Mariners have to solve Cal Raleigh problem quickly after Team USA action at WBC

The Seattle Mariners likely found it incredibly exciting for star catcher Cal Raleigh to represent the United States at the World Baseball Classic.

Except it didn't go how Raleigh or Team USA would've liked.

Raleigh struggled through the tournament, and the United States lost in the championship Tuesday night to Venezuela.

The catcher will return to Spring Training with the Mariners, but there's less than 10 days left until the regular season, and that leaves Seattle very little time to work things out with Raleigh.

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The issue is sort of two-fold: Raleigh is in a slump, and he hasn't gotten the work yet to get out of it.

In the WBC, Raleigh got 14 plate appearances and didn't record a hit. He was benched for the semifinal and final in favor of Dodgers catcher Will Smith.

On the quantity side, that's simply less plate appearances than Raleigh would've gotten over the same span of Spring Training if he had stayed with the Mariners -- likely by a factor of two or three. So he's got a lot of at bats to catch up on in a hurry.

And on the quality side, it's not what Seattle wants to see.

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Raleigh had a historic 2025 season, hitting his 60 home runs and leading Seattle to Game 7 of the ALCS.

For them to try and get over the hump and reach a World Series for the first time, they need Raleigh at his best. Right now, Raleigh is in at least a mini-funk, and the Mariners have less than two weeks to help him break out.

There's certainly time for Raleigh to get things in order and be fully ready to go. But it'll have to happen in a hurry.

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