Tag: mlb

Been a rough year for Kim Hye-song already

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Prior to the season in the WBC, Kim had to be a part of the Team Korea that sure, finally managed to get out of groups for the first time in an eternity, but they also took some embarrassing losses to Japan and Taiwan.  Capped off by getting mercy-rule walked-off on by the Dominican Republic to end their run.

Comes back to the United States to finish up Spring Training, only to be told that despite hitting .407 with an OPS of .967, he is being sent down to start the season in the minor leagues, citing his WBC commitment taking away from a proper preseason preparation regimen.  I didn’t really say anything over social media platforms because I frankly didn’t want to deal with the likely outrage of Dodgers fans, racist weebs and all other pleebs of the internet, but I found it suspicious that Kim would get such rationale as justification to send him to the minors, despite the fact that all of his Japanese teammates were in the exact same boat, and weren’t getting demoted, but that I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a team full of Japanese players and constantly on the country of Japan’s dick 25/8 sending their lone Korean teammate away. 

Because it’s one of those things that nobody that isn’t Korean would really understand, and it wasn’t worth the aggravation of triggering the ire of the internet, but it’s definitely something that nobody would be willing to admit to probably being the case.

Anyway, Kim dominates Triple-A because it’s too easy for the caliber of player he is, in spite of the limited Spring Training, hitting .346 with an OPS of .822, and at the very first injury reported to the Dodgers, he’s immediately called back up, where he’s already hitting .308 with a .796 OPS.

And six games in is all it takes for Kim to be given the all look same treatment, and be mistaken for one of his more famous Japanese teammates, as SNY’s Gary Cohen states “Yamamoto looking on” when the camera panned to Kim watching in the dugout.

Like I said, it’s slights like these that nobody who isn’t Korean would really understand just how aggravating they can be, and why Koreans like me have these chips on our shoulders when it comes to rolling our eyes at the insufferably weeb-ey excessive praise for anything Japan that Weeb-ey America is so subject to falling for.

The tiny, in all fairness, factor to this is the fact that it was from the visiting team’s broadcast, and seeing as how the Mets haven’t had a Korean player since like Koo Dae-Sung, they’re less educated when it comes to disambiguation between Asians, but if I had to put money on it, I can’t imagine that this racist bungling of telling Asians apart hasn’t happened among Dodgers media either.

But the point remains it happened, it’s embarrassing for those who were apart of it, from Cohen, as well as the cameraman who put the camera on Kim after being prompted by discussions of Yamamoto.  And like most incidents that are insensitive towards Koreans and Asians in general, the backlash for this will be vastly less severe, acknowledged or taken nearly as seriously as if it would be if it involved black people or Hispanics.

If it hasn’t happened already, I don’t imaging there will be any sort of apology from Cohen or SNY, and while everyone is laughing about it, I can lighten up and see the humor in it, but also still remain disappointed and feel dejected by the continuous failure of white people and white people media who love to police others and tell them to be better, while continuously failing to take their own fucking advice.

It doesn’t matter how well Kim Hye-song plays or doesn’t play, if people keep getting him mixed up with the other Chinamen on his own team, I’d rather see him go elsewhere, where he might actually get some fucking respect.

Umpires getting owned by ABS is my favorite subplot of the season

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yahoo Sports: Cincinnati Reds give umpire CB Bucknor a bad day at the office, challenging his calls with Automated Ball Strike (ABS) multiple times, getting them overturned every time

The best part about this article is that this story was entirely one that was always going to happen.  It was never a matter of if, it was always when it was going to come out.  And with 2026 being the season in which MLB has implemented the ABS challenge system into place, it took all of just two games before this came to fruition.  And to the surprise of nobody who follows baseball, it of course involves, CB Bucknor.

When Angel Hernandez retired two years ago, what was really great was that it was completely unanimous that the umpire that would take the mantle of being the worst in Major League Baseball, was CB Bucknor.  Baseball fans basically are incapable of coming to any sort of agreements, about anything, no matter how much statistical evidence there might be, but even still, this was one that came to a consensus pretty quickly, without much incident.

Even the clowns in the BBWAA could probably come to a unanimous decision on whom the worst umpire in MLB was after Angel’s retirement.

Anyway, frankly the only reason it only took two games for CB Bucknor to get exposed as the incompetent umpire everyone knew he was, was the fact that he didn’t have home plate duties on the first game of the season.  And I have a feeling that this article is going to pop up multiple times throughout the season, until either the rules are tweaked, or Bucknor up and retires spontaneously, to save himself the indignity of getting exposed every five games.

Frankly, umpires getting exploited by ABS is basically my favorite subplot of the entire season, and I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more articles throughout the course of the season of ABS having a noteworthy impact on games, and not just including exclusively CB Bucknor.  There are still plenty of other shitty umps like Laz Diaz, Lance Barksdale, Hunter Wendelstedt and Jim Wolf who will have their chances throughout the season to shine under the lights.

I really am a fan of ABS.  For generations, fans, on top of the players have been powerless against the all-powerful calls of umpires, and it’s fantastic to finally see the game evolve to where umpires are finally given some oversight where they can be held accountable for their calls.  It may peter off in the future, but I feel like this season is going to be 180 years of pent-up frustration, aggravation and pettiness unleashed onto officiating crews, and it’s either going to weed out the incompetent, or we’re going to have some really interesting baseball games over the next few years.

I think my favorite part about ABS challenges is that not only is it done in the most public and spectacle fashion, so that the results are shown not just to the players and umpire, but also the entire attending audience, it’s the fact that after the graphic shows the correct result of the pitch, there’s always a few seconds pause before the mathematical result of just how right or wrong pops up, just to kind of punctuate the result, rubbing it into whomever the loser of the challenge was.

Baseball is full of ownage on a regular basis, but ABS allows for a new methodology of it, involving technology, spectacle, and basically a double-down scenario for pitchers and players to want to gamble with.  But it has been telling that the general initial result of ABS challenges in regular season baseball has been more favorable towards players over the umpires, showing that perhaps players haven’t just been whining and bitching for generations now.

I hope Dodger Stadium will get a big weeb gong soon

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

KTLA: Dodger Stadium sells the naming rights to the venue for the first time in history, to Japanese clothing company, Uniqlo

By now, there’s no shortage of jokes about how the Los Angeles Dodgers have gone long since gone full-retard when it comes to their relationship with the entire fucking country of Japan.  The acquisition of Shohei Ohtani brought forth the current wave that has left Hideo Nomo-mania in the dust, and then with the rapid acquisitions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, the organization has fully embraced their buy-in to the old Japan = Superior meme from old weeb culture.

However, as much as I, like many out there, like to take our shots at the organization for leaning into being weeaboos, there’s no denying that it has been absolutely nothing short of lucrative.  As much money the team has dumped into player commitments spanning the next two decades, the team has purportedly already made that money back, multi-fold, from all the deals, sponsorships and rights solely from Japanese companies.

On top of the fact that winning is about the most lucrative thing any sports organization can do, the Dodgers have become a veritable money printer over the last decade, with the last 2-3 years being a massive peak, so when the day is over, myself and all other critics are merely haters and jealous fatties when it comes to voicing our criticisms and dislikes about the team, but they’re still churning money out like they invented the printing press for currency, and a lot of already-rich white guys are getting richer, and fans of the team are enjoying a squad that’s been playing near .600 ball over the last few seasons with a contention window that’s seemingly never closing.

But the news of Dodger Stadium selling the naming rights to the ballpark, that piques my interest just beyond being a not-fan of the Dodgers, but rather to my appeal as a ballpark enthusiast, as well as someone who’s one of those traditionalist olds who is reluctant to accept certain changes.

Even if I weren’t a fan of the team, there was still something inherently cool about the fact that Dodger Stadium had long remained one of the few MLB parks that didn’t sell naming rights.  Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Camden Yards, Angel Stadium, come to mind off the top of my head; I’m reluctant to include Wrigley, since it’s the technically the name of a the gum company too, the Royals are reportedly soon to be leaving the K soon, and Nationals Park is simply biding their time waiting for the right company to sell the naming rights to.

But for the OG’s, there was always something cool about how they didn’t sell their naming rights, it’s like the entities that owned them didn’t care, or wanted to have their name on them, even at the expense of the millions that could come with selling out.  A control thing, or a power play, perhaps, but the fact that they remained unbranded, regardless of how I might have felt for the teams that played in them, just seemed cooler than boring ass bullshit like Truist, LoanDepot, AT&T, Citizens Bank, Citi or other soulless white guy corporations slapping their names onto venues.

And even though Dodger Stadium isn’t even close to my upper quartile of MLB parks, with their horribly uncomfortable seats, shitty sound system and overpriced concessions, at least they had the dignity to remain, just Dodger Stadium, and not be some lame corporate sellout in order to get a cheap pay day… until now.

And of course, it goes to a Japanese company, with Uniqlo being granted the ability to overpay for the naming rights to the biggest weeb team outside of Nippon Professional Baseball.  The name is yet to be revealed, although it is heavily speculated to be “Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium,” with the probable hopeful ideology that fans will not embrace the new name and continue to refer to it as “Dodger Stadium” which is obviously what’s going to happen while the team gets to pocket the naming fees all the same.

But it still seems really lame that the Dodgers would allow this to happen, all the same.  It’s like for the last 64 years, they didn’t feel the need to sell out the name of the ballpark, but it’s become evident over the last decade that there has been a shift in management to where the organization is determined to make as much money as ungodly possible, even at the expense of some of their long-standing integrity pillars, like the name of their ballpark.

I can’t hate the pursuit of money too much, because I kind of understand the rich’s obsessions with getting richer, and the success of the Dodgers won’t last forever, so it’s not the worst idea in the world for all the people in charge of the organization trying to amass as much wealth as possible while the getting’s good, and considering the team is on the hook for like $1.3 billion in payroll to cover for the next 20 years, it’s not a bad idea for the team to build as much of a cushion as they can, all while all the stuffy white guys on whatever board of directors or investors can still get their nut too with others to pay.

But with Uniqlo joining companies like Daiso, Nippon Air, Yakult, it just feeds to overwhelming narrative that the Dodgers don’t so much belong to Los Angeles as much as they belong to the entire country of Japan, and I can’t help but wonder what the heavily Chicano population that actually attends Dodgers games on the regular feels about it.  Probably not negative while the team is still on top of the league, but I look forward to seeing how salty people get when the Dodgers will inevitably feel the pressure of a closing contention window, and hopefully one day feels what it’s like to have to go into rebuilding and have to eat some losing seasons.

I imagine the salt that comes from the rapidly abandoning ships of the Dodgers bandwagon will be an especial delicacy, but that probably won’t happen for quite a long time; but it will inevitably happen, because no team stays on top forever.

The unintentionally brutal ownage of the WBC

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Chosun: Unsurprising, but still a savage way to go – Korea eliminated by mercy rule, losing 10-0 to Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals

I’m not at all surprised at this result, and it almost felt like the Korean national team not only read about all the hype of the seemingly lopsided matchup between them and the Dominican squad, which is literally all MLB players, but they bought into it, and the perception quickly became the reality as the DR team immediately and pretty much effortlessly put them away in the WBC quarters.

I took my dad to a sports bar where we could watch the game, and in spite of the massive task of taking down DR, I still had hope that we could go back to 2006, where the underestimated Koreans obliterated Team USA, and this squad would like, ambush DR early, and they’d unravel on the way to an embarrassing defeat.

But yeah, that didn’t happen, and despite getting out of the first inning unscathed, things quickly fell apart for Team Korea in the second.  Ryu Hyun-Jin facing his old Jays teammate in Vlad Guerrero, Jr. walked him, and then from there it was a death by a thousand cuts as the usually powerful DR squad would collect some ugly singles to get runners on, and then suddenly it was 3-0 DR, with Ryu coming out as quickly as the game started.

After Korea finished their entire lineup to no effect, my dad and I left; neither of us were mad or upset, since it’s not like they lost to the Czech Republic or Australia again, they were getting bodied by the Dominican Edit Team B that was playing like Alysa Liu, completely loose, and a whole bunch of best friends bro-ing it up and having a great time and mashing tanks.

However, it’s the ending that piqued my interest, and made me realize just how brutally savage the mercy rule rules are in the WBC, and how not only did the Dominicans do it to Korea, but this was actually the second time in the tournament that they did it – by hitting a home run that pushed the score into a mercy ending, but because they’re the home team (figuratively, and literally, being in fucking Miami), it effectively becomes a walk-off home run.

Few things in sport is as joyous of an event as the walk-off home run; but traditionally, the spice that enhances them is the fact that they’re usually as a result of being in a tense game, where the score is tied, or even more spicy, when the home team is behind, and they not only wipe away the deficit, they overtake, and the away team has no shot to redeem.

But the WBC Mercy Rule Walk-off Home Run that the Dominican team has now done twice, is especially savage, because the team is basically never at any risk of losing the game, so they don’t have to deal with the anxiety, stress and tension of being in an intense affair, but they still get to celebrate the release of an exciting victory, when they hit the homerun that pushes the score into the mercy rule.

And the losing team, they’re already getting creamed, but then they basically take a second L, when the pitcher literally gives up a game-winning hit to a team that had no risk of losing in the first place, and then they get to watch them yuk it up at home plate in celebration, as if they had clobbered a go-ahead walk off in the ninth.

So yeah, it’s bad enough that Korea was pegged to get destroyed to begin with, but they actually do get destroyed, and on top of that, in spite of getting destroyed, still somehow manage to give up walk-off home run in the process, and suffer the indignity of watching their opponent celebrate like they just won the World Series.

Yep, that’s a tough day at the office.

But at least Korea took it in stride, and even in spite of the demoralizing loss, they held their heads high, took their defeat with grace, integrity and class, and showed the world that Koreans are some pretty good motherfuckers

Let’s talk about the 2026 World Baseball Classic

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

One thing that sometimes sucks about trying to be a dutiful brogger, is when there’s a topic or something I want to write about that has a little bit of time sensitivity.  Most often times, it happens when the topic is sports, and the case of it right now is the fact that I wanted to talk about the World Baseball Classic, and an upcoming game, but since baseball has the shortest time in between games, sometimes that can get a bit dicey, and when sleep, parenting and work obligations mount, I can’t always be as on top of things as I’d like to be sometimes.

But anyway, I still haven’t really been watching any full games, but I’ve been following the World Baseball Classic, because I’ve been a fan of the global tournament since it started in 2006, and even when MLB gets insufferable sometimes, the WBC still remains somewhat pure and digestible, mostly on account of the fact that there are large swaths of players in the tournament who actually give a shit about the game and isn’t necessarily just concerning themselves about dollar signs.

So let’s get one thing out of the way here, I’m stoked that Korea has managed to get out of the group stage for the first time since 2009, after numerous embarrassing early exits in 2013, 2017 and 2023.  In true Team Korea fashion, they kind of backed into their advancement, mostly powered by the fact that they hung 16 runs on the lowly Czech national team, but they took consecutive losses against Japan and Taiwan, before getting the job done and clearing the run differential in a win against Australia.

I’ve followed enough KBO and Korean baseball players over the years to know where Korea’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and I can comfortably say that as happy as I am that they’ve advanced into the second round and will get to play ball on American soil, I’m not liking their chances, seeing as how they will have to play either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela next; should they upset them, they might get an easier draw, but DR and Venezuela are basically two MLB All-Star squads.  Korea can hit, but their pitching remains suspect, so it remains a lofty mountain to climb.

All I really hope is that they don’t get blown out, and put up good fights against whomever they go up against, and bring honor to the Motherland.

But to get to the topic that really inspired this post, is Team USA, after their humiliating defeat at the squad of Team Italy.  Of course, there’s a part of me that wants to see the United States win the World Baseball Classic, I mean we invented the fucking sport, and yet have managed to only once win a tournament that Americans invented and massaged most rules to give Americans the most advantage.

However, given the state of ‘Murica, my general agitation with the state of MLB and professional sports in general and just plain jaded outlook on all things ‘Murica, there’s a part of me that wouldn’t necessarily find that much dissatisfaction at Team USA taking another L in the WBC, and be forced to watch either Japan, DR or Venezuela hoist the trophy at the end of the tournament.

For starters, I was pretty excited about Team USA’s chances when the roster started taking shape, and anchored by two Cy Young winners in Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes.  I mean, even the mighty Japan and DR and Venezuela would have to kind of give the OJ Simpson face at the thought of having to go through either of those guys.  But then the Skubal drama began, where he said he was only going to pitch one game, against Great Britain, before leaving the team, and I’m just like why the fuck are you even here then bro?

I did take satisfaction at the first batter he faced taking him yard, because fuck him.

But aside from Skenes and 55 pitches from Skubal, the US pitching staff was pretty lean and full of mostly 3rd and 4th starters from mid-market teams, and it’s obvious that a lot of requests for top-tier talent fell on deaf ears as pitchers across the league were in obvious body (and wallet) protect mode, and didn’t want to risk injury pitching in the WBC, when the money is made in MLB.

Regardless, the perception is often that the rest of the world is still way behind the US in baseball talent, and a pitching staff of an Ace and a bunch of mid-tier guys should still be adequate at taking on the rest of the world, but that’s the kind of mentality that exemplifies why the United States has only won 1/5 World Baseball Classics.

If anything at all, this is the WBC where it’s become very apparent that the talent gaps between everyone and the United States have shrunk exponentially from the last go-around.  A combination of relaxed participation rules, allowing players to represent countries up to their grandparents’ birth countries, as well as just the fact that other countries are picking up baseball and are getting decent at it, and most importantly, the fact that a lot of other countries aren’t just not afraid of the Big Bad USA, they have disdain and a desire to defeat them.

Seeing the highlights of all these games where teams not the United States are playing with their balls hanging out and playing for their flags and not their wallets has been a thing of beauty, and considering the fact that the US isn’t completely dominating makes me feel as if the 2026 WBC is a lot like the 2004 Summer Olympic Men’s Basketball, where not only were no other countries afraid of the United States anymore, they were out for their blood, and were successfully drawing it.

Italy humiliating the United States shouldn’t just be a wake-up call to USA Baseball, but was a glowing example of American arrogance and a fatal lack of accountability.  It didn’t take long for the media to pick up on US manager Mark DeRosa’s remarks before the Italy game, about how he had believed that Team USA had already secured their spot in the second round, because in reality they had not, and although he is deserving of the heat he took for making such a reckless statement, my knee-jerk thought was that yes, he is the manager of the squad, but he’s still just one guy on a team with like nine managers and a 30-man roster; why didn’t any single person among all those guys try and correct him or get him to walk back his stupid comments?

Either way, after the loss to Italy, it opened the door to a very interesting scenario where the United States could realistically be eliminated from the group stage of the tournament, for the first time ever.  Their fate rested in the hands, bats and gloves of the Italy vs. Mexico game, where there were three possible outcomes, with one of them being the United States going home.

And this is where the time sensitivity comes into play, and I’m sad to say that I already know the outcome of this scenario, because I didn’t get a chance to write about all this until way later than I had hoped, but work and life got in the way.

But I thought it would’ve been really, really, really interesting if Team Italy and Team Mexico colluded to rig their game to where they landed on the outcome where the United States were sent packing; me writing this out like this indicates that such did not happen, and the Italy/Mexico game doesn’t even have to finish for the fate to already be sealed.

Basically, had Mexico beaten Italy with four runs or less, the United States would have been eliminated with both Mexico and Italy advancing.  An Italy win or a Mexico win with five runs+ would have the United States advancing, but like I said, it would’ve been really something to see if Italy and Mexico colluded, and we saw some real shenanigans on national television, like Mexico nursing a 4-1 lead, and suddenly all players just sitting there striking out on three straight pitches over and over again until the game ended.

In a way, it would be just desserts for Team USA to go out in such a fashion, where their arrogance, ignorance, and just the fact that they’re representing a flag that isn’t particularly favored by many outside of the country and frankly many within it.

But last I checked the score, Italy was up on Mexico 9-1, so they’re going to win the group, and the United States is going to squeak on through to the second round.  Ironically, I think this does Team USA a favor, because if I’m reading correctly, Italy will have to play Puerto Rico next, and the US gets Canada; there are lots of talented Canadians, but I think Puerto Rico is the more dangerous squad.  Nationalistic pride, might backfire for the Italians, but they are playing pretty great, and frankly, this WBC doesn’t seem like it has as overwhelming of a favorite as past ones have, and honestly, that’s a good thing.

This has been a great World Baseball Classic, and I’m glad to see that more of the world is catching up to me in recognizing the beauty that exists when players are playing for their flags and not just money.

There are probably way better analogies for Tarik Skubal’s WBC participation

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

But the first one that comes to mind is when Amazon announced the first-ever Prime Day, they were boasting that it was going to basically be the Brack Friday of the summer, that there were going to be all sorts of incredible deals, massive savings, and that it was going to be the greatest shopping event of the year outside of the holidays.  But when Prime Day began, it became quickly apparent that it really was Amazon’s cleverly-named attempt to clean out their warehouses, because for every one marquee item they had that sold out in two seconds, there were at least a million listings for dumb bullshit like USB cables, electrical outlet covers, dish towels, and all sorts of small, inane crap that nobody really needed.

Anyway, that’s kind of what it feels like to find out that reigning AL Cy Young winner and vocal proponent of USA Baseball, Tarik Skubal revealed that he was only planning on making one start in the World Baseball Classic, and then returning to Spring Training.

Skubal was one of the first players announced for Team USA, and an easy guy to hitch the wagon to, as someone whose incredible arm could easily carry the squad deep into the tournament, and most importantly, potentially neutralize the potent lineups of Japan, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

Considering the United States has only won the tournament they basically invented in order to pad their global athletic standing once out of five times, it’s got to be like a sour grape for USA Baseball, and something they always want to wash the taste out of their mouths, by winning again, and closing that lead held by Japan, who has won 3 of 5, and a guy like Skubal committing is a giant boon, especially since he was shortly followed by NL Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes, creating an incredibly unfair-sounding 1-2 pitching duo in a short tournament format.

But now Skubal reveals that he’s only planning to make a single start, against Great Britain of all teams in the tournament; unsurprising, once such intel was absorbed by baseball fans, it quickly turned into snarky vitriol towards the talented lefty, with people accusing him of unpatriotically going into body protect mode, since it’s clear that he’s going to be seeking out a gabillion dollar contract after the 2026 season, as he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time.

Like, in one hand, I get the importance of protecting one’s self, especially considering the last WBC saw closer Edwin Diaz blow out his knee in 2022 and miss an entire season, and injury is always on the backs of the minds of nearly every participating major leaguer.

But in the other hand, if Skubal knew that he wasn’t going to commit more than a single fucking start for Team USA, I feel like it probably would’ve been best had he just not committed to the team in the first place.  Free up the spot to someone who really wanted to put their balls on the line for the country, and is willing to make three starts if needed, which should encapsulate a group, knockout and potential final in a best-case scenario.

In a way, joining the squad but then only committing to a single appearance, against possibly the worst team in the entire tournament is tantamount to being a part of a group project in school, doing the very first assignment, but then not doing anything at all for the remainder of the project.

Look, I know my analogy game is terribly off right now, but the point is, Skubal’s shenanigans is like a shitty rug pull that gave US baseball hope, but then took it all back.  If anything, if Skubal was only going to commit to a single game, it would be best served if it were saved to be against Japan or any of the other expected powerhouses of the tournament, and save appearances against scrubs like Great Britain, Brazil or Italy for guys like the retired Clayton Kershaw or Logan Webb.

Obviously, I’d love to see Team USA win another WBC, because I don’t think Korea is going to make the runs they did like they did in 2006 and 2009 ever again, but it’s times like this where the greed and body-protect logic of professional athletes gets really fucking old.  There’s a reason why Japan has won three of the five WBCs, and there’s very little reason to believe that they’re not going to be knocking on the door of a fourth one in coming weeks.

I love how the Nick Castellanos saga has given more exposure to Presidente beer since it was on Dexter

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A drive into deep left field by Castellanos: Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos on the chopping block, attempts to get in front of a story of how his fallout in Philadelphia began, including specifying an incident where after being benched, he brought a Presidente (beer) into the dugout while criticizing the manager

Despite the fact that he landed on the Phillies and always seemed to drink the Kool-Aid and be one of those dudes that absolutely murdered the Braves, I’ve always kind of liked Nick Castellanos.  For all the silly reasons to like a player, like for many, it started with the whole meme of Castellanos blasting a home run in the middle of an announcer apologizing on air for making a homophobic remark, causing him to seamlessly segue out of his apology to report on the homer before easing right back into the apology. 

But then it became apparent that there seemed to be this hilariously coincidental tendency for Nick Castellanos to crank home runs out at awkward moments of announcing, leading to the whole meme of Bad Timing Nick Castellanos, and that’s really all I needed for him to land in my general good graces.

Anyway, as the story goes, in 2025, Nick Castellanos was pulled out of a game for lackadaisical effort, and he took so much offense to it, that, in his own admission, he had grabbed a beer out of the clubhouse and brought it back to the dugout where he was prepared to drink it in the middle of an active game while criticizing manager Rob Thomson’s leadership of the team.

This apparently fractured his position with the team, and with some dwindling performance, has made it really easy for the Phillies to want to cut him, despite the fact that they still owe him $20 million for the 2026 season, which they are responsible for, regardless of if he’s playing for the Phillies or not.

I’d love it if the Braves picked him up when the Phillies inevitably do release him, because he’d only cost the team $780K, with the Phils being on the hook for the remaining $19.25M, because he would provide some good depth for when inevitably Ronald Acuña, Jr. gets hurt again, and Castellanos could supply some power off the bench, but I wouldn’t bet money on the Braves getting him.

Regardless, anticipating some fallout for why the Phillies want to cut him so badly, Nick Castellanos took some time to hand write out a summary of the incident in Miami that seemed to be the beginning of the end for his time in Philadelphia, and as admirable it is that he wants to take accountability for his actions and control the narrative by admitting it first, one of the things that stuck out for me, was the oddly specific clarification that it wasn’t just any old beer he brought into the dugout to start criticizing Rob Thomson with, it was very specifically identified as a Presidente.              

I’ve had Presidente beer before, several times in fact.  There was one season of Dexter where just about every character was drinking it whenever there were any characters drinking beer, and the subliminal saturation of it did its job, and I grew curious about the brand, and when I happened to come across it, I didn’t hesitate to grab a sixer to see what all the fuss was about in Dexter.

It’s really not that great of a beer, but the connection to Dexter still made me like it.  And also being the baseball nerd I really used to be, the fact that it was a Dominican beer made me feel some connection to all the Latin players that populated the majority of the MLB.

Needless to say, the mention and inadvertent plugging of Presidente by Castellanos opened up that curiosity from the past, and I’m tickled that he clearly must be a fan of the brew to the point where he had to be very specific at mentioning that it was a Presidente that he brought to the dugout.

The Presidente brand must also be pretty amused, or a little mortified that they got such a generous free plug, because the reality is that they probably haven’t gotten this much advertising since that season of Dexter.  And because it’s coming from a player that I think positively of, it’s bringing that similar curiosity I had over ten years ago that if I were to come across a sixer or a forty of Presidente, I might have to pull the trigger.