SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners switch-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh has used the same swing since he was nine years old.
Raleigh’s tried and true stroke worked out quite well for him during the 2025 season, one in which he finished runner-up for American League MVP honors and set the single-season record for home runs by a catcher with 60. The 29-year-old’s magnificent season helped the Mariners come within one win of their first World Series berth, and set sky-high expectations heading into 2026.
“I know the swing is good,” Raleigh said. “Really just trying to trust the approach, trust the plan, commit to it every single pitch.”
Like many of his Mariners teammates, though, Raleigh hasn’t hit as well as he would like amid Seattle’s 10-15 start, which includes Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Athletics. Even with a solo home run and a single in the Mariners’ latest defeat, Raleigh is hitting just .177 with a .538 OPS, his lowest since his rookie season.
Twenty-five games into the 2026 season, the Mariners find themselves in fourth place in the AL West, slotted ahead of only the bottom-feeding Houston Astros, who are tied for the most losses in major league baseball at 9-16.
First baseman Josh Naylor, who broke out of his slump last week with two home runs, still has a batting average below the Mendoza line. Julio Rodríguez has heated up considerably the last few weeks, but isn’t hitting for power in a fashion that the Mariners have grown accustomed to.
Seattle entered Tuesday’s game with 23 home runs as a team, good for 15th in the majors, yet only two teams have lower collective batting averages than their .218. The Mariners have taken their walks, but they aren’t driving runners in with clutch hits or home runs.
“I think we’re getting guys on base at a good rate for the most part. I see that,” Raleigh said. “But, I think I’m guilty of this too – you get in those big spots and those big moments and each guy wants to do it.”
Seattle won’t pull itself out of its season-opening quagmire with one win, or one series. It learned that after sweeping the Astros before dropping six of its next eight games.
Even so, Raleigh doesn’t think he is putting too much pressure on himself after a banner year, nor is anybody else.
“We all know that we want to be doing better than we are,” Raleigh said. “But at the same time, it’s not going to help anybody in this room by trying to press and go out there and try to do more and try to be the guy. ... I have faith in this group.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
Seattle Mariners designated hitter Cal Raleigh, facing, greets Randy Arozarena (56) after hitting a solo home run against the Athletics during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners designated hitter Cal Raleigh hits a solo home run against the Athletics during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners designated hitter Cal Raleigh jogs home after hitting a solo home run against the Athletics during the fifth inningof a baseball game, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, damaging the vessel and complicating efforts to bring the United States and Iran together in Pakistan for talks to end the war.
The morning attack by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, which had been due to expire on Wednesday, to give Tehran time to come up with a “unified proposal” ahead of possible negotiations.
Iran has offered no formal acknowledgment of Trump's ceasefire extension.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for agreeing to the extension, saying it would buy time for ongoing diplomatic efforts.
“With the trust and confidence reposed in us, Pakistan shall continue its earnest efforts for a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” he wrote on X.
Trump said the U.S. would continue its blockade of Iranian ports, which Iran has called “unacceptable,” and has indicated was a reason it had not yet agreed to join talks in Islamabad.
The Revolutionary Guard vowed Wednesday to “deliver crushing blows beyond the enemy’s imagination to its remaining assets in the region.”
Wednesday's attack in the Strait of Hormuz came after the U.S. seized an Iranian container ship after shooting it this past weekend and boarded an oil tanker associated with Iran’s oil trade in the Indian Ocean.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, a monitoring agency run by the British military, said a Revolutionary Guard gunboat did not hail the ship before firing. It added that nobody was hurt in the attack.
Iran's Nour News, however, reported that the Guard only opened fire on the ship after it had “ignored the warnings of the Iranian armed forces.” Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency described the attack as Iran "lawfully enforcing its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
In peacetime, about 20% of the world's oil and natural gas transits the strategic waterway, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open oceans and was fully open until the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.
Since then Tehran has throttled shipping traffic through the strait, causing oil prices to skyrocket and impacting global economies.
In early trading on Wednesday, Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading at close to $98 a barrel, up more than 30% since the day the war started.
Pakistan has been working tirelessly to bring both sides together for a second round of talks.
So far, Iran has not committed but Pakistani officials there have expressed confidence that Tehran will send a delegation to resume negotiations. The first round April 11 and 12 ended without an agreement.
Over the weekend, Iran said that it had received new proposals from Washington, but also suggested that a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that derailed the previous round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait.
Following Trump's announcement of the ceasefire extension, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he hoped it would create “critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States,” according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to authorities. More than 2,290 people has been killed in Lebanon, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen have died in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.
Rising reported from Bangkok. Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.
Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
