The storylines are abundant as Team USA faces the Dominican Republic in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday in Miami.
How will Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes navigate the formidable Dominican lineup?
Will there be more American or Dominican fans at loanDepot Park?
And, of course, will Team USA catcher Cal Raleigh snub Seattle Mariners teammate Julio Rodríguez?
Raleigh’s refusal to engage with his regular-season teammates has been a running subplot of this tournament, which has irritated Raleigh and amused most everyone else. Raleigh is hitless in nine at-bats thus far and 0-for-2 in accepting the handshake diplomacy of his fellow Mariners.
Josh Naylor, the Mariners first baseman, kept the bit going when Team USA knocked off Naylor’s Canadian team in the quarterfinals on Friday. In the first inning, Naylor extended his hand for a fist bump. Raleigh, as is his right, left his teammate hanging.
“We were all just joking, trying to make light of the situation,” Naylor told reporters after Team USA’s 5-3 victory. “I texted him before that I was going to do it. He said, ‘Please don’t.’”
Josh Naylor said he texted Cal Raleigh before the game and told him he was gonna offer him a fist bump
Cal said “please don’t” 🤦
pic.twitter.com/nSCoM0ykN2— Vinny’s Corner (@VinnysCorner1) March 14, 2026
Naylor left no ambiguity about his feelings toward Raleigh, who finished second in the American League MVP voting after hitting 60 home runs in 2025. “Me and Cal are really good friends,” Naylor said. “He’s an awesome teammate and honestly one of my favorite teammates I think I’ve ever had in my career.”
The interaction between Naylor and Raleigh represented a light-hearted contrast to a moment earlier in the tournament, when Raleigh declined to shake hands with Team Mexico’s Randy Arozarena when Arozarena came to the plate. After the game, Arozarena unleashed a lengthy, expletive-laden rant about Raleigh that may or may not have been serious.
“That ‘good to see you’ that he said to me,” Arozarena said at the time, “he can shove it straight up his ass.”
Because Arozarena popped off, Raleigh spent the next day fending off questions. He cited his competitive nature as the reason for the snub, rather than any hard feelings toward Arozarena. He did not appear to enjoy the discourse.
“I hate that this is a thing,” Raleigh said.
Unfortunately for Raleigh, his teammates just keep showing up on the other side of the lines.
So there will be plenty of attention when Rodriguez, who has batted in the bottom third of the Dominican’s star-studded lineup, steps into the batter’s box on Sunday. Unless, of course, Team USA’s Mark DeRosa decides to start Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith. Then again, Smith refused to shake Arozarena’s hand back in the 2023 WBC, too.