The Kansas City Royals are relying on three Dominican pitchers to propel them to a World Series championship over the New York Mets, in what is believed to be the first time three pitchers from the same foreign country will start World Series games for any team, according to Major League Baseball.
The Royals' Dominican starters include Edinson Volquez, who pitched in a Game 1 victory (unaware, as it turns out, that his father had died suddenly just hours before the first pitch), Johnny Cueto, who will pitch in Game 2 on Wednesday night, followed by Yordano Ventura in Game 3.
It's a historic first for the Dominican Republic, a haven for baseball talent for generations — but no more so than today. Consider this: the Dominican Republic has led the majors with the most foreign born players in the league for the last 20 years, since MLB began releasing its annual data in 1995. This season the DR led the Major Leagues with 83 players born outside the United States, according to MLB.com.
Pedro Martinez was just inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming just the second Dominican player to get the honor. Juan Marichal was inducted in 1983.
The number of Dominican hall of famers is only going to rise with Vladimir Guerrero on the ballot in 2017, and current active players Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre and David "Big Papi" Ortiz, all expected to have an enormous shot of making it in.
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