There are moments in baseball when the past and present seem to shake hands—when the crack of a bat echoes through generations. Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as the ivy rustled and the wind played tricks with fly balls, Cal Raleigh stood alone in the batter’s box and, with a flick of his wrists, joined the immortal chorus of the game’s great power hitters. His ninth-inning solo blast wasn’t just a stat-padding consolation in a 10–7 Mariners loss to the Cubs. It was a mile marker in a season that’s rapidly becoming one for the ages.

In just 75 games, Raleigh has muscled his way to 30 home runs—faster than any Major Leaguer since the summer of 2001, when Barry Bonds and Luis Gonzalez lit up the scoreboard and captivated the nation. But Raleigh isn’t just launching baseballs into the stratosphere; he’s redefining what it means to be a switch-hitting slugger in today’s game. No one from both sides of the plate has ever reached this milestone before the All-Star break. Not Mantle. Not Chipper. Not even the great Eddie Murray.

For fans in Seattle, this is déjà vu of the most delightful kind. The last—and only—Mariner to reach 30 home runs before the midsummer pause was Ken Griffey Jr., whose silhouette still graces the memories of a generation. Now, Raleigh joins “The Kid” as the only two players in franchise history to accomplish that feat. It’s the kind of company that doesn’t just flatter—it canonizes.

And the accolades don’t stop there. This is Raleigh’s third straight season with 30 or more home runs, and he’s just four shy of his personal best—set only last year. He leads the American League in RBIs and trails only Aaron Judge in OPS, delivering thunderous production from a position where most teams are content to find defense and durability. In Raleigh, the Mariners have both—and a whole lot more.

The MVP conversation, of course, swirls around familiar names. Judge continues to post cartoonish numbers. Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s two-way marvel, lurks close behind. But Raleigh isn’t just a tagalong in that race. He’s setting the pace in homers and hanging tough in every other category. If he can close the gap in WAR and slash line metrics, the debate might shift from “Can he win it?” to “How can he not?”

​​Regardless of where he finishes in MVP balloting, Cal Raleigh is etching his season into Seattle lore—one swing at a time. With each towering drive, he’s not just chasing hardware or helping the Mariners climb the standings. He’s building a legacy, one that echoes through ballparks, box scores, and the history books with the unmistakable sound of greatness.