Seattle Mariners Land A Rare WBC Championship Win-Win

Seattle has players on both sides of the WBC championship, and that makes this one a rare win-win for Mariners fans.

Seattle Mariners pitcher Eduard Bazardo (83) throws in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays during game seven. | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Mariners actually ended up in a pretty fun spot with this WBC championship matchup. Cal Raleigh and Gabe Speier are on Team USA, while Eduard Bazardo and Jhonathan Díaz are on Team Venezuela. Then you throw Eugenio Suárez into the Venezuela side too, and suddenly this whole thing has a lot more Mariners flavor than you’d expect from an international title game. For Seattle fans, it is one of those rare setups where there is honestly something to like either way.

And it is not like either team stumbled into this. Team USA had to get through an intense 2-1 win over a Dominican Republic team that looked absolutely terrifying for most of the tournament, while Venezuela kept its run going with a 4-2 comeback win over Italy after already knocking off Japan in the quarterfinals. Venezuela is in the WBC final for the first time, Team USA is trying to win its second title, and the whole thing feels big enough already without the Mariners angle. The fact Seattle still has this much presence in it just makes it better

Cal Raleigh, Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, and Jhonathan Díaz Give Mariners A Rare WBC Perk

The fascinating part of this from the Mariners side is that not all of the Mariners involved have dominated the event, and it still somehow works. Raleigh has had a rough offensive tournament, sitting at 0-for-9 with five strikeouts entering the final, while Speier has allowed two homers in limited work. 

Nobody watching this game is going to pretend Raleigh forgot how to deliver in a big moment, because his entire recent reputation says the opposite. He is exactly the kind of player who can be quiet for a week and then decide the loudest game anyway. Speier is in a similar spot on a smaller scale: even if the stat line is ugly, being trusted on a championship roster still says something about where he stands. 

On the Venezuela side, Bazardo has quietly been part of a really fun ride. He finished off Monday’s semifinal win with a scoreless inning, and that alone is enough to make him feel woven into the moment. Díaz has given the Mariners another name on the Venezuelan side of the bracket, which only adds to the weird little Seattle takeover this final has become. 

Then there is Suárez, because why not? If Mariners fans needed one more reason to get emotionally overinvested in this thing, seeing Geno in the middle of Venezuela’s charge probably does the trick. 

Maybe that is the best part of this whole thing. The Mariners are attached to both sides of the biggest game in the tournament, and nobody has to overthink it. Just sit back, enjoy the show, and watch Seattle’s footprint show up on a stage this big. There are worse ways to spend a Tuesday night before Opening Day.