Fernando and the Magic Plantain

There once was a boy named Fernando Rodney.  Fernando loved to play baseball with his friends in the Dominican Republic.  One day, Fernando stumbled across a magical talking plantain and brought it to the game.  The plantain gave him luck, often telling him, "if you keep me close to you, you're going to get the win."

No, that is not just a made-up story because yes, the Tampa Bay Rays closer is claiming to have a magic plantain that is giving him and his team luck.  Rodney has pitched his team into the finals of the World Baseball Classic, and has not only his teammates, but a talking fruit, to thank.

It is currently unknown whether the plantain is an English or Spanish speaking fruit, but we do know that Rodney now carries it around in his uniform waistline like a holstered weapon.  When the plantain is on the field, the Dominican team has gone 7-0.  Manager Tony Pena isn't complaining.

"So I got surprised when I saw Rodney with a banana, a plantain on the side. I think he pulled them out, I just laughed," he said.  "Right in the middle of the game, this made everybody laugh. And the ballclub, the game like this, you need to have a little bit of fun. You need to find a way to loosen up. And I'm glad that he did it."

The Dominican Republic will faceoff against their island neighbors 80 miles away, Puerto Rico, Tuesday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Bench-Clearing Brawl Erupts During Canada-Mexico WBC Game

The World Baseball Classic has been criticized for all sorts of reasons since its inception in 2006, and now we can add an international brawl to that list.

Saturday evening, Team Mexico and Team Canada squared off in a first-round match-up at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., then actually squared off around the home plate area in the ninth inning.

Earlier in the game, there had been some bad blood brewing between our neighbors to the north and those to the south over a late takeout slide and a collision at home plate, but in the ninth inning, Mexican pitcher Arnold Leon decided to take things into his own hands.  He threw one very inside on Canadian outfielder Rene Tosoni, prompting a warning to both benches from the home plate umpire.  Leon must've been tying his shoe or looking at the center field scoreboard because on the very next pitch, he absolutely drilled Tosoni in the back, and all hell broke loose.

Both benches came storming out, meeting around home plate.  In baseball, bench-clearing brawls usually end up with a lot of pushing and shoving, but apparently in international baseball, you get an all out war.  In the videos posted here, there are several scraps that break off involving tackles and some serious punches.  And as if it wasn't bad enough on the field, Canadian pitching coach Denis Boucher was hit in the face with some sort of bottle as the teams were heading back to their dugouts.

Reports from during the fight and in the aftermath point to Red Sox pitcher Alfredo Aceves being one of the key combatants.  You can see him in the middle video at around the :30 second mark, in a big pile of Canadian players.  Aceves was ejected, and may face even more serious penalties as a result.

Team Canada, wanting to boost their run differential should their fate come down to a tiebreaker, bunted in the ninth inning even though they were up by six runs.  Mexican manager Rick Renteria says issue might have been taken with what the Canadians were trying to do, and they acted "in the heat of the moment."

Very bizarre scene to see in a tournament like this.  The one good thing you can take away is that North American ratings may be up when these teams play again, but with over 40 players on the field and just four umpires, its surprisingly nobody was seriously hurt.

World Baseball Classic Championship Picks - Can the US Win It All?

The 2013 World Baseball Classic is underway for Pools A and B, with the rest of the teams getting into the action by the weekend.

In Pool A, Japan and Cuba have jumped out in front, already winning both of their games.  Things are getting interesting in Pool B, with the Netherlands beating Korea, but losing to Chinese Taipei.  Going off of my picks from last week's WBC post, here are some predictions for the second and championship rounds.

In the second round, the winners and runners-up from Pools A and B will face off, pitting who I believe with be Japan versus the Netherlands, and Korea vs Cuba.  I think these games will be some of the best of the entire tournament... until we get to Pools C and D, that is.  These teams are deep, and have a lot of talent, even though they are lacking players than many baseball fans in the US would recognize.  I want to see the Netherlands do well here, but this grouping is a tall order to fill.  Look for Japan to take this one, with Cuba right behind them.  Korea lost early to the Netherlands in pool play, so maybe they're not the same team from the past two WBC's.

Pools C and D's second round match-ups could be 20-run affairs one day, then a 2-1 contest the next.  Ideally, the United States, Canada, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic would make it through, and those four teams are stacked.  My bias is going to show a little here, but while I think the US will make it through, I believe they'll be runners-up to the Dominican Republic.

So that brings us to the final four teams, and if all goes according to plan, the US with face Japan while the Dominican Republic takes on Cuba.  I would absolutely love to see a US-DR final, so I'm gonna say it happens.  With that game, no matter who the winner is, the WBC will earn more merit than its gotten the past two tournaments.  The games are huge in Asian countries and the Caribbean, but they have never held much weight in the US or Canada.  Hopefully with so many well-known stars playing, this year will be a big jumping point for the World Baseball Classic

World Baseball Classic Odds and Picks

Friday marks the opening game of the 2013 World Baseball Classic.  With 16 teams in the mix, some loaded with MLB stars and some loaded with their respective country's biggest stars, the WBC should prove to be a greater worldwide success than it has been in its first two years, 2006 and 2009.

The World Baseball Classic was born after baseball was cut out of the Olympics in 2005 by the International Olympic Committee.  Japan has won the first two WBCs, defeating Cuba in '06 and South Korea in '09, and it is no surprise that the international tournaments were the highest rating sporting events in Japan's television history.

This year, the pool is just as diverse as ever, with some heavy favorites and a few underdogs.  These are the odds according to VegasInsider.com.

Dominican Republic - 2/1
United States - 5/2
Japan - 5/2
Korea - 10/1
Venezuela - 10/1
Cuba - 12/1
Chinese Taipei - 12/1
Canada - 15/1
Mexico - 18/1
Puerto Rico - 20/1
Panama - 35/1
Field - 15/1

The Dominican Republic is once again a powerhouse, and they will look to get past their best finish of fourth place from the inaugural year.  The United States is also a big favorite, and boasts the only roster with nothing but MLB players, but just like the DR, the Americans have never finished better than fourth.  Two-time winners Japan are right in the mix again, given the same odds as the US.

Pool A features Japan, China, Cuba and Brazil.  Two pretty easy picks here with Japan winning and Cuba as the runner-up.  Brazil has a fairly young team that beat Panama twice and Columbia in their qualifier to get into the tournament, but cannot compete with two teams who have three combined medals.

In Pool B, the Netherlands, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Korea will face off.  Korea has medaled in '06 and '09, and I believe will continue their success.  As for the runner-up, I'm going with the Netherlands here -- if nothing else, they'll be exciting to watch with players like Xander Bogaerts, Andrelton Simmons and Roger Bernadina. 

Pool C will play their games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico, where the Expos played a few "home games" in 2003 and 2004.  Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain will do battle, providing some serious games and some serious scoring.  In four qualifying games, Spain put up 32 runs, but figures to be the odd man out in these matchups.  The Dominican Republic, featuring names like Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz could be the runners-up in this one, because something tells me that Venezuela is locked and loaded this year.  With offense coming from Miguel Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval, pitchers like Anibal Sanchez and Henderson Alvarez will be able to get right to work.

Pool D will be fun to watch, with all three North American countries going head-to-head with Italy tossed into the mix.  The United States should win this one, but the runner-up spot is interesting.  Mexico has its fair share of stars like Adrian Gonzalez and Sergio Romo, but they don't appear to be all that deep.  Canada has a good mix of young stars and talents like John Axford and Brett Lawrie.  Canada scored 38 runs in three qualifying games, so I'm gonna give them the momentum to make it into the second round.

First games are played on Friday, starting at 5:30am on MLB Network.  Stay tuned this weekend for my second round and championship picks and winners.