A-Rod Switches Teams

Don't be fooled by the title of this post. Alex Rodriguez will still play for the Yankees. When I say he is switching teams I'm talking about the World Baseball Classic. The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament. It is the only international tournament that major league players are allowed to play in. Last year in this tournament Alex Rodriguez played for the United States team. But this year he has decided to play for the Dominican Republic. He made the announcement while playing in a charity golf tournament hosted by David Ortiz. This is what he had to say,

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

Last year after deciding to play for the US A-Rod took a lot of criticism from the fans of the Dominican team. This is because he had first announced that he was playing for the Dominican Republic but then later decided to play for the US. I think this had a major influence on his decision to play for the Dominican Republic this year.

In order to play for a team you or your parents have to have been born in that country. While A-Rod himself was born in the US, both of his parents were born in the Dominican Republic which gives him the choice of which country to play for.

Some other well known major league stars playing for the Dominican Republic are: Adrian Beltre, David Ortiz, Placido Polanco, Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, Alfanso Soriano, Miguel Tejada, Moises Alou, and Vladimir Guerrero.