Within the battle of the baseball’s greatest sluggers, Aaron Decide and Cal Raleigh each delivered in spherical one.
Decide and Raleigh traded homers within the Yankees’ series-opening 10-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday evening within the Bronx, additional fueling what’s shaping as much as be an epic dwelling run race between the All-Stars.
Decide struck his thirty fourth dwelling run of the season within the seventh inning, briefly shifting him inside considered one of Raleigh’s MLB lead. Raleigh, the Mariners’ catcher, had an up-close view of Decide’s 345-foot solo shot in opposition to Casey Legumina.
However Raleigh answered within the eighth with a two-run blast in opposition to Geoff Hartlieb, giving him 36 on the 12 months. Raleigh’s 394-foot no-doubter soared over Decide’s head and into the second-deck of the right-field stands.
“I think it’s what both sides are pretty ho-hum used to seeing, for them to put one on the board,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone stated afterward. “You’ve got two guys in the mid-30s at this point in the season. Just a testament to how special of a season both of them are in the midst of.”
Raleigh is now on tempo for 64 dwelling runs, which might break the American League single-season document of 62 that Decide set in 2022. Just a few followers throughout the Yankee Stadium crowd of 38,641 groaned Tuesday as Raleigh settled into his dwelling run trot.
Decide, in the meantime, is on tempo for 61 homers, although he has another by means of 91 crew video games this 12 months than he did on the similar level in 2022.
Raleigh, who’s hitting .268 with 76 RBI and an 1.029 OPS, additionally poses the most important menace within the AL MVP race to Decide, who has 75 RBI and leads the majors with a .360 common and a 1.205 OPS.
“He’s a complete hitter,” Decide stated of Raleigh on Sunday. “Hits the ball all over the park. Being able to be a switch-hitter and have both your swings on like that, it’s impressive, so I’m excited to see him.”
Nicknamed “Big Dumper” for his highly effective drives, Raleigh has already set a profession excessive for dwelling runs this season, eclipsing the 34 he hit final 12 months.
However he’s eyeing far more than private historical past.
Raleigh is on tempo to interrupt the document for dwelling runs in a season by a major catcher, which Salvador Perez set with 48 in 2021.
He’s additionally on tempo to set the document for dwelling runs in a season by a switch-hitter, which belongs to Mickey Mantle, who struck 54 throughout his well-known 1961 marketing campaign.
Raleigh broke the document for dwelling runs by a major catcher earlier than an All-Star break greater than two weeks in the past, when he handed the 28 that Johnny Bench hit in 1970.
If he hits 4 homers within the subsequent 5 video games, Raleigh would break Barry Bonds’ total pre-break document of 39 homers in 2001. Bonds completed with an MLB single-season document of 73 homers that 12 months.
“Remarkable, really, when you consider the position and the rarefied — actually, not even rarefied, he’s made his own air, now, with the first half,” Boone stated of Raleigh earlier than Tuesday’s recreation. “From a power standpoint, he’s always had power, but now you’re just seeing a more improved and polished hitter.”
Initially Printed: July 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM EDT
