Cal Raleigh of the Mariners may shift his focus on the field, a Seattle benefit dinner is raising funds, and the Kraken finish the season with a loss to Vegas.
Cal Raleigh and the price of greatness: should the Mariners' star catcher give something up?
In baseball, few players dominate both defensively and offensively. Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners has been a rare exception in recent years, collecting individual awards and setting historic marks. However, some experts say that to make his game more consistently elite, he may need to consciously concede something in one area. This is not a sign of weakness but a strategic necessity in the grind of a long baseball season.
Former MLB pitcher and analyst Trevor May floated an interesting idea about Raleigh's future on the Seattle Sports show "Bump and Stacy." He noted that the catcher—who won the Platinum Glove as the league's top defender in 2024 and belted an incredible 60 home runs in 2025, setting records for catchers and switch-hitters—might be doing too much. "I just think it's gotten to the point where he's doing so much that some things are going to suffer from fatigue, or you're going to have to let something go," May said. His point is that as Raleigh ages and accumulates playing time (Raleigh plays a lot even as a designated hitter when he's not catching), there will come a time for compromises. Perhaps to preserve freshness and power for hitting, he should focus slightly less on trying to be flawless defensively on every pitch. "Maybe he'll think, 'You know, I don't mind if I don't throw out every runner, or I don't mind if I don't catch every strike, because I need to be able to swing a bat, because I'm depleted,'" the analyst suggested.
May also touched on how the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system has affected Raleigh's defensive value. Part of his phenomenal success in 2024 was his framing — the art of subtly presenting a caught pitch to get it called a strike. May noted Raleigh was especially adept at "stealing" strikes at the top of the zone. With ABS, that skill has become less impactful, since the system can't be fooled by slick glove movements. "That strike disappears, nobody's calling it anymore... and now all the guys who were good at getting the high strike aren't as good at it. That's where his defense, according to the metrics, just fell off," May explained in a conversation on Seattle Sports. Thus, the objective value of his defensive craft in the MLB's new reality has shifted somewhat, which could make reallocating his efforts a more logical step.
What does this mean for the Mariners and for Raleigh himself? It's a question of priorities. If the team views him primarily as a feared middle-of-the-lineup force who can regularly drive in runs, then small tactical concessions on defense to preserve his productivity at the plate may be justified. This doesn't mean he'll become a bad catcher—it's a shift from "elite" to "very good" behind the plate in order to remain "elite" offensively. Such an approach could prolong his career and maximize his overall value to the club. Baseball history includes players who, especially at the taxing catcher position, shifted emphasis from defense to offense as they aged. For a star of Cal Raleigh's caliber, the next stage of evolution might be not trying to do everything, but intelligently choosing where to direct his best efforts at each point in a long season.
Last chance: Ticket sales for the "Nourish & Flourish" benefit dinner closing soon
Ticket sales are closing soon for the Western Seattle Food Bank's marquee fundraising event of the year. If you haven't yet purchased tickets for the "Nourish & Flourish" dinner, scheduled for Saturday, May 2, 2026, now is the final opportunity. As the West Seattle Blog reports, this event offers a special way to support the organization's important work, beyond ordinary donations and volunteer efforts.
The food bank, like many nonprofit social service organizations, is currently experiencing the so-called "winter dip"—the period after the holidays when community generosity wanes while everyday needs for food, clothing and housing support remain. That's why the upcoming "Nourish & Flourish" dinner is critically important. It's designed not just as a celebration but as a moment to sustain and renew community spirit and generosity. The evening will bring neighbors together over a good meal, live programming, a healthy dose of humor and, most importantly, a shared commitment to ensuring every West Seattle resident has access to basic necessities.
The event will also honor those who make the food bank's work possible: volunteers, donors and partners. The annual "Nourishing Neighbors" award will be presented during the evening. Organizers emphasize that this work would be impossible without community support. With final guest lists due to be finalized soon, this is the last chance to be part of what promises to be a meaningful and inspiring evening in support of neighbors. All event details and tickets are available via the short link bit.ly/NAF2026. In this way, the "Nourish & Flourish" dinner serves as a bridge through a seasonal funding slump, reminding the community that fighting food insecurity is an ongoing mission requiring sustained involvement.
Season winding down: Seattle Kraken fall to Vegas, who clinch division
As the NHL regular season approaches its finish, the Seattle Kraken played their penultimate game of the 2025-26 season, losing 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights. The road win clinched first place in the Pacific Division for Vegas and set up a first-round playoff matchup with the Utah Mammoth. This is Vegas's fifth division title in the franchise's nine-year history, and they're clearly aiming for another run—evidenced by a recent coaching change. Eight games before the regular season ended, Bruce Cassidy was replaced by John Tortorella, despite the team being in a playoff spot and having only three wins in their previous ten games.
The Kraken's lone goal came from Shane Wright, who returned to the lineup after missing eight games with an upper-body injury suffered on March 28 in Buffalo. The young forward finished a play after Yanni Nyman—just called up from the Coachella Valley Firebirds—sent a rebound from a Jamie Oleksiak shot to the crease. Wright, who had gone 16 games without a goal before the injury, beat Vegas goalie Carter Hart. The forward admitted he at one point wondered if he'd get back before the season ended: "It's always tough to miss that much time. It feels good to be back out there with the guys." His goal early in the second period put the Kraken up 1-0, but, according to Seattle head coach Lane Lambert, the team "started making dumb mistakes" after that.
Vegas, despite failing to convert on the man advantage against one of the league's worst defensive teams in the Kraken, managed to turn the game. Reilly Smith scored twice, tucking one into the empty net on a delayed penalty late in the third period, and Shea Theodore and Mitch Marner also scored. In net for Seattle, 22-year-old promising Finnish goalie Nikke Kokko played his third straight game, stepping in amid injuries to starters Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer and the absence of Matt Murray for family reasons.
Interestingly, before this game the Kraken had won all three previous meetings with Vegas this season—overtime and shootout victories at home at Climate Pledge Arena, and a tight 3-2 game in Las Vegas on Jan. 31. But this time, as The Seattle Times notes, Seattle appeared to lack motivation, and it showed. Lambert sharply criticized the team's play: "I don't understand why our team can't sustain a 60-minute game. That has to change. We refuse to move the puck up quickly. We bring it back into our zone and we turn it over. It repeats and repeats, and that's why we're defending so much. So, I'll say it straight, there are things to think about."
For many fans and analysts, the loss might have been to their benefit. Before the game, Seattle held the sixth spot in the draft lottery odds, giving them a 7.5% chance at the first overall pick. A loss could theoretically improve their position, but as it turned out, their draft placement didn't hinge on the final game's result. Regardless of the outcome of the season finale against the Colorado Avalanche, the Kraken had already locked in the sixth pick with the highest probabilities of selecting sixth (34.1%) and seventh (41.4%). Thus, the club heads into the end of a disappointing season, which concludes on Thursday, with a clear understanding that changes are needed and a focus on the draft, where a successful pick could be the first step toward fixing things.
