{"id":528054,"date":"2026-03-11T01:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/528054\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T01:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:40:08","slug":"after-wbc-handshake-snub-raleigh-says-theres-no-beef-with-seattle-teammate-arozarena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/528054\/","title":{"rendered":"After WBC handshake snub, Raleigh says there\u2019s no beef with Seattle teammate Arozarena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexico’s Randy Arozarena doubles during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game against Brazil on Sunday in Houston.Ashley Landis\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Cal Raleigh insisted Tuesday he has no beef with Randy Arozarena even though his Seattle teammate lashed out with a vulgar rant after Raleigh left him hanging for a handshake at the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

The kerfuffle went viral when Arozarena, a two-time all-star outfielder playing for Mexico, cursed out Raleigh to a reporter after the U.S. catcher did not accept a handshake before an at-bat in the Americans\u2019 5-3 win.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Mexican journalist Luis Gilbert in Spanish, Arozarena said Raleigh \u201chas to thank God that he has nice parents, well educated,\u201d and said he recently hugged them during a friendly greeting at the team hotel.<\/p>\n

He then used profane Cuban and Mexican slang to insult Raleigh before pivoting to English and saying Raleigh could shove his \u201cgood to see you\u201d. Arozarena was born in Cuba but defected to Mexico to pursue an MLB career.<\/p>\n

Arozarena had reached down to greet Raleigh in his catcher\u2019s squat at home plate, and Raleigh declined to offer his hand back. Raleigh appeared to say something to Arozarena during the exchange at the plate that could have set off the Mexican star.<\/p>\n

Arozarena appeared to be visibly upset at Raleigh, though it wasn\u2019t totally clear if he was just having fun at his teammate\u2019s expense. The pair have been teammates since Arozarena was traded from Tampa Bay to Seattle during the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Raleigh called Arozarena a baseball \u201cbrother\u201d while explaining there was no tension between the teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Randy, I do,\u201d Raleigh said before the U.S. played Italy on Tuesday night. \u201cI hate that this is a thing. There\u2019s no beef when we get back to Seattle. He\u2019s my brother. We\u2019re family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he spoke to Arozarena on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Cal Raleigh (left) of Team United States and Garrett Whitlock (right) react after defeating Team Mexico during their World Baseball Classic Pool B game at Daikin Park.Alex Slitz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s awesome,\u201d Raleigh said. \u201cHe\u2019s been great for our team and we talked and … this isn\u2019t a big deal at all. So we\u2019re good friends and we\u2019ll continue to be good friends, and I think we\u2019re just enjoying competing against each other right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mariners manager Dan Wilson told reporters he planned to speak to both of his players at Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Wilson doesn\u2019t expect whatever happened between the two to linger into the regular season. The Mariners went 90-72 in 2025 and won the franchise\u2019s first AL West title since 2001 in large part behind Raleigh, who became the seventh player in major league history to hit 60 homers in a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetitiveness is competitiveness,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. Sometimes, it\u2019s a backyard game. Whatever. These guys are competitive. But like I said, I think the love that they have for each other will shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raleigh said his priority right now is on his U.S. teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a competitive environment, and I know he would want the same for me when we\u2019re on the team and playoff baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cI just have a responsibility for my teammates here right now and my country and emotions are running high.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. manager Mark DeRosa was asked about the incident Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in the fight, man,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to represent your colours, your country. And … I wouldn\u2019t have had a problem if he dabbed him up. I don\u2019t think it shows any [thing] one way or the other. But he chose not to. And I\u2019m good with that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Roman Anthony added a three-run drive in a big third inning to lead the United States to the win. The U.S. improved to 3-0 and was set to play Italy (2-0) on Tuesday night, seeking to secure a spot in the quarter-finals in Houston this weekend.<\/p>\n

Jarren Duran homered twice for Mexico (2-1), which will face Italy on Wednesday night in the last game of Group B play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mexico’s Randy Arozarena doubles during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,462,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-528054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mlb","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}