Point taken, but IMO it is beneficial to split tests correctly into unit tests vs integration tests, so the ability to be able to mock the call or switch to a t

Point taken, but IMO it is beneficial to split tests correctly into unit tests vs integration tests, so the ability to be able to mock the call or switch to a test db is highly desirable. Of all of the projects I've worked on over the last five years, there was some external impetus to change db's at least once.