Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners’ Raleigh, Wilson named MLB award finalists
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and manager Dan Wilson have each been selected as finalists for two of MLB’s most prestigious awards.
This is a big week for the Seattle Mariners and Jorge Polanco’s future
Raleigh was named as one of three finalists for the American League MVP and Wilson as one of three finalists for AL Manager of the Year during an MLB Network broadcast on Monday.
Raleigh was nominated alongside New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez.
The 28-year-old catcher is coming off a record-setting year in which helped the Mariners win their first AL West title and reach their first AL Championship Series in 24 years. He mashed 60 home runs, becoming just the seventh player in MLB history to reach the historic mark. In the process, he broke Mickey Mantle’s home run record for switch-hitters (54) and Salvador Perez’s for catchers (48). He also became the first player to hit 20 home runs from each side of the plate in a single season.
Raleigh slashed .247/.359/.589 with a .948 OPS, 161 wRC+ and an AL-leading 125 RBIs over 159 games this season. His 9.1 fWAR was the second most of any AL player, trailing only Judge’s 10.1.
The last Mariner to win AL MVP was Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.
While Ramírez is included in the race, it’s widely known to be a two-man showdown between Raleigh and Judge.
New York’s slugging outfielder led MLB in all three triple-slash categories at .331/.457/.688 with a 1.114 OPS, 53 home runs and 114 RBIs. No other AL player had an OPS of 1.000. His 204 wRC+ was also 38 points higher than the next AL batter.
Judge has a clear advantage over Raleigh in just about every offensive category outside of home runs and RBI, but Raleigh’s case carries the argument of playing a premium defensive position and having an unmeasurable impact as an everyday catcher. Raleigh, who logged 1,072 innings behind the plate in 2025, played nearly 250 more innings in the field than Judge (822 1/3 innings).
Wilson, who took over in late August 2024, went 21-13 in the team’s remaining 34 games last season. This year, the Mariners finished the regular season with a record of 90-72, with Wilson becoming the first manager in club history to take the team to the postseason or win a division title in his first full season.
Wilson is joined by former Mariners bullpen coach and reigning AL Manager of the Year Stephen Vogt of the Cleveland Guardians and Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider as finalists for manager of the year.
Wilson is vying to join two-time winner and fellow Mariners Hall of Famer Lou Piniella (1995 and 2001) as the only managers in club history to win the award.
The MVP and manager of the year awards are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The winners will be announced Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. on MLB Network.
Seattle Sports Mariners insider Shannon Drayer contributed to this story.
More Seattle Mariners coverage
• Seattle Mariners catcher Mitch Garver becomes free agent
• Julio Rodríguez falls short of first Gold Glove
• Why a pitcher trade may finally be a part of Seattle Mariners’ offseason
• M’s fans should be ready for an uncomfortable Josh Naylor free agency
• Cal Raleigh named top MLB player by peers
Police are talking with a person who reported being a victim of a street robbery late tonight at or near California SW and SW Raymond. The initial report was that two Black male juveniles, both in masks and hoodies, held the victim up at gunpoint, stole their phone, and got away in a gray Tesla with no plates.
12:55 PM: Again this year, the West Seattle Junction Association has decked the heart of the business district with rainbow flags to celebrate Pride on the night of June’s WS Art Walk. As featured in our calendar and daily event list, Pride events tonight include a meetup at VAIN (4513 California SW) at 6 pm and then a “dance party” in the Walk All Ways intersection at 6:30; that’ll be followed by a drag show at Jet City Labs (4547 California SW) and the only event on the slate that’ not all-ages, an 8:30 pm afterparty at The Poggie.
ADDED 3:15 PM: Victoria at VAIN sent several reasons to stop there at the start of tonight’s celebration – “We have a limited number of Pride flags to give away before we proceed down to the intersection. We have a small run of West Seattle Pride shirts to sell. PFLAG wil have an info table with some giveaways as well.”
We’re just a few days from the first 2026 FIFA World Cup match in Seattle.
If you like driving, you should probably just avoid Seattle. Using your car is not going to be easy on game days. As King County executive Girmay Zahilay said during preparations, “for visitors and residents, our message is simple: leave the driving to us.”
Transit is really going to be the only way to get near the stadium district on those six match days.
Seattle has created an exclusion or no-go zone from Yesler south through the stadiums on those days. The southern border of the exclusion zone is Edgar Martinez Drive. You will only be able to drive southbound on 1st Avenue. That’s the only street available to cars from about four hours before matches until the traffic has cleared.
Alaskan Way will remain open. So will 4th Avenue.
Pioneer Square will be off-limits to almost all car traffic. Street parking is also a casualty. Those spots will go away as early as 2 a.m. on game days. There is no drive-up lot parking on match days. Those parking passes for lots outside the exclusion zone must be purchased in advance.
Sound Transit is the best way to get to the matches
CEO Dow Constantine shared this piece of advice.
“From the north, we’re going to encourage you to use Pioneer Square Station,” he said. “If you’re coming from the east, we’re going to encourage you to use the International District Chinatown Station. If you’re coming from the south, we’re going to encourage you to use the Stadium Station. All of these give you ready access to Seattle Stadium and to all the festivities around the matches.”
And Sound Transit has increased train frequency to move as many people as possible.
“Operationally, on game days, we will increase service on the 1 and 2 Lines, so we’ll be running eight-minute service on all the lines all evening long,” Constantine said. “That means four-minute service all day long from the International District to Lynnwood.”
The ferry service is maxing its capacity to meet demand. So is King County Metro.
Here are the dates you want to avoid being in downtown Seattle if you’re not going to games.
June 15. June 19. June 24. June 26. July 1. July 6.
Most construction is taking this time off to provide as much space as possible during the event.
You can ride bikes and scooters through the exclusion zone, but you will be subject to an 8 mph speed limit.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
Follow @https://twitter.com/newsguysully
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