This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. MLB.com reporter/producer Josh Kirshenbaum wrote this edition from Seattle. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- World Cup fever has taken over the Red Sox clubhouse. Group stage matches were on the TV before every game in Seattle. Every 20 minutes or so, at least one random voice started chanting “No Scotland, no party.” Tommy Kahnle, like thousands of fans, pulled the doubleheader Friday, going to the U.S. Men’s National Team’s 2-0 win over Australia at Seattle Stadium before walking across the street to T-Mobile Park for Boston’s 6-2 win in the series opener.
And in a back corner of the visitors' clubhouse, fittingly, Ceddanne Rafaela was his own little island of Curacao support, watching his home nation compete in the World Cup for the first time.
“Everybody’s together watching the World Cup, watching the games,” he said. “It’s really something pretty special for the island right now, what’s going on. I’ve been cheering for them.”
When Curacao, which has a population of just around 156,000, qualified for the World Cup last November, it became the smallest country to ever make the tournament. In its opening match last Sunday, Livano Comenencia scored Curacao’s first World Cup goal. Saturday, “The Blue Wave” earned its first-ever point with a 0-0 tie against Ecuador.
As it happened, Rafaela had a pre-planned day off Saturday to watch his home country’s match -- which started an hour and a half before first pitch -- though he did miss kickoff because of a hitter’s meeting.
Curacao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In some competitions, it competes independently. In others, like the World Baseball Classic, its athletes compete for the Dutch team, alongside players from the Netherlands and Aruba.
Rafaela, who was born in Willemstad, has done both. As a child, he represented Curacao in the 2012 Little League World Series. This past spring, he took the field for the Netherlands at the WBC, collecting three hits across four games for Team Oranje.
He knows how different it can feel.
“Playing for the Netherlands, it was special; it was special to be with the boys from your island, and everybody from Curacao, Aruba,” he said. “It was special, but obviously, to have your island on your chest and representing people back home -- you’re representing your mom, your grandparents, your whole island -- it’s more special. I did it before, when I was a kid, and it’s pretty special.”
Curacao is also a little like the U.S., though, in that soccer has traditionally taken a back seat in the sports culture to baseball. Like here, it could be growing, as more people back home get to watch their country play on the biggest stage.
It’s a change from when Rafaela was growing up; he said he wasn’t allowed to go near a soccer ball.
“No, my dad didn’t let me,” he said with a laugh. “He said, ‘Get your glove and bat and go play baseball.’”
With one group stage game left, Curacao isn’t mathematically eliminated, but it would require a monumental upset of the Ivory Coast next Thursday in Philadelphia.
Rafaela should be able to watch at least some of that match in the clubhouse, too; it’ll take place right around the time batting practice starts ahead of the Sox’s series opener against the Yankees.
Will he be able to get any teammates on board the bandwagon for the ultimate underdog?
“No, they are cheering for the USA,” he said. “But I’m cheering for my island.”