When Cal Raleigh exited the Seattle Mariners' 4-3 loss to the Houston Astros in the eighth inning, clutching his right side, he already knew what was coming. The star catcher's instincts proved correct: on Thursday, he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain—the first IL stint of his six-year major league career.
"It's tough because it's one of those things where I thought I could play through it," Raleigh admitted Friday before Seattle's series against San Diego. "I thought I could tough it out, but ultimately, what's best for the team is me putting my pride aside and taking a few days."
That pride has fueled Raleigh's rise to AL MVP runner-up status, but it also kept him playing through pain that had been building for weeks. After missing three games earlier in May with right side soreness, Raleigh endured a brutal 0-for-38 slump—the longest hitless streak in the majors this season—before finally breaking out with two singles in a 10-2 rout of Houston on May 12.
The numbers tell a sobering story. Through 41 games, Raleigh is hitting just .161 with seven home runs, 18 RBIs, and four doubles. That batting average is the lowest among all 170 qualified hitters in the majors. For a player who finished second in AL MVP voting just last season, the struggles have been stark.
Raleigh is no stranger to playing through injuries. He famously battled through a broken bone and torn ligament in his left thumb during the 2022 season. But an oblique strain is different—it's a baseball-specific injury that affects nearly every movement on the field.
"It's hard to give it time to rest, time to recover if every single play, you're twisting and turning and flexing," Raleigh explained. "So, it's one of those kinds of specific sports injuries to baseball."
The Mariners' training staff plans to administer a shot to help alleviate Raleigh's pain within the next 24 hours. After spending a day or two in the Seattle area, Raleigh—who says he's never dealt with an oblique issue before—will likely head to the team's spring training complex in Arizona for rehabilitation.
General manager Justin Hollander noted that recent MRIs showed results similar to or slightly improved from earlier scans, offering a glimmer of hope for a swift recovery. For a Mariners team that relies heavily on Raleigh's leadership and power bat, getting their backstop back to full strength—and back to his MVP-caliber form—can't come soon enough.