The stage was set for Julio Rodríguez of the Mariners to deliver a win in Seattle. Instead, the National League got its first win since 2012 thanks to Elias Díaz.
He won 314 games and recorded 3,500 strikeouts, but he’s remembered as much for his acknowledged spitball, with saliva just one substance in his arsenal.
“I feel like this is just the beginning for all of us,” Julio Rodríguez said after the Mariners made the playoffs for the first time since 2001 but were swept by Houston.
Japan is celebrating the sport’s introduction there in 1872. The living descendants of the American teacher who took the game to Tokyo only learned of his role in 2000.