Fresh off setting a single-season home run record for catchers, Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh surely would've loved to make more baseball history in 2026.
Congrats to Raleigh, who has an outside chance to add yet another achievement to his Baseball-Reference page. The reigning AL MVP runner-up has a .571 OPS entering Aug. 11, which ranks among the league's worst qualified hitters. But more importantly, it also represents a massive drop from last year's .948, and he's on pace to have the third-largest OPS decline of all time.Â
According to Sportsnet, Raleigh's .377 drop in OPS trails only Rogers Hornsby (.394 from 1925-26) and Hack Wilson (.379 from 1930-31). They might be Hall of Famers, but the numbers and context reflect even worse on the Mariners' veteran backstop.
Cal Raleigh's dreadful 2026 season is worse than it appears
The differences between Hornsby and Raleigh's respective OPS drops are so absurdly hilarious that they must be shared. Hornsby's OPS dipped to "only" .851 and he hit .317 with 11 home runs, 93 RBIs, and 4.4 bWAR for the World Series-winning Cardinals. If you're unfamiliar with Hornsby, he's among the most valuable players in league history and one of the sport's greatest hitters.
As for Wilson, he still managed a .798 OPS with 13 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 22 doubles for the Cubs. He was only worth 0.9 bWAR, but that's considerably better than the -0.3 bWAR that Raleigh has contributed over 85 games.
There is almost nothing about Raleigh's season that anyone can objectively point to as a positive. His 32.0% strikeout rate and 3.3% home run rates are his worst since 2021. He had the viral preseason feud with teammate Randy Arozarena and later indicated that he blamed his struggles on the World Baseball Classic.
If you want to find something to praise him for, then credit to Raleigh for his 12.0% walk rate, the second-best of his career. We're not totally heartless.Â
What's to blame for Cal Raleigh's 2026 season?
Outside of potentially the World Baseball Classic impacting his preseason routine, there is no legitimate reason for Raleigh's decline. He'd gotten off to a horrific start even before the oblique strain that landed him on the injured list in May, so that's not an excuse. Even in April, he looked like he was pressing and trying to homer rather than simply make contact and start a rally.Â
For what it's worth, Wilson was worth 3.0 bWAR in 1932 and had a .904 OPS. Hornsby remained playing at a Hall of Fame level for years after his mixed 1926 campaign. Whether or not that bodes well for Raleigh depends on how confident you are in whether he can mentally rebound from the last few months.
The fact that we're even questioning that kind of turnaround should say it all, and it's coming at an inopportune time. Unfortunately for the Mariners, Raleigh is under contract through 2030 with a $20 million mutual option for 2031. So if what we're seeing now is a sign of what's to come, then at least he doesn't have a no-trade clause.Â
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