Cal Raleigh calls John Schneider's reputation into question in harsh clapback

While the Toronto Blue Jays couldn't quite pull off a three-game sweep over the Seattle Mariners, there's still some things to be excited about moving forward. More than anything, it's nice to see the Blue Jays win consecutive games and a series for the first time in the young season.

An occurrence that may have flown under the radar of some fans is what happened after Wednesday afternoon's contest in the post-game media sessions. Cal Raleigh, the Mariners' catcher who hit the game-winning two-run home run in the 10th inning, told reporters that looking over at the Blue Jays dugout after a clutch home run like that brings "a little extra motivation", and he went on to trash talk John Schneider a bit.

Where did this come from? Let's take a step back in time and revisit where the makings of this feud originated.

In July of 2023, the Mariners were in town for a three-game series against the Jays. Raleigh hit two solo home runs in what wound up being a 9-8 Mariners win. After the game, Schneider said to reporters, "He's not very tough to pitch to when you execute your pitches."

I'm not a baseball player or a coach, but that feels like something you shouldn't publicly say about an opposing player. You just run the risk of eating your words and having the player angry and even more motivated to beat you in the future. That's exactly what happened here.

On Raleigh's side, he said after the game that "a lot of guys have beef with Schneider in the league", and that Schneider's comments weren't surprising. "You know, I don't have much to say", Raleigh said. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all, I guess."

One can hardly blame Raleigh for taking offense to Schneider's previous comments. Especially seeing as how he has done nothing but dominate the Blue Jays all throughout his big league career. In 15 career games against the Jays, the switch-hitting backstop has nine home runs with 16 RBI and a 1.091 OPS. Seems ... pretty good!

It's interesting to hear Raleigh say that he's not the only player to have issues with Schneider around the league. Perhaps the skipper would be best suited to stop commenting on opposing players and how easy they are to get out moving forward.