During the MLB season, Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh are teammates on the Seattle Mariners, anchoring one of baseball’s most powerful lineups. But that partnership gets put on hold at the World Baseball Classic.
Raleigh’s playing for Team USA. Arozarena represents Mexico.
And Raleigh made it crystal clear Monday night just how seriously he’s taking that distinction when the two squads faced off in a Pool B matchup in Houston.
The Handshake That Wasn’t
When Arozarena stepped up for his first at-bat, he approached the plate chatting with his Mariners teammate behind it. Then he extended his hand for a handshake.
Raleigh left him hanging.
Plenty of people figured the catcher was just messing around with his clubhouse buddy – or maybe didn’t want pine tar from Arozarena’s batting gloves all over his catching hand. Turns out he wasn’t joking at all. Once the game started, they were competitors, and that was that.
Team USA went on to win 5-3, taking control of the pool standings in the process.
Arozarena Wasn’t Laughing
After the game wrapped, reporters asked Arozarena about what happened at the plate. He didn’t take the diplomatic route.
Instead, he went off – expressing real frustration with how Raleigh handled things.
😳⚾ Momento tenso en el diamante.
Randy Arozarena se molestó con Cal Raleigh después de que el receptor lo dejara con la mano extendida durante el partido, generando un momento de tensión en el terreno. pic.twitter.com/4ingcRwt1e
— Séptima Entrada (@septimaentrada_) March 10, 2026
“The ‘good to see you’ he said to me, he can shove it up his a–,” Arozarena said in Spanish.
He also told Raleigh to “f– off” and “go to hell.”
Maybe Arozarena was playing it up for the cameras. But there wasn’t much of a smile on his face when he said it; he genuinely seemed upset about being left with his hand extended like that.
The thing is, these two are going to be sharing a clubhouse again in two weeks. They’re both critical pieces of what Seattle’s trying to accomplish this season.
The Mariners might want to get this sorted out sooner rather than later.