Reports from ESPN Deportes’ Enrique Rojas and others indicate that the 2026 Caribbean Series, to be held in Caracas, Venezuela, will have eight teams playing at three stadiums.
The four member leagues of the Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional del Caribe — the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, Venezuela’s Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, Mexico’s Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico, and Puerto Rico’s Liga Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente — will be playing against teams comprised of professional players representing Italy, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the champion of Cuba’s Serie Nacional.
In 2023, the last time the Caribbean Series was held in Caracas, the event was played at Estadio La Rinconada, also known as Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar, and Estadio Forum in La Guaira, Venezuela. Reports have indicated that Estadio Universitario in Caracas, a 20,723-seat stadium built in 1952, will also host games during the 2026 Caribbean Series, in addition to La Rinconada and Estadio Forum.
Similarly, the 2023 Caribbean Series featured eight teams, with invitee clubs from Cuba, Curacao, Panama, and Colombia playing in the event. Cuba was represented by Agricultores, the champion of the Cuban Elite League’s first season, Panama sent the champion of its ProBeis winter league, the Federales de Chiriqui, and Colombia was represented by the champion of the Liga Beisbol Profesional Colombiano, the Vaqueros de Monteria.
In 2026, Cuba will be represented by the champion of the Serie Nacional, which is reverting to its original status as a winter league, while Japan will again be represented by the Japan Breeze.
Reporting by ESPN Deportes’ Enrique Rojas confirmed with CBPC Presidente Juan Francisco Puello Herrera that the political considerations of holding the series in Venezuela would not hinder any team or league’s participation.
Similarly, Yamil Benitez and Erick Almonte, representing CONPEPROCA and FENAPERPO, the players unions across the Caribbean and in the Dominican Republic respectively, have no qualms about the event being in Caracas next year.
“We are very comfortable,” Yamil Benitez, the president of CONPEPROCA, said at a press conference before the championship game. “Yes, there are challenges. It’s not a secret. In my case, as a Puerto Rican, an American citizen, at the 2023 Caribbean Series, when I arrived in Venezuela, I was surprised because I thought it was [going to be different getting] in the country there in Venezuela, in Caracas and it was not like that. It was so pleasant. On the first day, we had security, and after the first day we were walking in Venezuela as if nothing had happened.”
Could other countries, including countries that have previously participated in the Caribbean Series, be invited in the coming years? At minimum, the association representing the players in leagues across the Caribbean, would welcome them.
“Everyone who wants to participate, I understand that they will be welcome by us. As [our union] is not only in charge of representing the players of the four countries, the members of the Confederation, but everyone who participates,” said Erick Almonte, the president of FENAPEPRO, the union that represents players in the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, said at a press conference before the championship game. “In the most recent years, we have seen Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Curacao. So, we understand that everyone who has the level and the conditions to participate in this worthy event and other international events, why not accept and give the opportunity to participate?”
Notably, Yamil Benitez, the president of CONPEPROCA, the union representing players in leagues across the Caribbean, said not to count out teams viability as Caribbean Series participants based on their initial results.
“When we look at the participation of Panama in the beginning, the participation of Colombia in the beginning, the same we saw with Nicaragua — they were teams that in their first participation did not meet the expectations of many people,” Benitez said. “But they finished, the team of Panama winning a series in the Caribbean, when we look at the participation of Panama in the beginning, the participation of Colombia in the beginning.”
