his season, exemplifying his overall offensive impact beyond merely how many balls were leaving the yard.
As the stats continued to soar, July widened the spotlight on Raleigh even further as he was named the American League’s starting catcher for the All-Star Game and invited to participate in the Home Run Derby. Raleigh won the Derby with an incredibly steady performance that simultaneously showcased his stamina and slugging prowess, hitting 17 homers in Round 1, 19 in Round 2, and 18 in the finals to topple the electric Rays infielder Junior Caminero to claim the crown and fulfill the prophecy set forth in a hilarious home video from his youth: He was, indeed, the Home Run Derby Champ.
A memorable All-Star week in Atlanta behind him, Raleigh dutifully returned to his regular season mission as Seattle jockeyed for position in the fierce American League playoff race. More opportunities for Raleigh’s newfound stardom to manifest would come — the Mariners traveled to Williamsport, Pa. for the Little League Classic, where Raleigh was one of the biggest celebrities among the next generation of ballplayers and hit his 47th homer of the season in front of the crowd of Little Leaguers — but he remained focused on the task at hand of contributing to Seattle’s push for the postseason.
Naturally, Raleigh’s continued excellence went hand-in-hand with Seattle’s successful chase of Houston in the AL West standings, coming from as far as seven games back on July 10 to eventually becoming division champs. During the Mariners’ momentous September sweep of the Astros at Daikin Park to seize sole possession of first place, Raleigh hit home runs No. 57 and 58, surpassing Ken Griffey Jr.’s previously held single-season franchise record of 56 — this, just days after Raleigh had broken Mickey Mantle’s record for most homers by a switch-hitter in a single season, and weeks after surpassing Salvador Perez’s mark for most homers by a catcher.
Three days later, Raleigh hit two more homers against the Rockies — his 11th multi-homer game of the season, tying an MLB record held by 1938 Hank Greenberg, 1998 Sammy Sosa, and 2022 Aaron Judge — to arrive at a staggering 60.
Sixty home runs! To watch any hitter reach this titanic threshold is astonishing on its own, as only six major-leaguers have previously done so: three with heavy ties to performance-enhancing drugs (Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa) and three iconic Yankees (Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Judge). But for that exclusive club featuring five outfielders and a first baseman to gain an unlikely seventh member in Raleigh — who caught 1,072 innings during his march to 60 homers — is downright mind-boggling.
So how did he do it? Look below the surface of the eye-popping final totals, and Raleigh’s humongous uptick in homers can largely be attributed to two key improvements. The first involved something that Raleigh was already quite adept at: hitting the ball in the air, particularly to the pull side. This is a skill that has become increasingly prioritized in the modern game as teams look to optimize hitters’ ability to slug, and elevating the ball often to the pull side is a good way to do that.
Over the previous three seasons, Raleigh’s 29.8% pull-air percentage ranked third in MLB, behind only Isaac Paredes and Byron Buxton, and just ahead of Max Muncy and Jose Ramirez — all hitters who do an excellent job of translating their power into consistent production. In 2025, Raleigh ratcheted up the pulled fly balls even further, spiking to 38.4%, just a hair below Paredes atop the league leaderboard. Look at overall airborne contact, and Raleigh’s season stands out even further: his 25.1% ground ball rate was the lowest for a qualified hitter since Mike Trout in 2019 (24.3%), when Trout hit a career-high 45 home runs and won AL MVP.
Making even more airborne contact certainly contributed to Raleigh’s record-setting totals. But even more vital to unlocking increased production across the board was how much better he got batting right-handed. Until this year, the switch-hitting Raleigh was markedly more productive when stepping into the box as a left-handed hitter. Across 413 career plate appearances batting righty before this season, Raleigh had hit .202/.271/.410 with 20 home runs. In 2025, Raleigh hit .281/.351/.681 across 205 right-handed plate appearances with 22 home runs. This drastic upgrade is what fueled Raleigh’s evolution into more than just a home run threat, but an all-around offensive force: Raleigh’s 161 wRC+ ranked fourth in MLB among qualified bats.
The home runs, however, remained the headline, and understandably so. And though Raleigh did not homer again over the final four regular season games to draw closer to Judge’s American League record of 62, he was far from done rounding the bases in 2025. He homered in ALDS Game 3 in Detroit, directly to a Mariners fan wearing a “DUMP 61 HERE,” a nod to Raleigh’s beloved “Big Dumper” moniker and the hope that his home run total would continue to climb in October — the kind of improbable sequence that only added to the lore of his season. Four more homers followed during Seattle’s clash with Toronto in the ALCS, including a crucial game-tying blast as part of the Mariners’ memorable eighth inning in Game 5, and one final long ball in the fifth inning of Game 7, which turned out to be the final run scored by the Mariners in 2025 — a fitting, if unfulfilling conclusion to Seattle’s season.
With Raleigh and the Mariners having come up painfully short of reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history, Raleigh winning AL MVP would have been a solid consolation for a fan base that was eager to see their beloved backstop take home the hardware. But regardless of how a small selection of BBWAA voters opted to cast their ballots, Raleigh’s 2025 campaign will undoubtedly sustain for years to come as one of the most astounding displays of all-around performance the game has ever seen.
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