The first month of the year is almost over and that means the 65th edition of the Caribbean Series, the most important baseball competition in Latin America, is about to kick off, and it will be held in Caracas, Venezuela starting on February 2..
“The 2023 Caribbean Series will be historic,” explained CBPC commissioner Juan Francisco Puello Herrera at a virtual press conference from Santo Domingo.
The Caribbean Series is a truly international tournament that each winter pits the best teams from six Latin American countries against each other to determine a champion after a six-game round-robin series.
It is a spectacular tournament that showcases the talent of players born outside the United States.
The tournament, which began in 1949, usually features teams from the leagues of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama and Cubawhich is making a comeback.
The 2020 games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, included Colombia for the first time as a replacement for Cuba, whose team was denied a visa and could not participate that year.
Why doesn’t the United States participate in the Caribbean Series?
The Caribbean Series was conceived by two Venezuelan entrepreneurs, Oscar Prieto and Pablo Morales, who devised an annual tournament featuring teams from four Latin American countries, each of which would host the matches on a rotating basis.
Thus, from its very conception and, as its name indicates, the tournament was created with only Latin countries located in the Caribbean in mind. For this reason, no team from the United States of America has ever been invited into the competition.
How many teams will participate in the 2023 Caribbean Series?
This year, the Series will take place in Caracas, in what is its longest format to date.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, the 2023 Caribbean Series will feature eight teams from different countries: Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, and Curaao.
Colombia won the last edition, held in Santo Domingo, thanks to five wins by the Barranquilla Caimanes.
The first six countries are automatic participants as members of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. Curacao and Cuba participate by invitation, an annual political game that explains the on-again, off-again relationship with the Cuban Baseball Federation.
The Caribbean Series consists of the winter league champions from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
These leagues provide valuable hands-on training for Minor League and Major League players. The Caribbean Series extends that experience into the first week of February, sometimes less than a week before the start of Spring Training.
Venezuela has not hosted the competition since 2014, when it was held on Margarita Island.
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