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SAN FRANCISCO -- Robinson Cano knocked baseballs all over the field and kept the Dominican Republic offense rolling through three different stops on the road to a championship. He deftly made defensive gems look effortless and celebrated with his talented teammates, showing a wide smile and a confident swagger.
In other words, he played like Robinson Cano, and for that he was honored as the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, picked from among a star-studded cast on the championship team from the Dominican Republic as the best of the best.
After the Dominicans closed out their undefeated run to the Classic title in convincing fashion with a 3-0 defeat of Puerto Rico on Tuesday night at AT&T Park, Cano carried the MVP trophy around with him but made it clear he shared it with his teammates.
"Well, this is something that you never are going to get it done by yourself, so I want to thank the guys, my teammates, the manager, also the Dominican team for giving me that opportunity to be here with all these guys, all this great talent," Cano said. "Without my teammates, I would have never won an MVP, so I would say it's not only me, it's about the whole team."
Cano, the All-Star second baseman of the New York Yankees, won MVP honors in pool play as well as group play before doing the same for the tournament following the championship round at AT&T Park, where the Dominicans beat the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Monday night's semifinal before topping rival Puerto Rico on Tuesday to win their first Classic title.
Cano finished the tournament batting .469 (15-for-32) with four doubles, two home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored, leading all Classic players with 15 hits -- a single-Classic record. Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka of Japan was the MVP in each of the first two editions of the tournament.
