This baseball team kept an espresso machine in their dugout

How Italy's National Baseball team stayed caffeinated at the World Baseball Classic 

Move over, sports drinks. There's a new contender on the block: Coffee. 

For the casual fan, coffee doesn't usually come to mind as a hydrating sports drink. But for the Italy National Baseball team, coffee is a must-have at all times. 

And since Italy knows a thing or two about coffee, we have to trust their judgment. Their baseball team repped their country well at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, sporting an espresso machine in their dugout during a game against Chinese Taipai, complete with cups, sugar packets and stir sticks. 

"Coffee is like water in Italy," Mike Piazza, former professional baseball catcher and current manager of the Italian national baseball team, told MLB reporter Matt Monagan. You can't argue with logic. 

Coffee has been linked to better performance in sports through things like increasing endurance, strength training and cardio, as well as improving focus and decreasing muscle pain. In baseball, it even found to help pitchers throw faster and more accurately.

So looks like Piazza was on the right track with trying to help his team's performance in the tournament. Japan ended up winning the title in 2023, but if you ask us, Italy — and specifically their dugout setup — is the true winner here.

Read more baseball related coffee content and follow along with the Swig Leagues this spring — where the mugs are big and the wins are bigger. Between Pitch Black and the Creamators, who's your team? Find out more here.

[Featured photo: Hyosin Choi via Unsplash]