A year removed from a 60-homer season that broke the all-time catcher record, Cal Raleigh spent most of 2026 looking nothing like himself, dragging a batting average as low as.159 into late August. Then, against the Phillies, the switch went back on all at once.
Raleigh's night started with the first 3-homer game of his career, a 3-for-3 showing with a walk that pushed his average up to.167 and helped Seattle rout Philadelphia. Barstool's baseball accounts were on it in real time as Raleigh rounded the bases with a 105.8 mph blast, the Mariners already running away with the game.
3 HR Game Big Dumper is finally heating up
A career-high 3-homer game would've been the story on its own. Instead it turned out to be a warmup. The very next night, Raleigh stepped in and did it again, sending a 106.2 mph, 362-foot shot out at T-Mobile Park to make it 4 home runs in 4 straight at-bats spanning the two games. His own dugout could barely process it, with a Mariners pitcher visibly cracking up and clapping as Raleigh rounded the bases.
4 STRAIGHT HRs BIG DUMPER IS ON A HEATER
The framing from Barstool's gambling account leaned into the absurdity of it, joking that Raleigh has homered in every at-bat since teammate PCA slapped him on the backside a game earlier — the kind of dugout superstition riff that spreads fast once a guy gets locked in like this.
It matters because of exactly what Raleigh had been through to get here. This is a guy who led all of baseball with 60 homers in 2025, shattering Javy Lopez's single-season catcher record by 15, won the Home Run Derby, and started the All-Star Game behind the plate — then opened 2026 by going ice cold for weeks, including a stretch where he didn't hit his first homer of the year until deep into a 10-game drought. A 4-homer heater out of nowhere is the version of Raleigh the league spent last summer bracing for, and if it's back, Seattle's lineup looks a lot scarier heading into the stretch run.