Biggest Upset in International Baseball

The World Baseball Classic ended over a month ago, but it's never a bad time to look back. In fact, this years WBC had one of the biggest upsets ever in international baseball.

The Dominican Republic came into the tournament as the favorite to win their pool, and possibly win it all with their stacked lineup and power house team. Then there was the Netherlands, who were expected to do nothing other than put 9 men on the field.

In the first game of the tournament, the Netherlands took an early 3-0 lead with the help of a few defensive errors by the DR. Sidney Ponson and the rest of the Netherlands pitching limited the powerful offense to just 2 runs, as they won the game 3-2. If that already wasn't a big enough upset, the Netherlands would do it again, in dramatic fashion.

Facing elimination, the Dominicans found themselves against the Netherlands again. The winner would advance to the second round; the losers were done.

The game was a pitchers duel. The game was 0-0 until the Dominicans took a 1-0 lead in the 11th inning when the Netherlands's right fielder, Gene Kingsale, misplayed a ball with two outs. With Carlos Marmol on the hill, things looked good for the Dominican Republic.

But the Netherlands's were resilient. A double to lead off the inning, and Kingsale was at the plate with a chance to redeem himself. He singled and tied the game.

The Netherlands would be down to one out with Yurendell de Caster at the plate. He hit a groundball to first, looking like the game would be sent to another inning, however first basemen Willy Aybar made an error, and Kingsale scored the winning run. Another upset for the Netherlands as they advanced to the second round in dramatic fashion, shocking the world.

Because the Netherlands upset the Dominicans, not once, but twice, that makes it the biggest upset in international baseball.

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A-Rod Playing for DR

In 2006, Alex Rodgriguez played for the United States during the World Baseball Classic. In 2009, A-Rod will be playing for the Dominican Republic.

A-Rod, 33, has 553 career home runs and could very well break Barry Bond's all time record. A-Rod also has a career .306 AVG and .967 OPS. With Team USA, A-Rod hit .333 with no home runs and 3 RBI in the 2006 WBC.

A-Rod is also a wealthy man. Over his career, he has made a total of $194,431,586. He made $28 million in 2008, more than the entire Florida Marlins roster.

The controversy is whether A-Rod, a New York born player, should be able to switch his WBC team.

A-Rod is a Dominican American, so playing for Team Republica Dominicana isn't out of his roots. At the age of four, A-Rod and his family moved to their native country, the Dominican Republic. He lived there for a few years before moving to Miami.

The rules state that a player can chose his native country, or a country of his ancestors. The decision for A-Rod in both 2006 and 2009 weren't easy ones. Wanting to satisfy both sides, A-Rod said in 2005 he would not play for either team. However, he stated in interviews he was leaning toward playing with the Dominican Republic in 2006. With the help of David Ortiz, A-Rod committed to the Dominican Republic in 2009.

"I am 100 percent sure that I will play for the Dominican Republic team,"
Rodriguez said. "This time, there will be no doubts, and it is a dream of my
mom's that I intend to fulfill."

Perhaps A-Rod was not satisfied with Team USA's loss to Mexico early in the first WBC. Perhaps he feels he has a better opportunity with the Dominican team.

Because A-Rod is both American and Dominican, he should have a choice as to which team he wants to play for, even if he decided to flip flop teams. After all, in the first place, A-Rod was not completely committed to playing with the United States.

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QUOTE SOURCE: Worldbaseballclassic.com

Power House Teams Will Dominate

The United States and Japan have two of the biggest market teams in the World Baseball Classic. Add in the Dominican Republic and you have 3 of the world's biggest power houses.

In 2006, the United States lost in the second round to Mexico. In this years tournament, USA will try to redeem themselves, taking home the gold.

While many players opted to sit out the WBC and report to Spring Training, Team USA still has a solid team. The United States have returning players to their roster, but also have key additions and subtractions. The popular topic is Alex Rodriguez moving from Team USA to the Dominican Republic team. But that doesn't mean USA has a hole at third base.

You know Team USA is good when your choice of starting third baseman is between Chipper Jones, David Wright, and Evan Longoria.

Derek Jeter and Dustin Pedroia will be playing the middle field, with Jimmy Rollins and Mark Derosa backing up. Derek Lee or Kevin Youkilis will man first. A terrific infield, none the less.

The outfield is filled with spectacular talent such as Grady Sizemore, Ryan Brain, and Carlos Quentin, as well as others.

The United States also has excellent starters in Jake Peavy, Roy Oswalt and Scott Kazmir as well as others. With a 65 pitch limit, the bullpen must be strong. With J.J Putz and Joe Nathan at the back end of the bullpen, the late innings should be a breeze.

Japan is looking to repeat. In 2006, they defeated Cuba in the finals to take home the championship. Japan has Major League talent on their roster, including world wide fan favorite, Ichiro Suzuki.

Japan's pitching also consists of the Red Sox's Daisuke Matzusaka. Dice-K will try to dazzle the world with his famous pitch, the gyro-ball. Also on the pitching staff is Dice-K's Boston teammate, Hideki Okajima. Okajima had a 2.61 ERA in 2008.

One of the biggest names in Japan, and on the WBC roster is Yu Darvish, a 22 year old phenom. In 4 seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Darvish is 48-19 with a 2.33 ERA and 585 strikeouts.




The offense of the Dominican Republic's can't get much better with Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez both in the same lineup. The Dominicans also have a tough choice for shortstop between Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes, two of the game's best.

The roster will also include big names like David Ortiz, Alfonso Soriano, Vladamir Guerrero and others.

The pitching doesn't have the big names like their offense, anchored by Ervin Santana, Francisco Liriano, Edison Volquez, with Jose Valverde and Francisco Cordero at the back end. The Dominican Republic may not have the best staff in the WBC, but they have talented pitchers who will get the job done. They'll surely get their run support.

The double elimination bracket could prevent the smaller market teams to pull ahead of the power houses. However, the World Baseball Classic may be like the playoffs; any team can get hot at the right time. The small market teams could end up winning the tournament, as they have a lot of talent too. However, there is no reason why Japan, USA and the Dominican Republic wouldn't be able to dominate.

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