James Paxton's World Baseball Classic blunder spoiled Mariners fans' nostalgia

There are worse things than meeting your heroes. There is, for example, watching a former Seattle Mariners hero literally throw away a comeback story in the World Baseball Classic, as James Paxton did on Sunday.

It was, to be sure, undeniably cool when Paxton came on to pitch for Team Canada in the top of the sixth. He was entrusted with a 2-1 lead over Team Panama, making it a big moment for a 37-year-old who last pitched in the majors in August of 2024.

It was clear that "Big Maple" had some adrenaline. After sitting at 93.2 mph with his fastball in 2024, he dialed it up to 94 mph in his first matchup and eventually got up to 95.6 mph. It was a taste of his Mariners heyday, when he sat 95-96 as one of the more overlooked power pitchers in baseball.

The makings of a dream comeback were there, in other words. But instead, things took a dark turn after Paxton loaded the bases and then helped spot Panama two runs that flipped the score. A two-out flare up the middle by Rubén Tejada ended with the lefty inexplicably cutting off a throw from the shortstop to the catcher and then throwing the ball to the backstop for good measure.

Canada went on to lose 4-3, dropping its record to 1-1 in Pool A. With Puerto Rico and Cuba both at 2-0 entering Monday, Canada is very much in danger of not making it to the next round of the World Baseball Classic.

James Paxton contributes to Mariners fans' nightmare fuel in Canada's WBC meltdown

To be fair, Paxton isn't the only player with Mariners ties who contributed to that nightmare sixth inning. After Paxton walked Jose Ramos to start the inning, Josh Naylor (current Mariner) dropped a throw from Abraham Toro (former Mariner) to put runners at first and second with one out.

Though Paxton ended up getting charged with three runs in 1.2 innings on Sunday, none of them was earned. And of the four hits he gave up, only one actually left the infield.

Even if his blunder contributed to it, Paxton frankly deserved a better script than the one that played out. While he didn't explicitly say that he was seeking redemption with Canada in the WBC, he did allude to wondering "what I could have been capable of if I hadn’t missed my prime" in an interview with Mike Vorel of The Seattle Times.

No lie detected here. Though Paxton pitched 11 seasons in the majors and had an excellent three-year peak — a 119 ERA+ and 550 strikeouts over 447 innings — in Seattle and New York between 2017 and 2019, he never made more than 30 starts in a season. He had Tommy John surgery one start into his second stint with Seattle in 2021, and it cost him basically two-and-a-half years.

Because he pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, Paxton at least has a World Series ring to show for his career. But it would still be nice to see him have a proper shining moment before he hangs up his spikes altogether. And for that, he now needs to cross his fingers.