Logan Gilbert, Cal Raleigh prove worth to Mariners yet again in season-ending win

SEATTLE – Their unique bond never wavered despite different personalities.

Former roommates in the minor leagues and later in the big leagues, their conflicting stories about that shared living experience offer reminders of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison.

And the combative but good-natured banter between the two of them – a mix of criticism, cajoling and commentary at each other’s expense – is straight out of the movie “Step Brothers.”

But in the final game of their 2024 season, Logan Gilbert, who sits atop the top starting rotation in MLB, and Cal Raleigh, the best slugging catcher in baseball, offered final reminders as to why they’re the Mariners’ best pitcher and best position player, respectively, while offering a glimmer of a hope of better seasons ahead.

Gilbert retired the first 17 batters he faced before losing his bid for a perfect game in the top of the sixth and Raleigh smashed a two-run homer to add his record-setting season totals in the Mariners’ 6-4 win over the team that will no longer be called the Oakland A’s at T-Mobile Park on Sunday.

Seattle completed a weekend sweep of Oakland to finish the season with an 85-77 record.

The Mariners will be watching the postseason from home for a second straight season. And neither Gilbert nor Raleigh, two of the fiercest competitors, will take solace in their individual numbers over that team failure.

How long will this duo be together? Well, that is yet to be determined. Gilbert is heading into his second year of arbitration eligibility and Raleigh will enter his first. Both will get major salary raises and will be free agents after the 2027 season – and neither has heard a viable offer for an extension from the Mariners.

In a season filled with great pitching performances from the best rotation in baseball, Gilbert looked like he might put together the best one in his career-high 33rd and final outing.

With a lively fastball that included two clocked at 100 mph, the fastest in his career, he carved up an A’s lineup that was without Lawrence Butler and Shea Langeliers. He struck out four of the first six batters he faced and didn’t allow anything in the way of hard contact.

His teammates didn’t provide much early offense, going hitless through the first 11 batters.

But Raleigh led off the fourth inning with a single, Randy Arozarena settled for a double after his deep drive to left center bounced off the top of the wall and back into play. Justin Turner, a free agent after the season, then made another on-field pitch to be brought back for next season, doubling to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

While the Mariners weren’t expecting to push Gilbert far in his outing, knowing he’d made more starts and logged more innings than anyone on the team, they also couldn’t remove him from the game when he had a bid for the first perfect game in the organization since Felix Hernandez’s perfect game on Aug. 15, 2012. He cruised through the fifth with ease, throwing just nine pitches.

The Mariners broke open the game in the bottom of the inning. J.P. Crawford led off with a single and scored on Victor Robles’ one-out double into the left-field corner. Julio Rodriguez followed with a crisp RBI single to right field. But it was Raleigh who had the most memorable moment of the inning.

He sat on a 2-2 curveball from Mitch Spence, unleashing that trademark swing with the high follow through and sending a line drive into the right-field seats for a two-run homer.

It was his 34th homer of the season and gave him 100 RBIs.

Since making his MLB debut during the 2021 season, Raleigh has hit 93 homers, surpassing Mike Piazza for the most home runs by a catcher in his first four seasons. What’s stunning is that Raleigh only hit two homers in 47 games played in 2021. The other 91 have come over the past three seasons with 27 in 2022, 30 in 2023 and 34 this season. It’s almost the most homers by a Mariners player in their first four MLB seasons, tying the record held by Alvin Davis.

Raleigh led the Mariners with 153 games played this season, which is preposterous for a player whose primary position is catcher. Sunday was his 125th game started at catcher this season – the most in MLB. He appeared in 134 games at catcher and logged 1,122 innings behind the plate – also the most in MLB.

Gilbert’s bid for perfection ended with two outs in the top of the sixth when Nick Allen was able to pull a 1-2 curveball that hung in the middle of the plate. With no chance of history, manager Dan Wilson was out of the dugout immediately, replacing Gilbert with Eduard Bazardo.

Gilbert’s final line: 6 2/3 scoreless innings pitched, one hit allowed with no walks and seven strikeouts. It was his 23rd quality start of the season, which was the most in the American League. He improved to 9-12 on the season while lowering his ERA to 3.23. He finished the season with 208 2/3 innings pitched, the most in MLB with 220 strikeouts and 37 walks.

The last Mariner pitcher to throw 200 innings and strike out more than 200 batters was Felix Hernandez in 2014. Zach Wheeler of the Phillies was the only other pitcher to accomplish that feat this season (200 inning pitched, 224 strikeouts).