When the news of Genelis De La Cruz Sanchez’s passing surfaced on May 31, 2025, the entire baseball world grieved and offered sincere condolences to Elly De La Cruz and his family. Genelis was a guiding light through Elly’s journey. And just two days after her passing, Elly didn’t flinch from going up against the Chicago Cubs with the Cincinnati Reds.

During the first inning, Cruz took a timeout to gather himself before his at-bat. And when he entered the batter’s box, on a 0-2 pitch from Cubs’ pitcher Taillon, he hit a single into right field. Yes, despite the emotional toll of his sister’s passing, Cruz hit a 3-2 117.4 velocity fastball from Taillon for a two-run homer. Obviously, it captured the attention of the entire league.

But it didn’t just resonate within the baseball community. Somehow, it had a broader and unexpected effect on crypto markets, too. On the same date of Cruz’s home run honor to his late sister, Bitcoin was trading at $69,500 on Binance by 3:00 PM EST. From the day before, it reflected a 1.2% increase over the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) was hovering around $3,800 along with a 0.8% uptick. The trading volume for BTC showed an increase of 15% in comparison to the previous day. It reached $28 billion across major exchanges such as Kraken and Coinbase.

Well, it’s true that the spike in the crypto market isn’t directly connected to Cruz’s feat. But it does align with a wider risk-on sentiment in equity markets. On the very same day, the S&P 500 reflected a rise of 0.5%, closing at 5,300 points.

The only explanation here is that whenever positive news circulates, cryptocurrencies and stocks both usually move up, reflecting the trade behavior.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu—the tokens with high community engagement—showed a spike too. Dogecoin increased 3.5% to $0.16, with trading volume increasing 20% to $1.2 billion. Isn’t that surprising? Shiba Inu followed closely. It climbed 2.8% to $0.000025 along with a volume of 18% to $800 million.

The emotional news of Cruz’s honor certainly had the power to influence retail behavior. It made traders move speculative assets at times when sentiments around the community ran high.

And when it comes to Cruz, he’s still processing his sister’s passing. And in the wake of this terrible news, he has made a decision.

Elly’s decision to keep playing amid grief

Right before Monday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, Terry Francona made an announcement.
Apparently, Francona and bench coach Freddie Benavides had a discussion with Cruz on Sunday regarding what he wants to do next. “He said he was gonna play, leave after Wednesday, and go home,” Francona shared.

The Cincinnati Reds assured him that he could leave sooner if he wanted to. The team wants to support him fully.

Cruz did consider going back home immediately after the news broke. He spoke with his mother, whom he believes to be “probably the hardest one” to talk to in this time of grief. And his ultimatum was to honor the commitment to his team before leaving for home.

Against the Cubs, there was “RIP Manita” written on his cleats. He recorded two hits, and that included a two-run homer and a walk. It was definitely an emotional yet powerful performance. The Reds, however, lost to the Cubs by 7-3. But Elly was definitely the highlight of the matchup. Despite that, he refused to make a media appearance pregame or postgame.

Coming Wednesday, Cruz will make his way onto MLB’s bereavement list. It allows the players to be away for three to seven days. The team will definitely miss his presence on the field. And not just them, the entire Reds nation will!