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Cal Raleigh's home runs, Framber Valdez's struggles, the AL West title and more: 7 takeaways from the Mariners' sweep of the Astros

In arguably one of the most consequential regular-season series in franchise history, the Seattle Mariners marched into Daikin Park over the weekend and took all three games against their annual archnemesis, the Houston Astros.

It began Friday with a 4-0 shutout featuring excellent pitching and four solo home runs from four different batters, continued Saturday with a 6-4 victory punctuated by an epic, game-ending double-play courtesy of right fielder Victor Robles and concluded Sunday with an emphatic 7-3 victory highlighted by a seven-run second inning that set the tone for the sweep-to-be.

Altogether, it was a comprehensive showing from a Seattle team that looked superior to Houston in nearly every facet of the game and opened a clear path to the Mariners’ first division title since 2001 with six games left to play. The Astros, meanwhile, are suddenly at risk of missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.

Here are the biggest takeaways from a momentous three days in H-Town.

Cal Raleigh is chasing more than just home run records

Guess who homered again — and again? That’s right, Seattle’s switch-hitting, superstar backstop added another two long balls to his jaw-dropping total over the weekend. On Saturday, batting right-handed, Raleigh smashed an opposite-field blast into the Astros’ bullpen for his 57th of the season, breaking Ken Griffey Jr.’s franchise record for home runs in a single season. On Sunday, Raleigh turned around and swatted home run No. 58 while batting lefty, sending a screaming line drive down the right-field line to put an exclamation point on Seattle’s seven-run second inning.

With six games remaining — including three against a Rockies team that has allowed an MLB-leading 239 dingers — Raleigh has a legitimate chance to become just the seventh player ever to reach 60 home runs in a single season, and he has an outside shot to chase down Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62. But no matter how many home runs Raleigh finishes with, this has been a historic showing by multiple measures.

But enough about the homers. While Raleigh’s sensational power production is worthy of our attention, allow me to direct you to another bit of history that has nothing to do with his bat: Raleigh has started 114 games behind the plate for Seattle this season and caught 1,046 innings — and has not allowed a single passed ball. If he remains unblemished for the final week, he will break the major-league record for innings caught in a season without allowing a passed ball, a mark set by Johnny Bench in 1975.

Raleigh’s advanced defensive metrics might not shine quite as brightly as they did a year ago, when he caught more innings than any other catcher in baseball and won the Platinum Glove as the best overall defender in the American League. But this niche fun fact is another example of how his defensive skills manifest behind the plate — all while he is one of the most feared hitters in baseball.

Hunter Brown has done his part

Before harping on what went sideways for Houston, it’s worth giving some love to an Astro who has unquestionably stepped up lately. The 27-year-old right-hander delivered his sixth consecutive quality start Friday, allowing just two runs (both solo homers) across six innings, though a no-show from Houston’s offense rendered his strong effort moot. Brown’s 21 quality starts are tied with Garrett Crochet, Cristopher Sanchez, Logan Webb and Bryan Woo for the most in baseball, and with his nine punchouts Friday, he became the seventh pitcher to reach the 200-strikeout threshold this season.

Brown looks to be neck-and-neck with Max Fried for third behind Crochet and Tarik Skubal in the AL Cy Young race; he’ll have another outing this week in Sacramento to bolster his case. But wherever he finishes in the voting — and whether his start this week in Sacramento is his last of 2025 or another outing awaits in a crucial Game 162 and/or in the postseason — this year has been a tremendously exciting step forward for Brown. His individual breakout should not be overshadowed by the collective struggles around him.

Bryan Woo’s early exit — and what’s next

Woo showed well once again Friday, with five scoreless innings and just two baserunners allowed, continuing his magnificent campaign and lowering his season ERA to a sparkling 2.94. But Woo’s early exit after exhibiting discomfort while warming up for the sixth inning sent a shockwave of panic through the Mariners’ fan base. Fears of the absolute worst were somewhat quelled postgame, when Woo and the Mariners explained that he departed due to “pec discomfort” and not some season-ending injury. An MRI Saturday confirmed some “inflammation” but not necessarily the kind of ailment that will put Woo on the shelf.

It remains to be seen whether Woo will make another regular-season start this week (his turn in the rotation would come Thursday vs. Colorado) or Seattle will play it safe and have him rest for the postseason. Regardless, this is clearly a crucial situation for the Mariners to monitor with October fast approaching.

[Get more Mariners news: Seattle team feed]

Framber Valdez is scuffling at the worst possible time

For the first four months of the season, Valdez was a formidable co-ace alongside Brown atop Houston’s rotation, a steady presence seemingly still in his prime as one of the league’s most reliable left-handers. Valdez’s 3.6 fWAR through the end of July was tied with Webb for fifth among starting pitchers, and he appeared on track to turn in another stellar campaign in the final year of his contract, priming him for a significant payday in free agency.

On less positive notes, in July, Valdez publicly criticized his team’s defensive positioning after a narrow loss to the Nationals. Then there was the messy sequence in his first September start involving a cross-up with catcher Cesar Salazar that, at the very least, was brutally bad optics for Valdez. Most pertinently for the purposes of Houston’s quest to return to October — and Valdez’s hopes of cashing in this winter — his performance his flatly tanked: After allowing another five runs against Seattle on Saturday, Valdez harbors a 6.71 ERA across nine starts since the start of August, the second-worst mark among 61 qualified starting pitchers over that span. Houston has lost eight of those nine outings, contributing to its loosening grip on a playoff spot.

Valdez’s ascension from unheralded prospect into legitimate frontline arm has been one of the most important individual developments in this era of Astros baseball. Even with his recent struggles, a pitcher with his track record will be valued on the open market, and the expectation is that Valdez is unlikely to stay in Houston. As such, if he scuffles again in his final regular-season start and the Astros fail to qualify for the postseason, this would be an immensely disappointing end to what has been a hugely successful Houston tenure. Let’s see if there’s time left for him to flip the script and finish on a high note.

Gabe Speier deserves your attention

Saturday’s game concluded in dramatic fashion, with right fielder Victor Robles sprinting to make a diving catch and rob Carlos Correa before tossing the ball into second base and doubling off a confused Jake Meyers, who had taken off for home, assuming the ball had dropped. It was a spectacular play that will likely be replayed for years among Mariners faithful as perhaps the catch that sealed a long-awaited AL West title. But one inning prior, the Astros had a similar rally cooking before it was also squashed emphatically, this time thanks to Speier.

After Jeremy Peña’s grand slam in the seventh suddenly made a 6-0 Mariners blowout a narrow 6-4 lead, the Astros notched two hits in the eighth to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Yainer Diaz. Eduard Bazardo — another unheralded Mariners reliever — struck out Diaz for the second out. With lefty slugger Jesus Sanchez scheduled to hit next, Seattle manager Dan Wilson summoned the southpaw Speier from the bullpen. Houston countered with the righty-swinging Christian Walker as a pinch-hitter to recapture the platoon advantage, but Walker proved no match for what Speier had to offer. He unleashed three consecutive heaters — his four-seamer rates as one of the game’s best — to garner a called strike one, a foul ball for strike two and a huge whiff from Walker for strike three to end the threat and the inning.

This was a signature moment for Speier, who has quietly been one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball in 2025. He appeared sparingly for the Royals from 2019 to ‘22 before being claimed off waivers by Seattle. Speier was then stellar in his first year with the Mariners in 2023, but he took a step back last season, bouncing between Triple-A and the big leagues. Unquestionably, this season has been his best yet: Speier’s 2.23 FIP ranks fourth-lowest among qualified relievers, and his 1.8 fWAR ranks third among lefty bullpen arms, behind only Aroldis Chapman and Adrian Morejon. Seattle’s rotation and star closer Andres Muñoz get most of the headlines, but Speier is a crucial cog in the Mariners’ run-prevention apparatus as they enter October.

Christian Walker is running out of time to make a difference

On the other end of that memorable showdown Saturday was Walker, whose first season as an Astro after signing a three-year, $60 million deal this past offseason is winding down in a less-than-ideal manner. Walker was downright bad the first half of the season (.660 OPS), eliciting ominous memories of the disastrous and eerily similar contract the Astros gave to Jose Abreu a few years back. Then Walker rebounded with an .831 OPS in 49 games across July and August, suggesting he could be a meaningful offensive contributor as the playoff race heated up.

Unfortunately, he has faded once again right when Houston has needed run production the most. After hitting .316 on a nine-game road trip to Texas, Toronto and Atlanta, Walker went 0-for-16 with 10 strikeouts to start the final homestand against the Rangers and Mariners before a single in Sunday’s game snapped the ugly skid.

To be clear, Walker is hardly the only Houston hitter who needs to step up over this final week, especially with Yordan Alvarez’s absence continuing to linger and Peña still missing games due to injury as well. Jose Altuve has also been quite unproductive lately. Correa has been hitting but not slugging. Sanchez has barely made an impact since arriving at the deadline. Isaac Paredes is already back from his hamstring injury, but he’s not 100 percent. While all of these circumstances have contributed to Houston’s fall in the standings, it’s the underperformance from an every-day presence such as Walker — who has started 147 of Houston’s 156 games – that stands out.

The road ahead

Seattle can smell October. Its magic number to clinch the AL West is down to three, meaning any combination of three Mariners wins or Astros losses over the final week will seal the division crown. The Mariners conclude their regular-season schedule with a six-game homestand featuring two ends of the competitive spectrum: three against the MLB-worst Rockies and three against the defending champion Dodgers. Granted, it’s possible the Dodgers will have wrapped up their latest NL West title and their postseason positioning by the time they arrive in Seattle this weekend, lessening how daunting that matchup could be.

As for Houston, while another AL West title might be out of reach, a path to the postseason still exists. This week, Houston will first head to Sacramento for three against the A’s before finishing in Anaheim against the last-place Angels. Although the Astros will need to go on the road to earn a berth, their remaining schedule appears more favorable on paper than those of the teams they are effectively chasing in Detroit (3 at Cleveland, 3 at Boston), Cleveland (3 vs. Detroit, 3 vs. Texas) and Boston (3 at Toronto, 3 vs. Detroit). At the very least, the Astros are sure to face notably weaker pitching against the A’s and Angels compared to what they just endured with the Mariners, so perhaps the bats will heat back up.

But either way, this final push will require a full-team effort, and the Astros will also need some misfortune for the clubs ahead of them if they are to reach October for a ninth consecutive season. We’ve counted this franchise out plenty of times before, so it’d be foolish to bury them just yet, but there is ample work to be done. An enormous week for this franchise awaits.

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