Happy Wednesday everyone!
While Team USA might be all smiles, it appears that there might be some drama brewing between Cal Raleigh and his Seattle Mariners teammate Randy Arozarena. After Raleigh skipped shaking hands with Arozarena following a game, Randy had some choice words for the All-Star catcher. Raleigh has since come out with his own statement to suggest there’s no bad blood and insists he has spoken to Arozarena about the incident. Time will tell if things remain chilly between them after
this.
In other WBC news, Tarik Skubal shared that he would stand by his original decision to only pitch in one WBC game, and he got into the finer details of why he came to that difficult choice. Meanwhile, Bobby Witt Jr. is impressing everyone so much that Paul Skenes’ famous girlfriend Livvy Dunne has started making memes about it:
All that and much, much more in today’s news, so let’s just jump right into it!
- Jon Lewis reports that there will at least be one team sticking with the FanDuel broadcast, and that will be the Angels.
- Michael Baumann explains why chases and whiffs don’t always equal outs.
- Will Leitch tries to predict who might walk home with some big awards this season.
- Kyle Koster shares that while Shohei Ohtani didn’t play in Team Japan’s last game in Tokyo, he did make it worth it for all the fans in attendance.
- Francisco Lindor is optimistic he’ll be ready to go by Opening Day. (ESPN)
- Best novelty item of the season? I think so. (Here’s a direct link to the BlueSky post for those reading on Apple News)
- Ryan Blake reports that Zack Littell has signed with the Washington Nationals.
- Matt Martell doesn’t think we’ve seen everything the Domincan Republic hitters are capable of just yet.
- Kevin Durant showed his love for Team USA by wearing a signed Aaron Judge jersey to watch a WBC game. Story by Jared Greenspan.
- A Czechia pitcher whose day job is as an electrician might have had the best moment in the WBC so far. Story by Kristen Wong.
- Tarik Skubal explains why his choice to leave the WBC after one game was such a difficult one to make. Story by Chandler Rome. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Looks like some things at the WBC are getting heated.
- Jay Jaffe reports that Jesus Luzardo has signed a 5-year extension with the Phillies.
- Jared Greenspan shares some elimination scenarios for the WBC.
- Ryan Phillips writes that Nolan McLean is ready to use the WBC to show the world how ready he is for the big leagues.
- Jesse Rogers looks at what MLB teams are thinking while their stars play in the WBC.
- Ken Rosenthal explains why Bobby Witt Jr. has everyone on Team USA smiling (and even has Paul Skenes’ girlfriend making memes). (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Drama-minded viewers decided there must be beef between Mariners Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena after it appeared that Raleigh did not shake Arozarena’s hand following a game. Raleigh has since addressed this as being overblown. (Here’s more about what happened if you want to get into the details, and hear how Arozarena responded.)
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
