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The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is known for its rivalries, but a viral moment between MLB teammates got even spicier after Team USA and Mexico faced off in pool play on Monday night in Houston.
Mexico's Randy Arozarena stepped up to the plate to face USA star pitcher Paul Skenes, but not before extending his hand to acknowledge his Seattle Mariners teammate, Cal Raleigh, catching behind home plate.
That was until Raleigh looked up at Arozarena and refused to shake his hand.
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Raleigh appeared in the viral video to say something to his teammate, who bent down to listen. But, whether it's a competitive thing or not for Raleigh, Arozarena seemed serious about the situation in his post-game comments.
After the U.S. defeated Mexico, 5-3, to remain undefeated in the WBC, Raleigh had no comment on what happened with Arozarena at the dish. But Arozarena had plenty to say about the situation.
Arozarena was asked in Spanish how he would respond to Raleigh's handshake snub. His answer was translated, and while some on social media dismissed it as potentially sarcastic, the majority believes he was quite serious.
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"How do you want me to respond to Cal Raleigh?" Arozarena asked the reporter. "What do you want me to tell him?
"I'd like to tell him in four languages, that's what I'd like. First, I'll tell him in Spanish, look: All he has to do is thank God he has such wonderful parents, yeah? That his parents are very well-mannered. I got to see them two days ago at the hotel, and they went to say hi, they gave me a hug. Said they were very proud of me and happy to see me again.
"The other thing I want to say to him, I'll tell it to him Cuban-style. What he needs to do is go f--- himself. Mexican-style: he can go f--- himself. And in English, I'm gonna say it to him in English. That 'good to see you' he gave me? He can shove it up his a--."
So, Arozarena claims Raleigh said "good to see you" to him at the plate, but he refused to shake his hand. However, this isn't the first time we've seen this in the WBC.
In an earlier matchup between Australia and Czechia at the Tokyo Dome, an awkward situation occurred when the former's catcher refused to shake the hand of the latter's hitter. Theories started to go around, with the two most popular being a simple competitive thing where players don't want to fraternize with the "enemy," and the catcher potentially not getting pine tar on his hands.
Perhaps one of those is the reason Raleigh did the same with his own teammate, but they're going to have to return to spring training together where this will surely be a hot topic among reporters and fans.
In the meantime, USA and Mexico could find themselves heading to Miami depending on how their final pool play games go this week.
Team USA finishes their schedule against Italy on Tuesday night, where they hope to clinch their quarterfinal spot with a victory. Mexico and Italy will finish up their pool play with a potentially pivotal matchup on Wednesday night.
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