Putting the 2026 Red Sox into the Mario Universe

Infield

**Willson Contreras—Bowser** This is a given considering it came with him but we have to include it to set the baseline. **Trevor Story—Luigi** Not always the star of the show, but when he’s hot, he can drive this team far. **Marcelo Mayer—Baby Luigi** Still coming along, waiting in Story’s shadow, but has the potential for greatness. **Caleb Durbin—Diddy Kong** Small, fast, relentlessly annoying when he goes 25 at-bats without a hit. Still a baby in his MLB career. View Link **Carlos Narváez—Kamek** Behind the scenes, pulling strings, like a catcher should. Not sure if this is too generic for a catcher but I’m fine with this for Narvy.

Outfield

**Jarren Duran—Waluigi** Lanky chaos, meet Angry Lizard. Can ruin your day when something stupid happens but I main him in Mario Party and he’s very effective. **Ceddanne Rafaela—Toadette** Small, fast, everywhere at once. Apparently Toadette can transform into Peachette in one of the games, is this Rafaela going from outfield to infield? View Link **Wilyer Abreu—Donkey Kong** Happy and powerful. Nuff said for Wilyer. **Roman Anthony—Baby Mario** This makes more sense when you see below, but if there’s a developing face of the franchise on this squad, it’s Roman.

Starters

**Garrett Crochet—Mario** The clear star and face of the team. Leader of men. Rescuing this team (for the most part) when they want to act like a damsel in distress. **Ranger Suárez—Rosalina** Calm, smooth, everything looks easy. Just look at his eight frames of cool baseball last night. Only playable more recently in the Mario Universe and only a very recent addition to the Red Sox. View Link **Brayan Bello—Boo** You think you’ve got him—then you don’t. **Payton Tolle—Wario** I cant’t stop thinking that Birdo fires eggs and that Tolle fires fastballs. They’re also both odd and funny as hell.

Bullpen

**Garrett Whitlock—Dry Bones** This almost makes too much sense. Dry Bones falls apart—aka Whit being on the IL so much, missing as many games as he has—but is that good when he puts himself back together. **Aroldis Chapman—Bullet Bill** Sure, Bullet Bill isn’t a “character” but is known enough in the Mario universe that I allow this. He shows up, fires bullets, then leaves. View Link

Bench

**Masataka Yoshida—Shy Guy** …don’t ask. It just works. **Connor Wong—Koopa Troopa** Until Wong shows me he’s not just a 0.3 WAR replacement level player, this is his role. Just a cog in the machine of this world.