Earlier this week, Seattle Mariners' drama spread throughout the baseball world.

As you've seen by now: M's catcher Cal Raleigh did not shake the hand of M's left fielder Randy Arozarena when Arozarena came to bat during a World Baseball Classic matchup between Mexico and Team USA on Monday night.

While it was a relatively benign story at the time, it became a bigger deal when Arozarena cussed Raleigh out in the media after the game. Raleigh tried to squash the deal on Tuesday, but Arozarena hasn't yet done the same, even stoking the fire more on social media.

With Mexico eliminated and Arozarena returning to Mariners spring training, he'll have a chance yet again to quell the story. We'll see if he takes it. 

Regardless of how all that goes, M's first baseman Josh Naylor seemingly did his best to diffuse to the situation on Friday night in a quarterfinal game between Team Canada and the USA.

Naylor came to the plate and attempted to shake Raleigh's hand, which Raleigh rebuffed as well.

However, after the game, Naylor said that he was just joking with Raleigh, and then he proceeded to go on and wax poetic about Raleigh's leadership and qualities as a teammate.

"No, we were all just joking. Trying to really make light of the situation. I texted him before that I was going to do it and he said 'please don't.' But me and Cal are really good friends. He's an awesome teammate and honestly one of my favorite teammates I think I've ever had in my career. He's such a leader, too.

I was really, really happy to get traded to the Mariners last year and kind of experience being a locker room with him and just being his teammate and going to dangers with him off the field and stuff. So, yeah, I love him and I was honestly just super joking and he's like, 'good to see you, brother.' And I was like, 'good to see you too.' I mean, it is what it is. I'm not going to like, try to cause anything or. And it's not that big of a deal, to be completely honest."

Team USA won the game 5-3 to advance to the semifinals on Sunday night. It's unclear if Raleigh will start that game, but if he does, he'll have another M's teammate to deal with: Julio Rodriguez, who figures to start for the DR.

As for Naylor, he'll return back to spring training as the M's prepare for Opening Day, which is March 26 against Cleveland.

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