Jon Morosi’s first taste of the World Baseball Classic came on March 7, 2013, when he watched from the press box as Italy scored two ninth-inning runs to beat Mexico 6-5 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The game had some personal relevance for Morosi, then a Fox Sports writer—he is Italian-American, his wife his Mexican-American, and that was the first ever baseball game for his newborn daughter, Gabriella—but that wasn’t the only reason he was entranced by the event.