Cal Raleigh caps big series for Seattle with major league-leading 31st homer

CHICAGO (AP) — There is no stopping Cal Raleigh at the moment.

Raleigh has a major league-leading 31 homers after he helped the Seattle Mariners take two of three against the Chicago Cubs over the weekend. The switch hitter went deep four times and drove in six runs in the series.

“Just trying to have good at-bats, really,” Raleigh said. “Trying to stay consistent. Really just trying to home in on my approach and not worry too much about what the pitcher is trying to do to me.”

Raleigh had two hits, walked twice and scored three runs in Seattle's 14-6 victory on Sunday. He is batting .327 (37 for 113) with 16 homers and 34 RBIs in his last 29 games.

Raleigh was the designated hitter for the series finale after he was behind the plate on Saturday. He hammered the first pitch of his at-bat against Colin Rea — a 93.8 mph fastball — for a two-run shot in the first inning on a hot afternoon at Wrigley Field. The massive drive to center had an exit velocity of 105 mph.

He walked in the third and singled and scored in the fifth. After popping out softly for the final out of the sixth, he walked again in the eighth and scored on Randy Arozarena's two-run double.

“Thirty-one home runs, he just continues to march through history here,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “It's fun to watch. ... He's a smart player, so later in the game, not getting too anxious, not trying to out of the zone, not trying to get away from his identity as a hitter and who he is. Just staying right where he needs to stay.”

The 28-year-old Raleigh, who agreed to a $105 million, six-year contract with Seattle in March, is the first switch hitter to hit at least 30 homers before the All-Star break. He needs four more homers to match Ken Griffey Jr. for the most before the break in Mariners history.

“I think a lot of people don't watch to pitch to him, and then if you do and fall behind, he hits a lot of homers obviously,” Seattle pitcher Logan Gilbert said. “He can beat you in a lot of different ways, and it seems like he's doing it every game, too.”

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Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh hits a single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh hits a single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh walks to first base during the third inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh watches his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh, right, celebrates with J.P. Crawford after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)