Mark DeRosa justly getting roasted for critical Cal Raleigh decision in WBC Final

Mark DeRosa deserves every bit of heat he is getting for the way he handled Cal Raleigh in Team USA’s 3-2 World Baseball Classic final loss to Venezuela. We’re not going to pretend Raleigh had a great tournament, he definitely did not. It’s also not like Will Smith was a ridiculous choice to be the starting catcher for the championship game. 

But we are going to talk about a manager getting to the biggest game of the event, losing by one run, getting just three hits all night, and still never finding a single plate appearance for one of the most dangerous switch-hitters on the planet. That’s just bad process.

Team USA’s frustrating WBC final loss made Mark DeRosa’s Cal Raleigh snub impossible to ignore

Raleigh came into the WBC off a historic 2025 season. You know the rundown by now: 60 home runs, records, yada yada. And yes, the tournament had been ugly for him up to that point. Before the final he was 0-for-9 with four walks and five strikeouts in the tournament, while Smith had been the hotter hitter. Fine. Start Smith if that is your read.

But when you are managing a one-run championship game, the job doesn’t end with penciling in a lineup card. The job is to stay awake once the game starts.

And that is where DeRosa completely lost us. In the seventh inning, with Team USA trailing 2-0, Roman Anthony reached and Venezuela pulled Angel Zerpa in favor of Andrés Machado to set up a right-on-right matchup against Smith. That was the exact kind of moment where a manager is supposed to feel the game breathing on his neck and make something happen. Instead, Smith stayed in and made the final out of the inning. 

Later, the U.S. tied it on Bryce Harper’s homer, but the offense still finished with only three hits and never got Raleigh to the plate in any form. You can’t lose a one-run final, watch your offense sleepwalk for most of the night, and then shrug at the idea of using a 60-homer switch-hitter off the bench.

Unless, apparently, you are DeRosa. What could be called comfort looked a lot more like managerial stubbornness dressed up as calm.

What makes it worse is DeRosa’s postgame reasoning. He basically framed the offensive dud as a product of spring timing and said these short tournaments come down to who gets hot. Sure. Not going to argue there. But managers are paid to anticipate the right matchup and the right moment. DeRosa managed this final like he was guarding against being second-guessed for using Raleigh instead of trying to win the actual game in front of him. And there is a big difference.

The Mariners also just watched their best player from last season get treated like a break-glass-only-if-absolutely-forced option in the biggest international game on the calendar, and then not get used at all. Raleigh absolutely owns some blame for his tournament performance. Nobody has to sugarcoat that.

But DeRosa owned the lineup flexibility, the pinch-hit button, and the responsibility to chase every possible edge in a championship game. He failed that test. And if Mariners fans are furious that Big Dumper never even got one shot to change the night, they’re not overreacting. They’re paying attention.