SEATTLE -- Cal Raleigh opened up for nearly 15 minutes on Friday about his first career stint on the injured list, his outlook to return from a right oblique strain, how much pain he was playing through and much more.
It was a thorough conversation -- before the Mariners' 2-0 loss to the Padres in the Vedder Cup at T-Mobile Park -- featuring emotions spanning frustration to optimism.
“It’s going to suck,” Raleigh said. “I tried to play through it. Unfortunately, what was best for me and the team was just taking some time and getting this thing healthy.”
Here’s what else he said, and what it means moving forward:
The MRI results
Raleigh underwent imaging that was “similar or slightly improved” from the scans the club took when the issue first surfaced two weeks ago and forced him to miss three games, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said.
“Which is encouraging,” Hollander added. “Like, obviously, it didn't make it worse.”
Raleigh tweaked the area during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s walk-off loss in Houston, then despite pushing to remain in the game for his final at-bat, was lifted. At that point, it became clear that he was headed to the IL.
“Obliques are tricky,” Raleigh said. “There'd be some times where you don't feel it at all, and there are some times when you really feel it. And yeah, there was some discomfort ... I tried to get through it, and tried to gut it out.”
Raleigh will also receive a shot in the next 24 hours -- either cortisone or platelet-rich plasma -- though neither he or Hollander was sure which.
The short-term plan
He’ll be shut down for a week from baseball activity, then the Mariners will go week to week with his recovery.
“Right now, we don't anticipate this being a long, long time, or anything like that,” Hollander said. “But we want to make sure that when he's next in the game, he's doing it with full confidence and pain-free.”
The tentative plan is for Raleigh to transition his rehab to the club’s Spring Training facility in Arizona, but Raleigh said that’s fluid.
The benefit of remaining with the team would be the presence of Seattle’s team doctors and athletic training staff. But the detriment would be that, for the roster’s most hands-on player, he might go crazy. It was something he joked about that brought levity to the situation.
“I think the best thing will be to head to Arizona and get right, and let these guys do their thing here,” Raleigh said, citing backup catchers Mitch Garver and Jhonny Pereda. “I'll help as much as they need, but at the same time, you don't want to have too many cooks in the kitchen.”
The long-term plan
Raleigh will eventually need a Minor League rehab assignment, but Hollander said it’d be more like five games rather than 20.
The bigger-picture order, especially after Raleigh went through an 0-for-38 stretch from the outset of the issue, is ensuring that he’s completely pain-free before returning.
Raleigh has never dealt with an oblique injury before, but he’s extremely close friends with Luke Raley and saw how debilitating the right fielder’s injury was last year even after returning. Every oblique situation is different, but the Mariners can ill-afford Raleigh’s situation lasting that long.
“He'll never tell you, but the guy couldn't swing a bat last year,” Raleigh said, “and he was trying to get through it. ... Watching him go through that last year was really hard.”
It was too early for Raleigh and Hollander to offer a timeline. But based on their comments and tone -- and that Raleigh already tried to play through it -- it sounds like this will be more than a minimum 10-day stay and a matter of multiple weeks.
The hindsight
Naturally, Raleigh was asked if he regretted not going on the IL two weeks ago.
“It’s hard to say,” said Raleigh, who’s hitting .161 with a .560 OPS this season, after finishing runner-up for AL MVP in 2025.
“I think all the guys in there, something's bugging them. Everybody is going through something. You're trying to fight through a small injury here or there.
“And to be honest, I wanted to play. And I wanted to see if I could do it, and to what extent was it going to affect me. And I told the trainers ... if I ever got to a point where I was hurting the team, or I couldn't go anymore, I'd let them know. And essentially, it just got to that point.”