The Big Dumper just left the yard again!

In what has become a regular occurrence during Cal Raleigh‘s incredible 2025 season, the Seattle Mariners catcher added two more home runs to his historic total Tuesday — and passed another MLB legend in the process.

Raleigh has already surpassed the record for home runs by a catcher and by a switch-hitter and joined the prestigious 50-homer club, and who could forget his Home Run Derby triumph earlier this summer?

What record could Raleigh set next, how many home runs will he finish with and just how impressive is his season? We’ve got it all covered.

Raleigh must-reads: Raleigh’s road to homer history | Surprising 50-HR seasons | Best power half-seasons in MLB history

Raleigh’s current pace

Raleigh is now at 56 home runs and on pace for 60 with 11 games left.

The American League record is 62, set by Aaron Judge in 2022, and there have been only nine 60-home run seasons in MLB history.

Who Raleigh passed with his latest home run

With his 55th and 56th home runs Tuesday, Raleigh passed Mickey Mantle (yes, you read that right: The Mick himself) for the most in a season by a switch-hitter.

Raleigh and Mantle (who reached the mark twice) are the only switch-hitters in MLB history with 50 long balls in a single season — well ahead of Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones, who each hit 45 in their most prolific home run season.

Who Raleigh can catch with his next home run

The next milestone up for Raleigh is passing Ken Griffey Jr.’s Mariners franchise record of 56, which Raleigh tied with his two-homer effort Tuesday. That’s a number Griffey reached twice — in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Raleigh has already joined Griffey as the only Mariners with 50 home runs (or even 45) in a season. Raleigh is also the first Seattle slugger with 40 homers in a season since Nelson Cruz in 2016.

Raleigh’s 5 most impressive feats of 2025

Most home runs in a season by a switch-hitter

With his 55th home run, Raleigh knocked Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961, from the top spot. Breaking Salvador Perez‘s record of 48 home runs by a primary catcher understandably got a lot of attention, but beating Mantle’s mark is arguably more impressive given how long the record stood and the Hall of Famer’s stature.

One of the best months ever for a catcher

In May, Raleigh hit .304/.430/.739 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs. Only four catchers have hit more home runs in a calendar month and only eight with at least 100 plate appearances produced a higher slugging percentage. Raleigh was almost as good in June, hitting .300/.398/.690 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs, giving him two-month totals of .302/.414/.714 with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs. In one blazing 24-game stretch from May 12 to June 7, Raleigh hit .319 with 14 home runs.

Reaching 100 runs and 100 RBIs

Raleigh is sitting on 101 runs scored while leading the American League with 115 RBIs. Only eight other primary catchers have reached 100 in both categories in the same season — Mike Piazza did it twice, in 1997 and 1999, and he and Ivan Rodriguez were the last catchers to do it in ’99. Of the other catchers, seven are in the Hall of Fame (Piazza, Rodriguez, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk). The lone exception is Darrell Porter, who reached the milestone with the Royals in 1979.

Tying Ken Griffey Jr.’s club record for home runs

Griffey hit 56 home runs for the Mariners in 1997 and 1998, leading the AL both seasons and winning the MVP Award in 1997 (he and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 are Seattle’s two MVP winners). Griffey had the advantage of playing in the cozy confines of the Kingdome in those years, although his home/road splits were fairly even. Raleigh, however, has had to play in a tough park to hit in, with 30 of his 56 home runs coming on the road, where his OPS is about 100 points higher. That marks only the 19th time a player has reached 30 road homers (by contrast, 30 homers at home has been accomplished 37 times).

An outside shot at most total bases by a catcher

With 317 total bases, Raleigh’s 2025 campaign is already one of only 20 catcher seasons with 300 total bases (yes, time at DH has helped him here). The record is 355, shared by Piazza in 1997 and Bench in 1970 (both played 150-plus games in those seasons). Raleigh would need a strong finish to get there but could at least move into third place ahead of Perez’s 337 total bases in 2021. Not counted in Raleigh’s total bases: his 14 stolen bases!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cal Raleigh broke Mickey Mantle’s record for homers by a switch-hitter and tied the Mariners record set by Ken Griffey Jr. when the Seattle star hit his 55th and 56th of the season in consecutive at-bats in a 12-5 win over the Royals on Tuesday night.

Raleigh doubled in his first at-bat on a hot, humid night in Kansas City. He came up again in the third inning and, batting left-handed against Michael Wacha, fouled off a changeup and took a sinker for a ball before Raleigh sent a hanging curveball 419 feet over the right-field fence for his 55th home run of the season.

That broke the switch-hitter mark set by the Yankees star in 1961, which Raleigh had tied against the Angels on Sunday.

BIG DUMPER TWO HOME RUN NIGHT!

Cal Raleigh ties Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs in a single season in franchise history 😳

(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/Wpz7lk7W4n

— ESPN (@espn) September 17, 2025

The All-Star catcher was back up in the fourth inning Tuesday night. This time, batting right-handed against left-hander Daniel Lynch IV, Raleigh sent the first pitch he saw 425 feet to straightaway center for his 56th homer.

Griffey set the Mariners record when he hit 56 homers during the 1997 season and matched the mark the following year.

After both home runs, Raleigh got a standing ovation from a small group of Mariners fans behind the visiting dugout at Kauffman Stadium. Many Royals fans, who had turned out to watch a club fading from playoff contention, also applauded the home runs. It was Raleigh’s 20th career multihomer game and his 10th this season, the most in a single season by a catcher in MLB history.

There have only been nine 60-homer seasons in the majors. Aaron Judge had the last when he hit 62 for the Yankees in 2022, an American League record. Raleigh would need to hit six more home runs over the next 11 games to tie Judge’s record.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has a “pretty significant” left ankle sprain and will be out of the lineup indefinitely as Houston battles for a division title and an American League playoff spot as the season winds down, manager Joe Espada said Tuesday.

Espada would not give a timetable for the return of Alvarez, who continues to be on the active roster.

“This is going to keep him out for a while,” Espada said. “Let’s not get into days, weeks, any of that. We are going to take one day at a time, but this is going to take some time to heal.”

Alvarez, who underwent an MRI on Tuesday, suffered the injury while crossing home plate during Monday’s victory against the Texas Rangers. He was seen leaving the Astros clubhouse on a crutch and with a boot on his left foot.

The three-time All-Star appeared to slip as he crossed the plate in the first inning, scoring from first base on a throwing error by Rangers pitcher Jack Leiter on Carlos Correa‘s infield single. Alvarez was tended to by an athletic trainer outside the Astros’ dugout and then helped down the steps.

Espada refused to say if the team planned to place Alvarez on the injured list.

“One day at a time,” Espada said. “I’m not going to give you days, weeks, what we’re going to do next. You’re just going to have to sit down and wait.”

Alvarez is batting .273 with six home runs and 27 RBIs but has been limited to 48 games because of a fractured right hand that forced him to sit out 101 games.

Entering Tuesday, Houston is a half-game behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. The Astros are three games ahead of Cleveland Guardians and Texas for the final AL wild-card spot.

“We need him in there, but those are the things that we can’t control,” Espada said of Alvarez. “It’s a freak accident that happens on a baseball field and that’s not what we need right now. But we do have guys here that understand the situation that we’re in. We’ve got talent. We’ve got guys that want it. We’ve got guys that can fight and get us through this stretch.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.