PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ketel Marte’s BLAST Keeps Dominican Republic Perfect as Team USA BARELY Advances

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

The World Baseball Classic excitement keeps building as the tournament heads into the quarterfinal round. Diamondbacks superstar Ketel Marte launched an electric home run off teammate Eduardo Rodríguez to help the Dominican Republic stay perfect in pool play with a thrilling win over Venezuela. Meanwhile, Vinnie Pasquantino and Team Italy stayed red-hot—powered by espresso and a historic power surge—to take down Mexico, remain undefeated, and help Team USA avoid an embarrassing early elimination from the World Baseball Classic. We break down what those results mean as the knockout stage begins. Plus, Corbin Carroll finally made his 2026 Cactus League debut and we’ve got a full rundown of his day at the plate. And we hear from Zac Gallen and manager Torey Lovullo on “The Milkman” being named the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day starter and what it means for Arizona heading into the season. 0:00 Intro 3:00 Spring training updates 8:15 Opening Day talk & clips 21:00 WBC Chaos 31:15 World Baseball classic bracket & preview 42:00 Chase Field easy outfield? 50:45 The weather   Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/   Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.   Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.   Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, what have we learned from the World Baseball Classic as we head into the quarterfinal round? Espresso can give you superpowers. And welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDBACs podcast live from Studio K. Presented by our friends at Circle K, it is your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia and a man who has had way too much caffeine this morning. Welcome into you all. Thrilled to have you guys here. Thrilled to be talking about not only Diamondbacks baseball once again,

but World Baseball Classic play as we move into the quarter final round. Thrilled to have you guys here. Thrilled to be joined by my friend Noah on the ones and twos today. Noah, good morning to you. How are you today, sir? Straight chilling. Straight chilling. We've been here for a little while now.

We have a little company meeting this morning and whatnot. So we needed the extra caffeine. But as demonstrated by Team Italy, we learned that espresso, can in fact give you a completely different life can make you a superhuman. And we're going to be talking about that here shortly. But of course, first we have to talk about we are two weeks away from opening day in Los Angeles. That's right. Two weeks from today.

We will be celebrating the MLB regular season being here. And we will be having ourselves a little get-together over at Crybaby in downtown Phoenix. So if you have no plans for that Thursday game as Zach Gallen, takes the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks. You can join us. We're going to be doing a pregame show as well as hanging out and watching the game down there at Cry Baby. And I can't wait.

I'm pumped for the start of the regular season. I'm pumped for opening day. I think we have a game with the Yankees on Netflix the day before there on the 25th. So technically we're less than two weeks away from the start of the opening season. But it doesn't really feel that way right now with the way that this world baseball Classic Tournament is keeping us all very entertained. We don't have to worry about these spring training games boring us to death or wondering if we need to care that the Diamondbacks lost by a score of 13 to 3

to the athletics yesterday because that's awful and that doesn't make me feel very good. I'm sure that doesn't make a lot of people feel great. But the Diamondbacks do face three National League West opponents over the next four days. They have the Giants then on the 14th and the Padres on the 15th. So a lot of Padres or a lot of NOS action. Jordan Lawler has homered in consecutive games and leads the team once again with four home runs. Tim Tawa reached base safely in eight of his nine games. And Luke and Baker, another bright spot for this team in spring has hit safely in six of his last seven games with three extra base hits, including two home runs.

But the Diamondbacks did lose 13 to three yesterday. I guess that was the ugly. The good, though, is that Corby and Carroll did make his spring training debut. since suffering that broken right haymate hook on February 10th. He went 0 for three with a strikeout in yesterday's game. And again, it's really not about Corbyn coming out and looking good or getting hits right away. It really is more about Corbyn finding, you know,

finding his grip again, doing everything he can to just get back into the swing of things with a bat in his hand. He is using one of those axe-handled bats, which if you're not familiar, has a little bit of a curve to it. And the bottom of it kind of sticks out a little bit. Corbyn is adjusted to that bat using it just to help alleviate discomfort that he has right now. Corbyn said yesterday, quote,

not sure how long that's going to last, but it's definitely less painful. So sticking with it for now. As you can see, there is still pain there for Corbyn, and it's something that he's having to deal with while he recovers from this injury. Pain tolerance is something we talked about quite a bit on yesterday's episode, and it's a big reason why Corbin, is able to come back so early from this injury,

especially when you compare it to Francisco Lindor and Jackson Holiday, who also had their haymate bones removed from their hand. Stupid little bone, doesn't even need to be there, doesn't need to be fixed, can just be taken out. But it's enough to cause quite a bit of discomfort. Corbyn did ground out to second in the first inning. He flied out to left in the third and struck out swinging in the fifth. But good news is on the ground out to second,

he registered an exit velocity of 113.6 miles per hour. So it feels like the power is still there. And of course, it's just about Corbyn getting comfortable once again and obviously dealing with the pain of that. Corbyn did say after the game to Steve Gilbert that he felt fine. And he said, I mean, obviously it's not going to feel, you know, perfect, but manageable and just trying to work through it as best I can and make sure I'm ready to go.

So hopefully this is. is Corbyn being able to get through some of these early struggles with this injury, the early things that slow him down, you know, and do all of that in spring. So by the time opening day comes back around, he's ready to go. Similar to some of the guys that are struggling in the World Baseball Classic, just in general. Like Geraldo Perdomo hasn't been lighting the world on fire. Nolan Aronado, another guy that's struggled a little bit. Like, hey, those are high-leverage games, but if you're going to struggle, get those games out of the way now,

in the WBC when it's not really impacting the Diamondbacks regular season, and perhaps they can find their groove before opening day comes back around. But Corbyn Carroll, not in the lineup today out at Salt River Fields. The Diamondbacks are taking on the Rockies today out there. Taylor Clark is on the mound for the debacks. He has not allowed a run in his four innings pitch so far in spring play. He's allowed three hits, one walk, and struck out two. You got Lawler hitting lead off today.

he is currently batting 333 and one Christian Robinson returns to the Diamondbacks lineup overall from playing for Great Britain I want to say is who he was playing for he is hitting 417 in spring with a 962 OPS in Cactus League play so great to have Christian Robinson back meanwhile he was reassigned to minor league camp today he can still be in the lineup as we've discussed with the guys that get reassigned to minor league camp but he was sent down to minor league camp along with a few other maybe notable names, Bryce Jarvis and Thomas Hatch. Hatch just kind of struggled in yesterday's loss. Also, Sean Dubin and Isaiah Campbell, those are all the pitchers that have been set down. Catcher Matt O'Neill was reassigned to minor league camp as well as outfielder Oscar Mercado.

So that's where the Diamondbacks currently stand yesterday. Again, kind of an ugly game. Ryan Nelson was on the bump for the debacks. He made his third start of spring training so far, his first start at home. He allowed three runs on two hits over three and a third innings pitched with four strikeouts. So not a strong outing for Ryan Nelson and arguably the second kind of not strong outing of spring for Nellie in a row. Again, it's spring training. There's probably some things that he's working on in order for him to perhaps take that next step forward, maybe secondary stuff, maybe off speed breaking pitches that can complement that amazing fastball he has. But Nellie, again, still hasn't looked as strong as we're used to seeing him look.

And again, it may have been just confirmed the Diamondbacks decision here to go with Zach Gallen on opening day, which is something that was discussed quite a bit yesterday. We actually have video courtesy of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tori Lovolo discussing Zach Gallen getting that nod. Here's what Tori had to say about making that decision. Before we get started, so I'll let you know that I am going to go ahead and announce. our opening day starter that's going to be Zach Allen. You know, once again, probably a little bit outside of the box for us, a little bit in unmanned territory. But if I know, I felt like I would pass along to you guys. He deserves this opportunity. He walked into camp, very, very strong,

very healthy and ready. And the buildup, we have enough time for the buildup, and those are all things that we need to see take place, and that takes a little bit of time. But once we got through the other day with the three-inning outing, we were in a really good spot. So all things being equal, I'm really excited for Zach. I mean, again, Zach is, this is his fourth opening day start for this team, and it feels like this is, you know, a good move for the Diamondbacks. It's, it's once again, it's very nice that they were able to get Zach to return to this team and have this luxury of turning to Zach here on opening day with Merrill Kelly, Merrill Kelly being injured. We were discussing a bit, you know, the idea of perhaps going with Ryan Nelson.

Ryan Nelson has done an incredible job in his entire tenure with the Diamondbacks and kind of gets overlooked quite a bit. We discussed, we thought he at least deserved an opportunity to be considered. Tori here discusses his decision on going with Zach, and he talks about Nellie and others being considered as, you know, for that opening day starter. Here's what he had to say about Ryan Nelson and the others. Yeah, I think Nellie's time's coming. I think one day he's going to have the ability to start and he will get that nod, I guarantee you. You know, Zach, Zach has done a lot right for this organization. I think they're all going to have the right heartbeat, they're all going to be fine, taking the bump on opening day.

But I just feel like Zach deserve it. You know, I know it wasn't a pristine ear form last year, but he battled, he fought, he showed some resilience in the second half of the season, got himself on the right track. track and he chose the Arizona downbacks again. So I'm glad for that. We should all be very glad for that. All things considered, this team would not be in a great spot without Zach Gallen. And I honestly don't really know, as I've said in the past, what they would do with their starting rotation if they weren't able to bring Gallen back, especially with Merrill Kelly going down. You have essentially the next up in Christiane Manah, who has been shut down due to his current status with his injury. And, you know, again, from there, things start to really look depleted as far as starting pitching depth for

this team. You do have some arms that have returned and that have started to get back on track, like Tommy Henry. However, I just don't know if, you know, where they would be without Zach Gallen. Gowan was asked yesterday about starting on opening day, the honor, and also he was asked about it kind of being bittersweet here due to him getting this opening day nod because Merrill Kelly is injured. here's what Gallen had to say both about the honor and about his friend Kelly not getting to start on opening day Yeah, I mean it's cool Tori Tori left me know yesterday It's a cool honor like I said to you guys in years past Understandably you know with Merrill got named that opening day started which he should have he fully deserved it

So I'm just glad that they felt like you know for me to get that honor again is nice with a and not be able to make the start. So yeah I'm excited. Just another ballgame. A little bittersweet because of my own situation. Yeah for sure. I mean I know what that I know what it means personally. You know for me you just start up any day. So I can't imagine what it means for him you know being you know being a local guy and you know finally getting an opportunity and then just having an unfortunate circumstance of you know not being healthy enough. So I feel for him in that sense. So, yeah, I mean, it's not a, it's not something I take lightly just because, you know,

I understand it is a pretty big honor. I think the thing that, you know, makes Zach the clear-cut choice here is the experience more than anything else, right? Ryan Nelson, no matter how good he is, has not had a chance to start on opening day. And you could argue has not had extremely high leverage games that he's at, he hasn't pitched high leverage games outside of like maybe some high leverage regular season games. So it does, it's understandable to go with Gowan. However, we know that, you know, the team just kind of also brings in a lot of, especially Tori, brings in a lot of nostalgia, brings in a lot of

like deserving kind of talk as far as like years of experience and things like that. But I don't disagree with books journey. Books journey says experience starts somewhere, which is something that's, I mean, universal, right? Like so many of us have had to get our start somewhere, but oftentimes it's difficult to find that start to get that experience and, you know, to earn the opportunity here. I guess Nellie could do it with his play during the regular season. However, it felt like he was their most consistent pitcher

in the starting rotation last year. So even when you prove it based on the performance you put in over the course, of a year. Perhaps that's still not enough, but you might be right about that. Chris talks sports in the chat says, fingers crossed burns starts opening day in 2028. I understand what you're saying, but that's so depressing. It's like a dystopian future for me going forward. I don't like to think about that. But I do like to think about what Tori said at the end of his media availability yesterday. He was discussing what the pitch counts would be for Gowan, what the pitch count would be for guys early on their first time through the rotation,

what he would essentially like to see them get up to. Upon revealing that number and what the team was looking for, Tori kind of took some accountability for what he felt was overusage of their best arms in 25, and he feels like that led to the injuries that we saw potentially of guys like A.J. Puck and Justin Martinez. So he has to try to figure out a way to balance a hot start and making sure this team doesn't take kind of any game for granted, especially after what's happened in 24 and what happened last year, while at the same time too ensuring that these players are, you know,

ready to go and stretched out enough, especially pitching before he puts them out there. This has been a difficult managerial like struggle for Tori. Last year, of course, he came out with a different mentality. and a different philosophy previous year. He was, you know, trying to make sure that coming off of, you know, that World Series run that they had, that everybody had enough time, and, you know, that things were kind of slow played,

and you could argue that some of those early season losses led to the debacks missing the playoffs in 24. You could also argue some very late season losses, including one of the Brewers ruined that trip to the postseason. But this is what Tori had to say here overall about the pitch counts and what he believes was over. usage last season. I think we're going to get his pitch count up to where it needs to be.

I think everybody's going to kind of be in that same area, that same overall pitch count. You know, it's 75 to 85 pitches. Somewhere right in there is what most of the guys are going to get up to. So give or take a few pitches, depending on how you get to that part of the game, depending on how hard you've worked or how hard you've not worked, we'll start to make a decision to maneuver. But we've got to be careful early. Last year, I had the mindset because of what happened in 24

that I wanted to win every game. I didn't want any meat left on any bone for any game. And I came out hot, I came out aggressive, and I was using some really key pieces of our puzzle. And maybe there was a little bit of over usage. And that's the reason why some of our guys got bigger up in the bullpen. I want to be a situation where what happens early in the baseball season,

especially in April, early parts of May, we've got to be extra cautious with the guys. We will do that no matter who's taking them out for their first starts. Apologies for the freight train going through there in the background. And no, it wasn't David Peralta. It was an actual free train. But, yeah, as you can see, Tori definitely has some regrets. And when we talk about accountability,

when you talk about blaming yourself, even though I have kind of tried to defend the, you know, everybody here. Tori, I've defended entirely too much. you can ask people in the chat about that. You know, the training staff, I've tried to say it's not really their fault. This is just a weird anomaly. What you can see here, though, is even though you probably can't blame Tori or the training staff, it doesn't mean that they don't take blame and blame themselves for these guys getting injured

every single time it happens, every single loss to this team. So the problem with that being is that if that affects how you manage during the year, then, you know, you could be managing scared. You could be managing in a position where you're just constantly not putting your best pitchers out there because once again, you've made the determination that they are not available today or they're not available tomorrow

or they're not available whenever, right? So, again, it's a delicate balance over 162 games season to try to keep this staff together as much as they can. But I also don't think that any kind of, usage that Tori had or anything else like that is the reason why these guys got injured. That's just my feeling. But also, it did feel like this team just had nothing but the worst luck last year and continues to have that. We might have sacrificed our soul once again. We sacrificed

the bullpen sole for the World Series title and we might have sacrificed something else to get there in 23. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to talk about the other exciting baseball going on right now. No, I'm not talking about the Diamondbacks losing 13 to 3. to the athletics. I'm talking about world baseball classic play baby and I am probably going to do my best to try to recreate Cotel Marte's home run. So don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the Phaj and X Diamondback Show. Well, Pure Edibles, of course, is a wonderful company from right here in Flagstaff, Arizona. And of course, you can find them everywhere. They have an amazing line of candy, not just gummies, though you can find gummies. They're delicious and they're not covered in sugar like

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Don't miss your chance to accelerate the luxury, play win and earn at any one of their four casino locations. The World Baseball Classic rolls on, and I don't know what you guys, how you feel about it personally, but we have been having a blast watching the World Baseball Classic so far. What we've seen has been some excitement.

We've seen some huge mistakes made. We've seen some drama. We've seen teammates getting into fights. We got Alec Thomas talking trash on IG. And of course, we have Team USA almost bungling their ability to move on to the quarterfinal round with one of the most boneheaded managerial, I guess, outlooks we've ever seen. But what we had yesterday was a very exciting matchup between two very good WBC games. Dominican Republic versus Venezuela, and we had some fireworks in this one,

DR defeats Venezuela by a score of 7 to 5, and they remain undefeated in pool play. They will move on to the quarterfinals as the top seed coming out of their pool, and again, their offense just looks unbeatable, their pitching depth looks solid, and they stay perfect to solidify themselves as a top championship contender in this, in this tournament. And of course, with having the number of Diamondbacks players they have on this team, this is who we're rooting for. So go get yourself a Republica, Dominicana hat right now, and get ready to cheer for these guys. Home runs in yesterday's game by Juan Soto, Catelle-Marté, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. And before the game, we had Fernando Tatis Jr.

We can't show you any of this video of this stuff or else, you know, we'll get banned from YouTube forever. But we had Fernando Tatis Jr. And what was it William Contreras? The William Contreras, excuse me, 14 Venezuela, doing the opposite of what we've seen so far in the WBC. Right? We have Robbie Perkins for Australia, getting that Czechia batter out of here

when he's trying to do a handshake. More controversial, we have a Randy Orozellina, getting disrespected by his catcher from the Mariners, Cal Rale, refusing to shake his hand. And what do we have at the state? of this game, this matchup between two megapowers in the World Baseball Classic, we have a hug at home plate to start the game. Leave it up to my Hispanic brothers to show the world how to properly do this thing. Look, we trash talk in the game, we hate each other in the game,

but it's all love. It's all love and it's what it should be. I know they've had their excuses. I know that both Randy Rosarina and Cal Raleigh claim that that situation is fine. I don't think it is, but I appreciate this so much. It was just a great way to start one of the biggest games of the tournament, and it's like what this thing is supposed to be about, you know? Sportsmanship, right? Like not being kind of a jerk and entirely too competitive and refusing to shake your own teammates' hand. I don't care if it's about pine tar. You could have given them an elbow bump or a fist bump, some sort of love, some sort of love for your own teammate that you're in the trenches with for 162 games during the regular season. But

More importantly, Catelle Marte yesterday, two for five, one home run, one electric home run. One of the most electric home runs that we've seen so far in this tournament. Again, can't show you the video on it, but I do have a bat right here. And it was electric for a number of reasons. Cattel hit it in a way where he like brought his body in and it was like a real compact swing and then like that out of here. the bat flip was incredible got that bat out of here like this he's doing this to his teammates across his chest that is the kattel martay i want for 162 game seasons bring all of that energy to the diamondbacks and of course it was hit off of iran so that just makes it even more hilarious right overall

it's a little deback on debaq crime here marty took a 92 i think 92.3 mile per hour sinker for Erod and hit it a 403 feet to left field. And again, it was just electric. The crowd was electric. Marte was electric. The Dominican was electric. Everything. The bench was losing their minds. Geraldo Perdomo wanted to run on field and hug him. It was amazing. It was amazing. Brooks journey says, brother, the bat flips showed no respect. I don't know if you know, I don't know if you meant mine or that one, but I don't care. I loved it. It's not disrespectful. and it's not about who's out there on the mound. It's about him hitting that home run.

We need to have baseball be more fun like this. And it's just amazing to me that whenever we see baseball in any kind of situation outside of being major league baseball, it's electric like this. So can we stop hitting people with pitches simply because they got really excited over hitting a home run? I know Tori hates showing up his opponent. It's the reason why I believe this team overall is so subdued

when it comes to celebrations and such. But again, this was amazing, and it was also a little funny to see him hit that off of Erod and then do that bat flip like that. But I will say Erod, two and two thirds innings pitch, three hits allowed, three earn runs. Two of those hits were home runs allowed. He did walk one, but he struck out five. So there's still some encouragement there when it comes to Erod, even though he did give up these home runs. He gave up a home run to Juan Soto. Like, how are you going to fault him for giving up home runs to Juan Soto and Catal Marte?

Those are two of the best players in Major League Baseball. So it's not easy. It's not easy playing this Dominican team. And I will tell you that the Venezuela team is a formidable lineup themselves. They will advance to the quarterfinals as well. This game was just about seating for that particular pool. But they hung in there, man, seven to five game. It was an exciting one.

Heraldo Pardomo, one for four, with a run scored for the Dominican Republic. So that one's exciting. More exciting is Italy is a powerhouse. Italy is a beast. Italy is a team that nobody should want to see in the next round because they continue to roll beating Mexico by a score of 9 to 1 and allowing Team USA to get into the quarterfinals. And again, I'm not going to say like, oh, USA.

lucked out, but they did luck out. They had a chance here, and they kind of blew it. However, give respect where respect is due. This Italy team is very good. And I think it was too easy to write off how good they are, simply because Team USA had, I mean, completely was screwed up that dire situation. The team did with the partying after Team Mexico. You know, Mark DeRosa did with his incompetence when it came to understanding

the tournament and where his team currently was at and all of that, right? But at the same time, you just ride off this Italian team that just beat Mexico by a score of 9 to 1. They are going to be a problem. They are going to be a problem. This game turned into one of the biggest storylines of the tournament simply because of the implications about Team USA making it in, should Mexico win? And then you had the scoring situation where if Mexico won but scored less than four runs than Italy and Mexico was in. Mexico won and scored five or more than USA was in. So a lot of interest in this game and a lot of interest still in that situation I was describing earlier between Randy Orozerina and Cal Raleigh. Our guy, Alec Thomas, was fired up. He was ready to

come out there today and go to war on behalf of Team Mexico. He posted this on his Instagram account. It was a picture of Randy Orozerina reaching his how to hand out to Cal Rale to shake it. And It has, obviously, the desired result here is that Cal Rally is refusing to shake his hand. With the caption on the picture, take things personally. Oh, I love that. I won't lie. I love that. This is just like the Cattel Batflip.

These are the things that fire me up within the confines of the game. Though it may have been a freezing cold take because Cotel Marte ended up going 0 for 4 with a strikeout and having a defensive error in center field that led to a run scoring. Overall, though, in a 9-to-1, lost, that was not the reason why team Mexico lost. It was not the night Thomas or Mexico wanted. Mexico's offense struggled overall and managed just to get five hits in the loss. Aaron Nola was on the mound for Italy, and he was outstanding. And, you know, AT has been one of Mexico's better hitters earlier in the tournament. He's helped them stay competitive in the pool.

But once again, O for four last night with the strikeout. And, you know, again, this is the Italy advancing. Vinnie Pascentino hit three home runs which is a world baseball classic record. It is the first three home run game in world baseball classic history. He also drank more espresso than one man should ever drink

in a two and a half hour period. And I love that for him. I love the fact that every time he hit a home run he came back and put on a very fine suit jacket which his teammates and other people had a hard time wrangling him up in because he was so pumped, but it was mostly because he couldn't wait

to get to his next shot of espresso. And that, my friends, might be the key to the Arizona Diamondbacks figuring out the 2026 season. Three espresso makers, Cuban espresso in the dugout at all times. And not just based on home runs. It's not a home run celebration.

You need a pick me up after the fourth, espresso. You just came back and you gave up two earned runs in that inning on the mound, espresso. You struck out four times, but we're going to extra innings and you have a fifth at bat. Get your ass to the espresso machine and take two shots. I've had too many this morning, as you can tell. This is kind of a problem for me, but I'm pumped.

I am pumped! Italy crushes Mexico 9 to 1. They eliminate Mexico and USA moves on to the quarterfinals. Let's talk about the quarterfinal matchups here. We have a bracket courtesy of our friends over. at Fox here. They did a lot of good work on this one. No offense to Noah. He does great work, but this one's pretty. This is what we have to look forward to. We have some amazing matchups here. We have Korea taking on the Dominican Republic, and we have Team USA taking on Canada. Those

games are happening in Miami and in Houston. On March 13th, that is tomorrow. Then on Saturday, we have some more amazing matchups. We have my Puerto Rican team facing off against this Italy, Italian juggernaut. And I do not like our chances. I will not lie. But Puerto Rico has some good pitching and we'll see how those two things collide. And then

in another fairly electric matchup, I mean, don't overlook this Venezuelan team matching up against Japan. Japan has struggled in their own right at times. They just find a, like, one inning to score eight runs. So, um,

what are, what are, it's Columbia? Oh, no, okay. I'm sorry. correcting his own, sorry, my bad, Robert. But yeah, Venezuela here going up against Team Japan. And those two games are going to happen on Saturday. Then we will get the semifinals on Sunday and Monday. And then we will be back with another watchalong on Tuesday for the championship game of the World Baseball Classic. Man, this is a tough one. This is a tough one. I do not put, I'm not saying I don't believe in Team USA. I just don't automatically advance. them to the next round. But

I, with the way this is shaping up, I feel like we are very much in for an electric semi-final between the Dominican Republic and the United States potentially. And holy crap. Talk about

an immovable object versus an undeniable force here. It's Japan versus Italy if they match up in the next round. And again, those are going to be some big, big match. This World Baseball Classic just continues to be a lot of fun. And I know yesterday we were kind of talking about spring training and World Baseball Classic

being fake baseball. But, I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of tournaments. There's a lot of stuff in sports that you could probably say something similar about. In this case, this is fun. And I mean, I think this is very good for the game of baseball. It's helping grow the game of baseball. You're seeing how much it means to so many, you know, countries out there, so many fans.

out there, even so many players. It's the reason why the team USA situation kind of rubbed people the wrong way, because mostly you could talk about the incompetence, you could talk about the disappointment, you could say they're not taking it seriously or they're not committed. Overall, I think the

teams have much more to say over how much these guys are participating in the players themselves. I feel like that might be the case with the Terrick Scoobel situation and anyone else that's kind of expected to not give it their all or expected to return to their teams early. But I know that this

very much matters to team USA. And I feel like based on the responses from, you know, Mark Rosa and others, here now that they've been able to make it into the quarterfinals, they understand the mistake they made and they're appreciative. They're very thankful that it didn't result in a very embarrassing exit from this tournament

before they even made it to the quarter final round. But Katie says they aren't committed, exhibit a scoble. I mean, again, it does feel like it's performative. That is the one stupid word I've been using when it comes to Team USA so much is when you put your best lineup out there and you make it like you're going to put out an all-star team and you're getting everybody excited about the WBC and your participation in it. But then you're tying rules to these players. Like there's already limitation rules. There's already pitch limits baked in to the tournament

where they're not allowed to push these guys much further past like 65 pitches, for instance, in the pool play and, you know, that this amount increases as we go on. But still, they've tried their best to make this, you know, a situation where participation is, you know, not only fun and everything, but it's hopefully not going to cost anybody their season. But you already have like the catcher for Italy, Kyle Teal, right?

I think he pulled a hamstring or he injured his hamstring. He's out not only for the rest of the WBC, but that impacts the Chicago White Sox and his availability come opening day. But, you know, it's, it definitely feels like, you know, you are potentially, you know, making a sacrifice. You're potentially risking something here by having your players participate in this tournament. That's just a natural part of this overall, and it's unavoidable, quite frankly. Book's Journey says the other team's players just seem more passionate about the whole thing. There's that, too. You're absolutely right.

I don't know. Maybe it's the pride of country. Maybe it's the fact that, you know, the athletes just feel differently, depending on the culture. I respect the hell out of Czechia for sending a team. of guys that have day jobs to face off against Shohei Otani and Aaron Judge. You know, I mean, you got to respect that, right? They have pride.

They want to be a part of this tournament. They participate in the, you know, like the Nicaraguan team, look how much it hurt them to lose that walk-off game. You know, that was painful. And these, I mean, I don't know if you feel that same level of commitment from players from Team USA. So you might definitely be,

on to something their book's journey. But I do think that, you know, there's other things involved here. The team's overall view on the participation by players, I think very much affects this. And what we've heard out of the Diamondbacks has been nothing but support, including for guys like Carlos Santana who couldn't get insured. So this team has been very supportive. The organization has been very supportive of the players participating in this. And they understand the assignment when it comes to what it means to the players. So I mean, I commend the Diamondbacks for that and the fact that it doesn't feel like any of their players are needing to, you know, be on a limit of how many pitches they're seeing or again, you know, anything like that

or how many games they're participating in. But this is fun. We have some really good teams moving on and the quarterfinals are going to be absolutely electric. Semifinals are going to be electric. And then like I said, we'll be back here with Damon and I for three hours, whoever makes it to the finals, take on whoever else makes it to the finals, and hopefully what we'll have is a thrilling, thrilling championship game. So make sure to join us for that. But we're going to take a quick break.

On the other side of this break, we have some funny stuff to talk about, including maybe not so funny, how goddamn hot it's going to be in Arizona, especially at Cactus League spring training games over the next two weeks. And we're going to talk about Chase Field somehow ranking as the best outfield,

the easiest outfield to catch a fly ball in? Have I been wrong about the porch the entire time? We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, of course, you guys know that I am getting started on my home projects. And before that hot weather gets here, we got to get started on yours as well. So make sure to go to the window depot. Get yourself everything you need to get started on your home renovation projects today,

including replacing those windows. Maybe get yourself some new energy efficient windows that help keep that heat. out of your home and keep it on the outside. Of course, we don't have much time left. And the Window Depot, they have way more than just windows. They have cabinets, skylights, doors. They do have windows. They also have sinks and everything you're looking for to renovate and upgrade in your home. They also have flooring right now at their Tucson location, which is coming soon to their Phoenix location. So make sure to not miss out on all of this inventory that's ready to be picked up. It's the reason why contractors love the window depot. They have job site ready

quantities, unbeatable low prices. They also don't make you sign up for a membership. Not for contractors, not for us. So of course, make sure you get down on those unbeatable low prices and get started on your project today. If you want to help with your project, they have in-house designers that are there to help you plan your space at no extra cost. From cabinets to countertops, they make it simple. The Window Depot, more than just the window store, visit thewindowdepo.com and get started on your next project right now. And again, I've said this before. I hope that you are all lucky enough to never experience an accident or serious injury.

But if you do, make sure you understand that the lawyer you hire does matter. And that is why you should call Mark and Alexis Breyer first. They are the husband and wife law team. And they bring hundreds of years of combined trial experience to you as their client. They have multiple certified specialists in personal injury and wrongful death. And Phoenix is their home. their home here in the valley and Phoenix is the citizens that they care about. I'll tell you when it comes to having a certified specialist, you want to make sure you have one in specifically an injury

and any kind of serious accident that you've been a part of. The state bar has certified less than 1% of all lawyers of specialists and injury and longful death litigation. And that is why the husband and wife law team is who you should trust to help you if you are in this situation. Of course, nobody can guarantee the outcome of a legal case. However, there are promises that they make to you as their client, including that you will receive as much in your pocket as they receive for their fee, even if they have to reduce their attorney fees to do so. You may also speak with one of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you want to discuss,

and you have the right to trust that as your lawyer, they will tell you both the strengths and weaknesses of your claim so that you can make informed decisions. You've had a serious injury. Call the husband and wife law team first at 602-7-8-3-8-481. visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them, PHNX sent you. All right. Well,

we had a very interesting ranking up here on MLB.com. I believe this was yesterday or it might have even been today, but the ranking was based on which MLB ballparks are the friendliest places to catch a fly ball. In fact, they accompanied it with this little chart to just show you exactly how hard, how hard or easy it is to catch a fly ball. I was confused here because I see Arizona on the far left

and my first thought is, well, that's got to be the hard side, right? No, no, no, no, no, my friends. The hardest place to catch a fly ball is San Francisco, which actually makes a lot of sense. The wind swirling, the water, the ocean, seagulls going after garlic french fries. Like, there's a lot of things going on there, so that could be very difficult. Chicago as well. That's kind of interesting.

I know that the wins there at Wrigley Field make things pretty difficult. The Ivy makes things difficult. The drunken fans, specifically over there, and the left field bleachers, a bunch of those hooligans over there make it difficult. But man, having the Arizona Diamondbacks home field of Chase Field be the easiest park

to play outfield defense between 2021 and 2025 was shocking. We basically home field advantage is very small when it comes to baseball according to this article. Approximately plus three outs above average per team per year making the difference from one ballpark to the other, which is said to be just under 1%. However, when it comes to catching a fly ball, apparently not having the sunshine in your face or clouds moving above you makes it easier. Noah? Did you know that? Lo and behold, having something that's kind of a darker color

where you can pick out the white ball in the sky helps you catch the ball. Also, so does nice weather, which is something we have plenty of. And that is something that you could say all top five teams have plenty of. You have a chase field with Diamondbacks. You got Texas Rangers,

Globe Life Field coming in at number two. You have Rogers Center in Toronto. Three, you got Diken Park. in Houston at four. You got Tropicana Field at Tampa Bay at five and then Petco Park there being the only one that's, right, truly outdoors, basically. And that's once again just because of the nice weather. But Texas and Arizona seem to have a substantial advantage here. Both of those ballparks, very similar. Both of them air conditioned with roofs. So all of this makes sense. But again, the friendliest parks to be in the outfield, I would have never guessed that.

about the Dinobacks. I have ranted and raved about that stupid porch over center field and how much I want to get rid of it. And so again, there was only 29 teams on this. No Oakland

Sacramento situation. We didn't want to do that. And Rays did miss some time on their primary field, as you remember. They have bodies underneath their parking lot and that caused some sort of curse on their stadium, which will never allow them to win a World Series and caused their roof to blow away.

But again, when it came to particularly difficult ballparks, one anonymous players said in this article, I hate playing there. This was a particularly elite outfielder going on about a particularly difficult ballpark. And again, that ballpark was in fact, I believe, if we look at, let's look at that chart once again. It was San Francisco.

It was San Francisco. I will tell you the San Francisco is such a, a weird ballpark because so many people love it to go to it, to attend it, to be there in San Francisco, yet you'll get a very different story from the players when they talk about actually playing there. So I don't know, man, I think that this is kind of funny to me. I guess it makes sense overall. There's not a lot of wind here. There's not a lot of weather factors, even when the roof is open, and the roof is closed for the majority of the season. So it's not like you even have a ton of games where you have outdoor weather. Plus, most of the Diamondbacks games are

night games anyway, right? The majority of their games are night games. So that also makes it kind of easier to find a fly ball. Go try to catch one right now. It's all River Fields in the daytime without sunglasses on. I dare you. I dare you to try to try to do that. But not easy. I still just, I guess I'm kind of surprised here overall. The reason for my surprise, that stupid porch. Chris Talksport says air-conditioned. Don't tell that to Jordan Montgomery or Merrill Kelly who's probably still cramping from all of that. But that's that's where we're at. Chasefield though, we have some fun coming up for you guys next week. Speaking of Chasefield, we have our annual taste of chase. I guess extravaganza coming up. I'm I'm,

I've done everything in my power to ensure that Damon can come with me so that we can together as a team try out all of the food and finally have well thought out opinions to give you on everything that our guy, Chef Tilder out there at Chase Field is going to bring you in 2026. I'm so excited for this. This is the top five day for me in the baseball season. And opening day probably doesn't even rank in the top five for me. But the day we get to go out to Chase Field and try all the food, oh yeah, you bet your ass. That day ranks for me.

ranks for me for sure. Robert says, Swamp cooler needs major upgrade. Yeah, let's, I still need to talk to Derek Hall about perhaps getting a dedicated cooling unit for Chase Field that doesn't share its cooling abilities with other buildings. Let's start with that,

and then I think the problem might work itself out. But very excited to not only talk about food when we get out there for Taste of Chase, but see some of those improvements with my own eyes. I haven't had a chance to see yet for the Arizona Diamond Bag. So Chris says, how nice of you to take Damon a line? long, let me tell you, if I didn't, he would murder me. He would murder me. So we had to make some changes that day. In fact, that is the day of the World Baseball Classic finale. So we're going to be

doing a watch-along and then essentially a post-game show for the championship game. So make sure to join us for that. And then we will reveal on that episode which food we are looking forward to coming to Chase Field the most. Chef Tilder, I've talked about this before. This man literally travels the world to go find out what is hot in the culinary. universe. I already use the word world, so I had to find another word. But again, it just shows his dedication to the craft. We have ourselves a chef at Chase Field that is literally trying to do everything he can to bring you what is new and innovative in food. So I can't wait to see what he's cooked up. Also, of course, thank you to all of you guys that are diehards. If you have not signed up

for a diehard membership, good news for you. They're calling it the free agency diehard offer. I'm calling it the opening day baseball offer, and they can't stop me from doing so. But regardless of what you call it right now, you can go over to our website and get yourself a diehard membership for your first year for just $36. That's 55% off the normal price. And you get full NFL free agency coverage all week long. I don't know if you want it as a Cardinals fan. You might not.

Noah can chime in on that. I mean, I feel like it's more about rage baiting right now with the Arizona Cardinals than it is about actually giving us good news, right? Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, he's an expert on it. So there's also complete access to their draft guide. You also get complete access to Johnny Venerable losing his mind about the moves they're making.

We got scouting reports. We got prospect breakdowns. We got analysis. You also get a free shirt of your choice from the PHNX locker, which is always a good, it's always a good time to go get yourself a free article of clothing. You get access to our diehard Discord where we are doing exclusive content for our diehards. We're having, you know, AMAs, little things for you guys all the time. All the time. plus 20% offer merchandise and events in premium football and baseball coverage all year long,

which I would argue. But head on over to go phnx.com slash intro and get that initial offer. Noah, we're going to die out at Cactus League coming up here. This is not a good week. We, as Arizonans, we are okay, right? And you're like a fairly new Arizona, right? Yeah. How many summers have you been here?

Just one. Just one? Oh my God. Okay, so you're a baby when it comes to dealing with the hell that is in Arizona's summer, right? Kind of. We're getting it earlier than ever now. We are getting... I'm here for it.

You're here for it? You're here for a heat wave this week? Mm-hmm. I'm telling you, how would you feel about sitting in 105 degrees at a Cactus League game in the sun? Left Bayside, not right base side. Yeah, I mean, that doesn't sound great. It doesn't, no. You got to be, like, when it gets in.

that high, you got to be moving around. That's a great point. Yeah. Yeah, you make a great point. Like, I don't notice how hot it is. I mean, even in 80 degree temperature, I don't start to get hot until I stop and I sit in like one of the, I go down and I try to get some video in the front row.

And I'll just be sitting there waiting for something to happen, kind of get my camera in focus and get the players in there. And I'll just start feeling the sun suddenly on the back of my neck. Oh, yeah. And I'm just like, oh, this sucks. And that's like a half an inning for me because I'll just retreat back up to the confines of the press box that has air conditioning and water.

And I'll be fine. I'll be fine. But you won't. You people won't this week because my God, Major League Baseball Spring Training in the Cactus League may experience unseasonably high temperatures. And what does that even mean for Arizona? That's like, that's, ah.

It's like saying like that's like saying a cat is mean. You already know a cat is mean. If I'm going to deal with your cat, oh, hey, let's cut the claws on my cat. But by the way, he's mean. Shit, I already knew cats were mean. I didn't, I don't need a mean cat on top. I already know it's hot. I don't need unseasonably hot for Cactus League.

And that's what we're going to get over the next 10 days. Central Arizona could see temperatures soar into the high 90s. by weeks end, potentially exceeding 105 degrees Fahrenheit height by March 20th, according to the National Weather Service. I mean, honestly, sitting at a baseball game when it's like you don't have any wind and it's just a sunny day can be one of the most excruciating experiences. Absolutely. You're like, you're like, oh man, ready for the game.

And then you get there. sitting at your seat for about 30 minutes and you're like, oh my God, this is unbearable. Yeah. Even the last time I was at a, or not the last time, but a couple years ago I was at a Tigers game, April 30th, it was maybe 50 degrees out. But we were center field, no wind was hitting and the sun was just beating on you. And I'm like, it's 50 degrees in April and Michigan. And I'm hot and I'm getting burnt.

Like so, a hundred and five. shouldn't just taking it. Awful. Awful. I mean, again, it's the reason, this is the reason why we can't have outdoor baseball, 105 baseball game at Chase Field. They're closing the roof and putting the AC on.

Oh, yeah. So this is crazy. And Tori Lavello had to acknowledge the potential challenges of playing in this heat. He said that the team might have to adjust its schedule to ensure player health and performance. He said, quote, we know it's going to be smoking hot next week, but we've got to get work done. There's nothing that you can do sometimes.

to replace going out and actually doing it, we'll find a way to get it done and make sure these athletes are healthy, strong, hydrated, and ready for the next day. But, and this is a big butt, we may make some adjustments. It's hard because the WBC here is going to end coming up in the next few days, right?

So when this heat wave starts next week, this is when these guys are going to be returning to their teams and trying to just kind of acclimate back into their lineups and get back into spring training play, and it is going to be unpleasant. It's going to be unpleasant for the players. It's going to be unpleasant for the fans. And like you said, even the players, like, yeah, it's hot out there,

but players play in 105 temperature, and they also get to, like, play and then go sit in the dugout and then go back out there, move around, stuff like that. Like, when you're out at spring training and, you know, it's this hot, it's hard to just sit there and not. not move around. And I've already talked at length about the ridiculous prices of spring training and how expensive it is to attend a game. I love baseball. I love going out there. I'm lucky enough to have a dumb little press pass that lets me walk in the gate for free. But I'd be the first one to say,

I wouldn't be attending a single one of these games except sitting in the grass area with how much they cost. Now you're going to factor in this heat. I think what we're going to see is some woefully attended games next week when it comes to spring training. And perhaps, just perhaps, teams might make the adjustment down. Like, I don't really get it because I've been told that out at surprise, you can get like $9 tickets or something like that. Well, that's because it's in surprise. I get it.

I've stood on business, 10 toes down that I won't even drive out there. I don't even care who's starting that day. I will not go out to that stadium. And it's not even the drive out. It's the frustrating drive back home later in the day where it says I'm six miles from my house, but it takes me 42 minutes to get there. That's the part that I can't stand, right? But hopefully we have some, you know, facilities out there that are smart enough to adapt

the way that Tori Lavolo is talking about he needs to adapt to this heat and adapt to maybe get some people to come out and watch some baseball games. I am not committing $60 plus to go watch a game that's this unpleasant that I have a feeling I might not stay more than three innings, right? Get some $10 tickets up for people, let them get out there and fill up the stadium a little bit. You'll make some money on concessions and parking or whatever else.

And then I know not parking. Most of the spring training facilities don't charge for parking. But regardless, you'll get butts in the seats. You'll get the players seeing, you know, well-attended games instead of this, whatever the hell we're going to see next week. I have no idea, but I'm suspicious that it's going to be poorly attended, poorly attended.

Well, and I think to spring training, especially like in the stadiums, like Salt River and then the one in like Old Town, I can't think of the name right now. Scottsdale. Yeah, yeah. They're both Scottsdale, a very popular place for people to come and visit. People come specifically for the games. They know that. And they're like, these fans are just going to pay whatever because they came here to do it. Yeah.

And so they're like, let's just jack up the prices. Sure. Sure. You're seeing a big discrepancy between some of the stadiums here. in in Arizona. Yeah. You know, and I mean, again, it makes a little bit more sense with Florida, considering how far apart their spring training stadiums are.

Here, it's hard to justify that, you know, hey, we're going to charge full price, but then, you know, 20 minutes across town, like our guy, Chris says at Camelback Ranch, you can get, as a West Valley resident, $7 lawn tickets and $10 baseline tickets. That's what spring training should be. Yeah. When I ride my bike into old town, like, during this time period, I'll be like, oh, let me go on town, check out the farmers market, you know, just a nice little Saturday, maybe a Sunday. And then there's just San Francisco Giants fans everywhere.

And I'm just like, bleh, be there. I remember the first time I went to a giant spring trading game. I was almost envious of the amount of support that that team got. Yeah. I mean, they were playing the Diamondbacks that day. Hardly saw any Diamondbacks fans, despite the fact that's right here in town where the team plays, right? Like, you would think that they would get some support. I'm sure the Giants fans are like $60 for a game.

Holy cow, that's like, that's so cheap. Yeah, that's a beer in San Francisco. You're probably right about that. You're probably right. But anyway, good luck out there. Make sure to wear your sun on screen. Make sure to stay hydrated and make sure you get your tickets in the shade. It's a very important part.

Do your research before you go out there and buy your tickets. And enjoy. Enjoy that heat, I guess, because it's not going anywhere. It's just going to stick around for the next like six months. And that sucks. But what doesn't suck is you guys. You guys are amazing, wonderful people. Thank you guys for joining us today.

You can follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Noah does not want you to follow him. Redacted. In fact, not only is it redacted, if you follow him, if you know him personally, he wants you to unfollow him and he wants you to do it right now. But our show is at PHNX underscore DBAX.

That's where you can always find us. And of course, all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. As I've told you so many times in the past, it's very valuable. Be careful who you share it with. And thank you once again for sharing some of it with us. We will be back here tomorrow at 12 p.m.

So make sure to join us for that. And until then, I hope you guys all have yourselves a wonderful evening. Maybe go catch one of the last spring training games that won't be atrociously hot between the Rockies and the D-backs is starting right now. And then come back here tomorrow. We'll talk more about baseball. So, of course, until then, hope you guys all have a wonderful evening.

Behave yourselves, Chris, and remember kids, Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Catelle Marte hits electric home runs off of his teammate.