What’s more Mariners to you?

Scenario A: An electrifying young player goes to the Home Run Derby at Major League Baseball’s All-Star break and puts on an astonishing display of power only to lose because the arcane rules of the game have left him tired out before the final round.

Or,

Scenario B: An electrifying player goes to the Home Run Derby, benefits from what is essentially a technicality to advance out of the first round of competition, and goes on to actually win the whole thing surrounded by his loving family and teammates?

If you’ve followed the team for any length of time, you know that the answer is historically scenario A, which happened to Julio Rodríguez not once but twice. This is the Mariners, after all, a franchise that has spent decades both amassing the most talented and delightful players on earth and failing to win any meaningful games with them. A lot of goodwill. Not a lot of good.

But last night, something strange happened. The Mariners were treated to scenario B. Cal Raleigh, who is having one of the greatest years of any catcher in baseball history, won the damn thing. His father was pitching. His little brother was catching. Randy Arozarena, Bryan Woo, and Andrés Muñoz were bringing him cold drinks from the sidelines.

Maybe it’s just another nice All-Star moment for a fanbase that has had plenty, and would surely trade any one of them for another playoff victory or two. Maybe it’s just another nice moment in a magical season for Raleigh, who already has an absurd 38 home runs and has seemingly graduated from goofy local folk hero to goofy national folk hero. (Has there ever been a less swaggy superstar? Even in baseball? Last night a friend of mine who is something of a lapsed fan of the sport told me he had never heard of Cal Raleigh, but when I clarified, he said he had heard of the Big Dumper.)

So yeah, maybe it’s a nice moment. But maybe it’s more than that. Maybe it’s an omen.

Despite popular belief, it is actually possible for things to go right for the Mariners. Let Raleigh’s derby performance be a sign that they are capable of winning more than people’s hearts. Because despite the way it might feel watching them sometimes, this year’s version of the team is actually pretty damn good.

Arozarena and shortstop J. P. Crawford are both having the kind of seasons Mariners fans could only dream of. The promise of Julio Rodríguez might occasionally eclipse the reality, but the reality is still a star who streaked into the All-Star break with his best weekend of the season. Behind them, Jorge Polanco, Luke Raley, and even Dominic Canzone are all actual legit major league hitters—not a small thing for a team that has struggled to put together complete lineups for a decade.

The bullpen, which collapsed last year, is back in solid shape with Matt Brash and Gabe Speier lining up before the closer Muñoz. And the rotation, with Woo as a somewhat unexpected all-star, Luis Castillo doing his thing, and George Kirby and Logan Gilbert healthy again, is rounding into its usual dominant form.

Do they need more? Yes. And the farm system is stocked with prospects who the front office could—and should—use to bring in those reinforcements.

But no player the Mariners trade for will matter more than the one who has carried them this far. Nobody saw Cal Raleigh leading baseball in home runs right now. Nobody saw him winning the Home Run Derby either. It’s fair to ask: What else did nobody see coming? What other magic will he, uh, dump on Seattle this season?