MEXICALI, Mexico – With the trophy awarded to the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido after a 1-0 win over Mexico’s Charros de Jalisco, the 2025 Caribbean Series in Mexicali is now committed to baseball history, and what a great set of memories it created.
Rogers Hornsby, the great Brooklyn Dodgers hitter of the 1930s, maybe best known nowadays for a quote he gave about winter.
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring,” Hornsby famously said, the implication being that with spring came baseball.
Similarly, former Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Browns, and Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck, whose name rhymes with “wreck,” famously said, “There are only two seasons: winter and baseball.”
When I was a kid growing up in suburban New Jersey in the 1980s, my father told me how there is, in fact, winter baseball, and that it’s played in Latin America. Of course, that was about all I could find out about winter ball in the 80s, since the internet, MLB Network, and ESPN Deportes were all years away from coming into our homes.
But the future — with year-round baseball available in your home, sometimes, even, in English! — is here, thanks to MLB Network finally deciding to televise the Caribbean Series live. If you didn’t get to watch every inning, let’s take a look back at the past eight days of baseball here in Mexicali.
The Japan Breeze Captured Attention, But Not Wins – The barnstorming team from Arizona led by former Cleveland Indians outfielder and Japanese Baseball hall of famer Alex Ramirez drew quite a bit of fan interest, with the Mexicali crowd cheering them on, even though they were, in a word, fantastically overmatched in the series.
We got to see the North American return of Munenori Kawasaki – HE IS JAPANEEEEESE!! – and his banana-colored bat. Why a banana-colored bat? Well, because he eats a lot of bananas to avoid cramps.
Kawasaki was absolutely still his hilarious self, and bunted and slapped a few singles for old time’s sake, going 3-for-5 at the Caribbean Series and driving in one of the Breeze’s five runs.
Asked what he’s been up to since he last played in Nippon Professional Baseball’s top league with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, he replied, “Baseball… eat banana. Baseball, banana.”
WBN’s @LeifSkodnick spoke with Japan Breeze third baseman and former MLB infielder Munenori Kawasaki before their game! #SerieDelCaribe pic.twitter.com/GyeGjo2MOT
— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) February 1, 2025
Overall, the Breeze weren’t competitive save for their game against Puerto Rico, which they lost 3-2. They had two starters who were ineffective, one woefully so, had a reliever enter the game and then balk in a pair of runs before he even threw a pitch, and were outscored 32-5.
While Japan, ranked No. 1 in the World Baseball Rankings, has a terrific top league and national team program, this team comprised of former minor leaguers and industrial league players looked like they didn’t belong, and that’s too bad.
Two New Members of the Caribbean Series Hall Of Fame – Who is Karim Garcia? Pedro Martinez famously asked that question during the 2003 American League Championship Series, the height of the New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox rivalry. Garcia, at the time, had played in Major League Baseball intermittently since 1996, often shuttling between Triple-A and the majors.
But following his MLB career, Garcia was well traveled in professional baseball, playing in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes, South Korea with the Hanwha Eagles, and in his native Mexico with five different teams in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol and three different teams in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico, making six Caribbean Series appearances for Mexico with Hermosillo, Obregon, and Culiacan, winning the title with the Yaquis de Obregon in 2011 and 2013.
Garcia was understandably emotional following the ceremony. He’s had some health problems of late, and told me, through tears, that it was a tremendous honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in his native Mexico. I told him in Spanish that my wife is Boston Red Sox fan, and that I grew up a New York Yankees fan, and as someone took a photo, I told him I had a question: Quien es Pedro Martinez? He got a good laugh out of that one.
Strength of the Series – There was some discussion amongst fans and media about whether the teams and the field at the 2025 Caribbean Series was as strong as in years past. The baseball we saw on the field was great, though the field was smaller, with five teams compared to seven in Miami last year and eight in Caracas in 2023. The Japan Breeze were inarguably the weakest team to compete in the Caribbean Series in recent memory, and possibly ever. Last year, Nicaragua was the weakest team in the field, and the Japan Breeze matched them by going winless and getting no-hit by Venezuela.
“I think the quality of play is really good,” said MLB veteran Carlos Baerga. “We can’t say bad things about Japan. There’s always going to be a team that’s going to be like that. Last year it was Nicaragua, the year before I think it was Colombia, something like that. But it’s going to happen, but I think the other teams have at least 10 or 11 ex-major league players.”
What this series lacked were big names. Last year in Miami, Curacao had Wladimir Balentien and Venezuela had Yasiel Puig, and they both reward the crowd with a monster home run. Johnny Cueto was the biggest name in the tournament this year, and we only got to see him once, as he was stricken with the flu along with many of his Dominican teammates.
Each team did have it’s share of current and former MLB players, save for Japan, whose only big name was Munenori Kawasaki. But just because you don’t recognize some of the names doesn’t mean those guys can’t play.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Let’s start with the good things we saw on the field: The no-hitter by Jesus Vargas was the third in Caribbean Series history. He joined fellow Venezuelan Angel Padron, who no-hit Nicaragua in 2024 in Miami, and Tommy Fine, who threw a no-hitter for the Leones del Habana against Cerveceria Caracas, the predecessor team to the LVBP’s Leones del Caracas, on Feb. 21, 1952.
And how about Isan Diaz? Diaz had a two-homer game for Puerto Rico in the third-place game against Venezuela, knocking a pair of sliders from Jimmy Endersby over the wall — well, the first one went over the wall, the second went off the right field foul pole. Maybe he’ll get a good look and another shot in MLB this year.
The bad: Remember when Al Bundy, played by Ed O’Neill on the 90s sitcom “Married With Children” would brag about scoring four touchdowns in a single high school football game? Well, I don’t think Cardenales de Lara shortstop Eduardo Garcia is going to be bragging about making three errors in a single Caribbean Series game. Garcia’s trifecta of errors in Venezuela’s 10-5 win over Puerto Rico was impressive in a bad way: In the bottom of the second, he booted a ground ball that allowed Danny Ortiz to reach base. Two batters later, trying to turn a double play at second, he airmailed the throw to first, which allowed Ortiz to score. A fielding error in the third when Anthony Garcia grounded into a fielder’s choice at short completed the troika. Oy vey.
The Ugly: Take your pick from several ignominious moments suffered by Japan Breeze pitchers. There were the two wild pitches thrown by Japan Breeze starter Shuto Sakurai in their 10-2 loss to open Caribbean Series play against the Dominican Republic. There were the two consecutive balks by reliever Gako Ueda that allowed runs to score before Ueda threw a single pitch in the fifth inning of the 7-2 loss against Mexico. And starting opposite Vargas, Japan Breeze starter Kenta Hitomi lasted just 1/3 of an inning in the 10-0 loss, allowing five runs on three hits and two walks. According to my abacus, that gives him a career Caribbean Series ERA of 135.00. Yes, you read that right.
The Last Montreal Expo – There are two Montreal Expos still out there doing their thing: Youppi! the mascot, who has been with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League since the Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals, and Daryl Thompson, who pitched in this, his sixth Caribbean Series, for Puerto Rico, and was drafted by the Expos in the eighth round in 2003. Thompson, now 39, told me he thinks he’s got three or four more seasons in him at minimum. His teammate and roommate, Ronnie Williams, told me he thinks Thompson has four or five years left. As the big brother and second pitching coach on a team with a lot of kids, Thompson is the glue that holds the staff together. He’ll be playing for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League this summer, and will be back in Puerto Rico next winter. As Skip, the manager in “Bull Durham” so ably played by the late Trey Gammons, once said, “It beats the hell out of working at Sears.”
Give Me One More Shot – Before Friday’s championship game, Billy Hamilton said he’s looking to get one more shot in Major League Baseball, where he’s appeared in 951 games over 11 seasons and came in second in the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year balloting. The Taylorsville, Miss.-native is best known for his incredible speed on the basepaths, and was a sensation when he made it to the majors in 2013. Two years earlier, he swiped 155 bases in 132 games in the minors. He played in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol last year with Tabasco and Jalisco, stealing 37 bases in 63 games, and had a good winter with the Charros.
Asked about the coming season, he said, “I’m not worried about the summer right now. Right now I’m trying to finish strong here, and see how it goes from here, but my main goal is to get back to the Major Leagues and get a year in.
Hamilton is as exciting a player as you’ll see in modern baseball, and he never really got much of a chance in the majors when the rules changed to encourage base stealing. Maybe we’ll see him back there this year.
No Big Surprise – Esmil Rogers, who started the championship game for the Dominican Republic, was named the 2025 Caribbean Series MVP by a vote of the media. Rogers threw six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and five walks, striking out four.
The Gil Family Band – Yes, Mateo Gil, the Charros cleanup hitter at the Caribbean Series, is the son of manager Benji Gil. Asked about their relationship as player and manager, Mateo said, “He’s tough on me, but he’s tough on all the players. He expects us to do our job and play fundamental baseball.”
It’s not easy to be playing for a parent, especially in professional baseball, the younger Gil said. “Away from the ballpark, I try to keep my distance because usually players don’t hang out with their manager too much. But you know, we’ll go grab dinner and I think we’ll talk about the game because he just loves talking about baseball. But you know, I think we’ve done a really good job this year of really separating the two between manager and son.”
To add to the difficulty of the situation, there aren’t many people with whom they can discuss how to handle the situation, because a father managing a son is so extraordinarily rare at the professional level.
“I don’t know anybody personally that’s played for their dad, and I don’t think he knows anybody that’s managed his son at the professional level,” Mateo said. “So it’s a little tricky at times, you know, there’s learning curves, but I think we did a really good job this year with it.”
The Players Have As Much Fun As the Fans – Before the Dominican Republic’s semifinal game against Venezuela, reliever Joe Corbett was all smiles outside the dugout meeting with fans who made the trip down from his native Oklahoma.
Corbett’s journey to the Caribbean Series started when he was released by the Texas Rangers organization. He had an offer in LIDOM for the 2022-23 season but couldn’t go, so he pitched for the American Association’s Cleburne Railroaders and the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol’s Generales de Durango in 2023 before pitching for the Charros de Jalisco that winter. This winter, he put up some of the best numbers ever by a reliever in LIDOM with the Toros del Este, throwing 19 2/3 innings with a 1.37 ERA.
Sharing a locker room with Leones manager Albert Pujols, he said, “has been a dream come true. He’s my favorite player of all time. When I was a little kid, I was mimicking his swing. I got the same bat. He’s literally my favorite player of all time.”
Of all the crazy moments in winter ball this year, perhaps none was wilder than Junior Caminero’s homer off the scoreboard at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal to give the Leones the lead in the top of the ninth inning in game seven of the LIDOM championship series, and Corbett relished it.
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my baseball career. That was one of the craziest, most competitive, evenly-matched series I’ve ever seen or been a part of. And man, those fans, every game was packed. I think there was 15, 20,000 people, but I’ll tell you what, it sounded like about 60,000,” Corbett said with an ear-to-ear grin. “I felt like a little kid. We all did, to be honest. That was crazy, man. That was crazy. …Earlier that game, he had two balls that he hit like 112 (mph). And then he hits that ball, and it’s just the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit at that ballpark. The ball does not fly at that ballpark, especially at night. And then it hits the scoreboard! His celebration was freaking unreal. I’m in the video. I’m out there going crazy. And then he throws his bat. I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I thought it was going to come down and hit somebody. And then he took his time on the bases.”
Caminero performed an all-time great home-run trot, circling the bases in 56 seconds while his teammates celebrated deliriously.
“It was awesome. Some people don’t like it,” Corbett said. “Who cares? It’s Dominican Republic. It was awesome. We all loved it.”
For Corbett, it’s been an honor of a lifetime to go to the Caribbean Series.
“I’m very, very proud to represent the Dominican Republic. I don’t take it lightly wearing this on my chest and it’s a crazy cool opportunity and experience,” Corbett said. “I’ve played in America my whole life and I’ve been playing out here now for two years, you know, the Caribbean. And this is more fun. I’m not afraid to say it, this is more fun. There’s more passion, there’s less rules. It’s just more real baseball to be honest with you. If that’s controversial, I don’t care. It’s just fun baseball, man.”
And it’s even more fun when you win. Every kid dreams of winning the World Series, but only 25 guys join that elite club as players each year.
“This is pretty damn close for me. I love Dominican Republic baseball. I love Caribbean baseball,” Corbett said on the field at El Nido de las Aguilas minutes after his team claimed the title. “Like I said, this is so fun. I love these guys. I love representing the Dominican Republic.So this is winning the championship with Escogido, and now here, it’s pretty awesome.“
The Things We Ate – Prior to coming to Mexicali, I didn’t know too much about the city, save for what I learned from YouTube travel videos my son and I watched together, and the fact that it’s the setting for the Grateful Dead’s “Mexicali Blues.”
World Baseball Network’s Matt Tallarini and I got into town and had a free day before the series started, so we went to the ballpark to pick up our credentials and met Victor Vizcarra, a Mexicali native and the broadcaster for the Saraperos de Saltillo of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol and the Venados de Mazatlan of the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico.
Those videos my son and I watched informed me that, because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Mexicali has the largest Chinese-Mexican population of any city in the country and the best Chinese food in Mexico. When I mentioned this to Victor, he told us that the best Chinese restaurant in Mexicali, the China House, wasn’t far from the ballpark. Off we went to order combo No. 2, which he recommended, and it was fantastic — and a veritable mountain of Chinese food. Chicken, pork, beef, rice, noodles, and spring rolls. Think of the Chinese food you get in the United States, but add touches of Mexican spice and citrus and tropical fruit — it’s unique and marvelous, and pairs delightfully with a Mexican coke, which is made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.
Ever had a colita? It’s a grilled pig tail, chopped into pieces and served with Valentina hot sauce and a lime. There’s not a ton of meat on every piece, but it’s an enjoyable traditional finger food around Mexico, somewhat akin to chicken wings in the U.S. What does it taste like? When you add hot sauce and squeeze a lime over them, they’re salty, sweet, spicy, and sour all at the same time, and a unique piece of Mexican culture popular at games, gatherings and celebrations.
Alex Ruvalcaba, a Mexicali native who runs a webpage covering the Aguilas de Mexicali, who play in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico and fills in on Spanish broadcasts for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, introduced me to colitas on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, before the championship game, he picked me up at the hotel for a tour of Mexicali and lunch at one of his favorite places, Cabbana, a marvelous seafood restaurant, where we had rock shrimp, rsw shrimp on tortillas with a soy and citrus sauce, as well as cucumber and carrot, and steak tacos with a variety of different sauces. Delicious.
Otherwise, it was mostly ballpark food, but even the ballpark food in Mexicali is tremendous. Taqueria Chicali has a stand with fantastic carne asada tacos, and you can get three for MX$210, which is a little more than $10 north of the border. Served with guacamoles, onions, and fresh limes, they’re simple and delicious.
The ballpark hot dog here is MX$100, or about US$5, and the length of a footlong and quite hefty. Served on a roll with sesame seeds, you can get all the traditional hot dog condiments, as well as pico de gallo, jalapenos, and several other sauces.
Next Year in Caracas – There will be eight teams in next year’s Caribbean Series, which will be held in three stadiums in Caracas and Macuto, Venezuela. The Japan Breeze will be back as an invitee, hopefully with a stronger roster, along with teams representing South Korea and Italy and the champion of Cuba’s Serie Nacional. The four leagues that are members of the CBPC will, of course, be there too.
Will we? I hope so. As you may know, Venezuela and the United States do not currently have diplomatic relations, and the country is under a Level 4 State Department Travel Advisory. Americans have to travel to a Venezuelan embassy in another country to obtain a visa, provided that the Venezuelan government approves it, and then travel to Venezuela through another country, usually purchasing the ticket in cash while outside the United States. It’s possible, but it is definitely not easy.
That said, we’ve made it through another winter ball season. I’m here at the airport in Mexicali, waiting for a flight to Mexico City, and from there, back to New York’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport. Hopefully I won’t be delayed by the six inches of snow that’s due to fall over night, which I’ll be shoveling as soon as I get back early Sunday morning.
Thankfully, we’ll only have to stare at the window and wait for Spring Training to start for a week, and then bask in the summer sun until winter ball returns next October.
Oh, and one more thing.
Gracias, Mexicali. Gracias a todos aqui. Hasta el proximo vez. Ojalá nos veamos en Caracas el año que viene.
Photo: Starter Esmil Rogers threw six shutout innings for the Dominican Republic, allowing one hit, five walks, and striking out four, as the Dominican Republic won their fourth Caribbean Series title in six years. He was named the 2025 Caribbean Series MVP. (Photo Courtesy of CBPC)
