Win or lose the American League MVP award, Cal Raleigh had a season for the ages. It was a season where we were fortunate enough to get an extensive look behind the scenes as he took us on the journey of a year in the life in baseball with The Cal Raleigh Show.

Seattle Mariners Offseason Roundtable: Drayer, Salk and Rowland-Smith

Each week I had a chance to have an extended conversation with Cal – whether it was in the comfort of the home field at T-Mobile Park, the bullpen in Sacramento (the hopefully temporary home of the A’s), a walk across the field and into the Green Monster at Fenway Park, a small but air-conditioned waiting room at a sweltering Camden Yards in Baltimore, or wherever the Mariners found themselves midweek for the 2025 season.

In celebration of his season, here is a look back at some of the highlights I believe showed a little bit more of Raleigh the player and person.

Cal explains

These clips give a look at how Raleigh views different aspects of the game at different parts of the season. With torpedo bats all the rage in the first weeks of the season, I asked Raleigh his thoughts on the new lumber and got quite an education on bats. To some, the Mariners’ starters recording just six quality starts in their first 23 games might be a reason for concern. It wasn’t for Raleigh, and he explained why. Why do the Mariners emphasize an up the middle approach? Cal got into the benefits and why he prefers it.

Cal shares

There was plenty to get into when it came to the opportunity to get to know Cal a little bit better. He shared rich memories of growing up in a college clubhouse with his dad, Todd Raleigh Sr., as the coach. Dad at work was not quite the same as dad at home, with one memory in particular he can look back and laugh at. In the present day, Cal keeps an immaculate locker complete with some items of interest he allowed us to pull and talk about on another episode. Later in the season, I think we found the key to get Cal really talking.

Cal the competitor

It did not take 26 shows to learn that, yes, baseball plays the role in Raleigh’s life you would expect it to. It is not something he leaves at the ballpark, it is not something that is often to far from his mind. There is a lot of “old school” in him, and that was reinforced one week when asked what changes he would make if he were commissioner for a day. It was further enforced the day after what had to be the most turbulent day of the season, the day of the closed-door team meeting in Tampa. With the team’s continuing struggles on the road and a postseason run looking less and less likely, Dan Wilson called a closed-door team meeting. What is said in these clubhouse meetings usually stays in the clubhouse, but Raleigh was not shy about sharing what he thought should come next for the Mariners. We all know what happened shortly after that day. And in the final clip, Raleigh talked about what role Wilson played in the turnaround, giving an inside look at how he and his teammates see their skipper.

The lighter side of Cal

Last but not least, he’s not all business all the time. There were plenty of laughs this year on The Cal Raleigh Show as well.

Find every episode of The Cal Raleigh Show here.

Seattle Mariners offseason coverage

• Report: Seattle Mariners sign RHP Dobnak to minors deal
• Free Agency: Who Seattle Mariners could target for the bullpen
• Mariners Offseason Roundtable: Drayer, Salk and Rowland-Smith
• M’s GM Hollander sounds very serious about Josh Naylor pursuit
• Why Seattle Mariners are one of MLB’s ‘most fascinating’ teams this offseason