Everything I saw about the Italian national team in the WBC just made me happy. Cause it was always tinged with 'LOOK AT THESE FUN DUDES'. You've got Jac Caglianone, Dominic Canzone, Michael Lorenzen, Vinnie Pasquantino, Aaron Nola and Jakob Marsee, they're all hangin out and upsetting games and you can't not love that. It's also illegal to not enjoy a team coached by Sal Fasano and Jorge Posada and managed by Francisco Cervelli. I'm not Italian but I was rooting for those guys after a while. And when I couldn't love them enough, Pasquantino brings out the espresso machine, which all the money from went towards local autism charities. Like, COME ON.
And it was so welcome compared to the US team, which was devoutly serious. They did that tournament like they were preparing for war. Country music blaring, no joking around, 'this is a job to do'. And the 2017 team was so much fun. Granted, there were a few more non-white people on that team, so uh...draw your own conclusions. Like, there's a reason Cal Raleigh got absolutely clowned on for refusing a handshake from Randy Arozarena. Randy understands that this tournament is for bragging rights, and it's mostly just a fun time with your contemporaries from the same country, it's about national pride. It's not a frigging land operation.
I just think it's really cool that Dominic Canzone goes from the feel good team of the WBC to a truly exciting Mariners team. You know, ya whetted your appetite, you got your reps in, and then you go and play outfield for the guys looking to win the AL West. Keep in mind, the Arozarena-Raleigh thing is still dying down, and Raleigh's been struggling to find his 2025 swing, but there in the corner is Dominic Canzone just doing his thing, he's got 2 hits so far, both of them homers, and 3 RBIs. Sometimes you need a fun vibes guy like that when everything's fraught. Canzone is sharing right with Luke Raley pretty much but both guys are off to nice starts. The idea, I'm guessing is for Canzone to take the majority of starts at RF, Raley to platoon at DH with Rob Refsnyder, and the younger infield to keep things cool. Even without J.P. Crawford I'm confident this team has the pieces to hold things down, with Rivas and Young and all.
Right now there's the slightest bit of concern with the Mariners, as even if they've stayed toe-to-toe with Cleveland they've dropped 2 very close games, both thanks in part to Chase De Lauter coming alive late. The bullpen is not as strong as last year, and Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier and Andres Munoz have struggled putting games away. Josh Naylor has yet to register a hit, and Cal Raleigh only just got started. Julio Rodriguez is also off to a slow start, but...that's kinda normal for him honestly. Midway through May he springs to life and takes off, that's his thing.
I'm still very confident the Mariners can get something done this year, but they need to clean up some of these early stumbling points, including the usually-strong pitching. I'd love for them to repeat as AL West champs, but this year they have competition, and the Astros probably want revenge or something silly like that. So we'll see how things end up.
Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of Italy, someone recently asked me if Mario is canonically a Dodgers fan. Which confused me. And then he showed me an official Dodgers promotion for a bobblehead of Yoshi, from the Mario games, in a Dodgers uniform, wearing #18. And I had to go 'oh, nonononono. Y'see, there's this guy on the Dodgers...'
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