Big Day For Big Dumper

It has been a monster year for Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in 2025. As of this writing, Cal is putting up MVP type numbers. He's hitting .247, with 107 RBis and a league leading 50 Home Runs, which he hit #50 on Monday night. Those 50 homers are the most ever by a catcher in a single season

That 50th homer set a couple of new benchmarks, for both the Mariners and Major League Baseball. From the Mariners point of view, Raleigh joins Ken Griffey Jr as the only Seattle players to slug 50 or more home runs in a season. Cal's total is still climbing after this writing. Griffey hit 56 home runs in a season, in back to back years in 1997 and 1998. That's the only time its been done. Raleigh also joins Mickey Mantle as the only switch hitters to ever swat 50 or more in a season (he's also the 8th man in history to hit the 50 mark before the end of August0. The last note is that Raleigh is the first switch hitter in history to hit 20 home runs from each side of the plate.

The record for a catcher had been 48, set by Salvador Perez back in 2021, when he finished the year with 48 long balls.

What does this mean for the Big Dumper and the M's? Well, as of this writing, Seattle is a game and a half back of the Astros for the AL West lead, and they also hold a four game lead on the final wild card spot in the AL with about five weeks to go in the season. So they are sitting in a good spot right now and can only expand on it from here.

As for the personal marks, Cal is leading the AL and second in all of baseball in RBI's and he leads all of baseball in home runs. Sure, his batting average is below what it should be, but that's the trend that baseball seems to be going in. Is he in the discussion for AL MVP? Of course he is. Is he the frontrunner? Not quite sure of that yet. The only guy who might have a say in that is some guy named Aaron Judge. He's the AL and MLB leading hitter.

All in all, its still a fantastic season for Cal Raleigh, and it's not even close to being done yet.

2025 Florida College Football

In the state of Florida, College Football is almost as much a way of life as the NFL is. And why not. There are 18 totally college football programs in the state, ten of which are D1 schools. Of all those D1 programs here in the state, there's five that we will try and cover the most here on the show: USF, UCF, Florida, Florida State and Miami.

A grand total of sixty games will be played combined between the five schools. Yes there are crossovers this year, where some of the schools do play each other this season. Quite a few of those games involve teams that are ranked, as of this writing, in the top 25 in the nation in the coaches polls. There's no doubt in anybody's mind tis going to lead to a lot of exciting football this season.

With that being said, here's how we see the records going down for the big five schools this season.

USF: 7-5
UCF: 5-7
Miami: 11-1
Florida: 8-4
Florida State: 6-6

So what co you think? How do you see things going down this season for the Florida schools in College Football in 2025?

New Name, Same Legacy

Since 1996, the Tampa Bay Lightning have played their home games at the same location. 401 Channelside Drive in Tampa is the address. The name has gone through a few changes over the years, but the building has remained the same. And it has seen three Stanley Cup titles come through the doors. What has been known as Amalie Arena will now be known as Benchmark International Arena.

Tampa Bay has been playing hockey at this building since it opened its doors in 1996. At first, it was known at the Ice Palace, which it stayed until 2002. Then, for the next ten years, it became the St. Pete Times Forum. For the two years following that, it was the Tampa Bay Times Forum. And finally, over the last ten years, it was known as Amalie Arena. Now Benchmark International takes over the naming rights of the arena.

There have been a lot of big events that have taken place in the building over the years. The UFC and WWE have held events in the building on a regular basis. College basketball and college hockey have held their championships in the arena in the past as well. College Hockey has held its frozen four in the building in 2012, 2016 and 2023. The Men's Final Four has taken place in the arena in 2008, 2015 and 2019. Of course, the NHL has had some big events take place in the Arena since it has been opened. It twice has held the NHL All Star Game, 1999 and 2018. There have also been five occasions in which the Stanley Cup has been competed for on its ice surface.

As it sits right now, Vinik Sports Group, who have been running the building, will continue to run the building as it is currently operating. And why not. It is still one of the world class sports and concert venues across North America. The new naming rights to the arena, Benchmark International is a global M and A firm that provides business owners with creative, value-maximizing solutions for growing and exiting their businesses. Benchmark International has handled over $11 billion in transaction value across various industries from offices across the world.

Polar Bear Stands Alone

In the 64 year history of the New York Mets, there have been 1,238 players that have hit at least one home run for the team. Seventeen men have hit over 100 in the Blue and Orange. Four of those have hit more than 200 with the team. But as of tonight, there's a new name at the top of that list: Pete Alonso!

Pete's spent his entire big league career in New York, which is at 965 career games and counting. In game 965, against the Atlanta Braves at home, Alonso cracked career home run #253, a two run shot, to pass Daryl Strawberry for the Mets record. He's hit at least 30 home runs in every full big league season, save for the Covid shortened year of 2020. Pete needs three more this year for another 30 homer season.

Lets not forget that the Mets have had some pretty good home run hitters in their history. Dave Kingman, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Howard Johnson, David Wright, Mike Piazza, and Daryl Strawberry, just to name a few. And Alonso has now topped them all.

Now if the team could get back on their winning ways, that would be great!

Tough Times In Queens

If you're a fan of the New York Mets at this moment, some level of concern has to begin to creep into your mind right now. Since the all star break, the Mets offense seems like they haven't been able to find their way. Hell, it seems like that has been the trend since the middle of June.

The question is, is it time to hit the panic button on the Blue and Orange yet?

Yes, and No.

Yes in that they have, in fact, hit a slide. The team is 18-27 over their last 45 games. Sure, at times the offense, and team as a whole, has had their moments. There was that seven game winning streak right after the all star break. But since then, the team has lost nine of ten. Lindor has quieted down as of late, and the bottom of the order isn't producing the way it was a couple of months ago.

Besides the hitting, its become clear that starting pitching isn't what it used to be at the beginning of the year. The Mets have gone 46 starts without having their starters go six innings on back to back days. That's going to be a big problem the later we get into the season, for what it's going to be doing to the pen. Sure the pen was bolstered at the trade deadline. But what good is it going to do if the team is getting overworked because of the inability of the starters to go deep into games.

I know it hasn't looked good the last couple of weeks for the team, but there is still some good news. As of this writing, the team is still ten games over .500. They are still within striking distance of the Phillies for first place, just three and a half games back. They are still three and a half games up on the Reds for the final wild card spot,  and three and a half back of the Cubs for that top wild card spot (which would mean hosting the wild card series). Alonso is still delivering. Soto is heating up a little bit.

There is still hope and optimism around this team. But there is doubt that's starting to creep into the back of the minds for Mets fans.