Above: the Dominican Republic’s Hanley Ramirez
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Tuesday’s World Baseball Classic final in San Francisco will be an entirely Caribbean affair, with regional powers Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to face off for the championship.
That both teams made the final was something of a surprise to analysts; teams like the United States, Cuba and Japan were picked to go all the way at the beginning of the tournament.
But the two Caribbean powers continued to advance, knocking off their heavily favoured rivals.
Indeed, the Dominican Republic, led by stars like the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Hanley Ramirez and the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano, has not yet lost a game in the tournament.
Puerto Rico, boasting stars like the St Louis Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran, has won five of eight games.
Crucially, though, two of those losses have come against the Dominican Republic.
Giancarlo Alvarado will start for Puerto Rico, opposed by the Dominican Republic’s Samuel Deduno at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Either way, the Caribbean wins.