The Federación Cubana de Béisbol y Softbol announced on April 30 that they will participate in the 2026 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela.
The 2026 Caribbean Series will be held from January 30 until February 7 with the main venues being Estadio Simon Bolivar, Estadio Forum de La Guaria, and Estadio Universitario.
¡CUBA ESTÁ DE VUELTA EN LA SERIE DEL CARIBE! 🇨🇺⚾🔥
Después de varios años de ausencia, Cuba ha sido oficialmente invitada a participar en la Serie del Caribe 2026, que se celebrará en Venezuela durante febrero de 2026.
Por La Goma#SerieDelCaribe2026 #BéisbolCubano pic.twitter.com/765UhKM3mG
— Facultad de Cultura Física,Isla de la Juventud (@CulturaFisica) April 30, 2025
The winners from the 2025-26 seasons in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, the Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico, the Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana, and the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico will participate at the 2026 Caribbean Series.
The LAMP, LVBP, LIDOM and LBPRC are all part of the Confederación de Béisbol Profesional del Caribe (CBPC).
This will be the 68th edition of the Caribbean Series and the 77th year of the CBPC once the event starts in late January 2026.
Cuba did not have a winter league season last year in 2024-25 due to the political and economic issues on the island.
According to Leif Skodnick of World Baseball Network on October 23, 2024, The Cuba Elite League, which played its first two seasons as a winter league, will play its third season between March and June 2025.The change in the league’s schedule was announced by Cuba’s sports ministry, the Instituto Nacional Deportivo, Educacion Fisica y Recreacion, or INDER, last Wednesday. In addition to moving the Elite League season to the spring, the Serie Nacional’s next season will begin in September 2025.The season changes were made because the “absence of Cuba in the Caribbean Series makes it unnecessary to continue adhering to the changes made two years ago in our calendars to adjust to the date of that tournament,” INDER stated in Spanish in a press release published by JITDeportivo.cu, a sports media outlet run by the Cuban government.
The 2025-26 Serie Nacional season winner will be the representative for Cuba at the 2026 Caribbean Series.
Cuba’s last club tournament was the 2025 Serie De Las Americas in Nicaragua this past January, where the 2024 Serie Nacional champion, Lenadores de Las Tunas participated.
The Leñadores de Las Tunas finished tied for third place at 2-3 with the 2024-25 Panama Probeis champion, Aguilas Metropolitanas in pool play and lost in the semifinals 5-4 to the 2024-25 Liga de Beisbol Profesional Nacional in Nicaragua champion, Leones de Leon.
Cuba last played in the Caribbean Series in 2023, when the annual winter ball tournament of champions was held in Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela, and had eight participating teams.
The 2024 Caribbean Series, held at loanDepot Park in Miami, featured seven teams, with Cuba absent.
Panama, Nicaragua, and Curacao were the only invitees at the 2024 Caribbean Series in loanDepot Park.
The Agricultores team played in the 2023 Caribbean Series and were champions in the 2022-2023 Elite League Season, while winning in seven games in the best-of-seven championship series over the Portuarios, when Agricultores’ Osvaldo Abreu hit a walk-off single to center field to capture a 7-6 win and berth to Caracas, Venezuela, including coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Cocodrilos de Matanzas won in six games in the 2023-24 Elite League best-of-seven series over the Cazadores de Artemisa and did not participate in an alternative league tournament out of Cuba.
Cuba went 1-6 in Caracas, Venezuela at the 2023 Caribbean Series with their first win only coming against Curacao 3-1 in 10 innings on the first day of the tournament at Estadio Fórum La Guaira. Colombia, Panama, Curacao, and Cuba were all invitees at the 2023 Caribbean Series.
Cuba, prior to the 2023 event, previously played in the 2019 Caribbean Series in Panama City, Panama at Rod Carew Stadium with the 2018-19 Serie Nacional, the Lenadores de La Tunas, who lost 3-1 in the championship game against the 2018-2019 Panama Probeis league champion Toros de Herrera.
The 2014-15 Serie Nacional champion, the Vegueros de Pinar del Rio won the 2015 Caribbean Series in the second-consecutive year the country was back at the event and were the only Cuban team to win the Caribbean Series after 1960 since the beginning of the United States Trade Embargo.
Cuba won the Caribbean Series as the formerly known Cuban Winter League with the Alacranes del Almendares winning in 1949 and 1959, the Leones del Habana in 1952, the Tigres de Marianao in 1957 and 1958, and the Elefantes de Cienfuegos in 1960 prior to professional sports being abolished from the island and putting a halt to the Caribbean Series until it was brought back in 1970.
Outlook For Other Participants At Monumental SDC 2026
The 2026 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, will once again feature Japan Breeze, alongside Cuba’s 2025-26 Serie Nacional champion. South Korea will send a team composed of minor league and main roster players from the Korean Baseball Organization, forming an All-Star squad. Italy’s participation will be determined by either the 2025 Serie A1 champion or an assembled All-Star team, a scouting platform for 2026 World Baseball Classic roster additions.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase and Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes confirmed that Cuba, South Korea, Italy, and Japan Breeze will participate in the 2026 Caribbean Series in Caracas, reporting the news on Feb. 3.
Rojas said Feb. 14 that KBO officials met with the CBPC in Mexicali and that Commissioner Juan Puello Herrera plans to travel to Italy and South Korea in the coming months for further discussions on the proposal.
The Confederación de Peloteros del Caribe and the Federación Nacional de Peloteros Profesionales de la República Dominicana representatives Yamil Benitez and Erick Almonte spoke at a press conference in front of media outlets at the 2025 Caribbean Series before the start of the championship game on February 7 about the logistics for going into the 2025-26 winter league season and the 2026 event being in Caracas.
World Baseball Network’s Leif Skodnick reported that Yamil Benitez, president of CONPEPROCA, said he had no concerns about the 2026 event being held in Caracas. “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.”
The four members of the Confederación de Béisbol Profesional del Caribe—Venezuela’s LVBP, the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, Puerto Rico’s LBPRC, and Mexico’s LAMP—will compete in the 2026 Caribbean Series. Confirmed venues for the tournament include Estadio Simon Bolivar, Estadio Forum de La Guaira, and Estadio Universitario in Caracas. In addition to the four league champions, Japan Breeze, South Korea, Italy, and Cuba will also participate, bringing the total number of teams to eight.
Junior Matrille, Gigantes del Cibao press coordinator and Baseball Writers’ Association of America member, reported on his Instagram on Feb. 8 that the Caribbean Series will be held in Caracas in 2026, Hermosillo in 2027, Miami with the Dominican Republic as the representative in 2028, San Juan in 2029, and Caracas again in 2030.
Rojas also said on Feb. 14,” In July last year, the Venezuelan government cut diplomatic relations with several countries, including the Dominican Republic, questioning the controversial election results that President Nicolás Maduro used to stay in power. By expelling the Dominican consular mission from Caracas and withdrawing its staff in Santo Domingo, Venezuela essentially broke its historical ties with the Dominican Republic. For many analysts, the participation for the Dominican Republic in the next Caribbean Series will be difficult if the current situation persists for next February. However, baseball people are optimistic about it.”
Other implications with travel safety from the CBPC will have to be worked through the next few months to have the Monumental 2026 Caribbean Series go smoothly prior to other players that have to go back to their main clubs in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada and the United States shortly after February 7 for pitchers and catchers alongside spring training beginning during that time frame.
Caribbean Series Historic Background
The Tigres del Licey of LIDOM have the most Caribbean Series titles with 11, the Aguilas Cibaenas of LIDOM have six, the Cangrejeros de Santurce and the Criollos de Caguas of the LBPRC have five, and the Leones del Escogido of LIDOM have four, and are the only teams with more than two Caribbean Series titles.
The CBPC was formed in Havana, Cuba on April 12, 1948, by representatives from the winter leagues of Cuba, Panama, and Puerto Rico and shortly after Venezuela joined the confederation.
The creation of the CBPC was sponsored by National Association president George Trautman, who ensured that the various winter leagues were affiliated with MLB alongside all 16 teams’ minor league affiliates.
The Caribbean Series started in 1949 in Havana, Cuba at Estadio LatinoAmericano, where the 1948-49 Cuban Winter League champion, the Alacranes del Almendares went 6-0 to win the first event, along with the Cervecería Caracas from the LVBP, the Refresqueros de Spur Cola from the Panama Probeis league, and the Indios de Mayagüez of the Puerto Rico Winter League participating in the first-year.
The founders of the Caribbean Series was Venezuelan baseball entrepreneurs Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz, who plateaued the idea after seeing the success of the Serie Interamericana in 1946, which featured the clubs, the Brooklyn Bushwicks from the United States, the Cervecería Caracas from Venezuela, the Sultanes de Monterrey from Mexico, and an All-Star team composed of Cuban players.
Cuba and Panama were part of the CBPC before the Caribbean Series was suspended after the 1960 event due to the Cuban Revolution and the United States embargo against Cuba that prevented U.S. businesses from conducting trade or commerce with Cuban interests since 1958 and Fidel Castro taking over the diplomatic control of the island and dissolving professional baseball, which led to Major League Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick to rule that American major leaguers were barred from playing in Cuba, and where the 1961 Caribbean Series had been scheduled to be held during that time frame.
The Caribbean Series was not held from 1961 until 1969 due to the United States Embargo with Cuba and did not revamp its second edition until the 1970 event, when the Dominican Republic participated in the first year, alongside Puerto Rico and Venezuela returning.
Cumulative Information For Invitees At Caribbean Series
Past Invitee Teams to the Caribbean Series by the CBPC
The Japan Breeze did not win a game at the 2025 Caribbean Series in Mexicali, Mexico at El Nido de los Aguilas this past February in their first appearance at the event and were the first team to play in the event that did not have a scheduled winter league season.
Nicaragua became the second team to go winless at the Caribbean Series as an invitee. The Vegueros de Pinar del Río remain the only invitee team to finish at .500, posting a 3-3 record before defeating the 2014-15 Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico champion, Tomateros de Culiacán, 3-2 in the 2015 Caribbean Series championship game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Colombia went winless in 2020 when the Vaqueros de Montería finished 0-5, marking the first time an invitee team failed to win a game in Caribbean Series history.
Curaçao did not have a 2022-23 regular season before competing in the 2023 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, where they finished 2-5 in seventh place.
The Federales de Chiriquí were also invited to the 2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlán, Mexico, at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal. They did not have a 2020-21 winter league season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lost 4-3 in the semifinals to the 2021-22 LIDOM champion Águilas Cibaeñas on Carlos Paulino’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Two invitee teams have won the Caribbean Series. The Toros de Herrera won the 2019 tournament at Estadio Rod Carew in Panama City, defeating the Leñadores de Las Tunas 3-1 for the country’s second championship. The Caimanes de Barranquilla made history in 2022 by defeating the 2021-22 LIDOM champion Gigantes del Cibao 4-1 at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The 2024 Panamá Probeis champion, Federales de Chiriquí, defeated the 2023 Curaçao Professional Baseball League champion, Curaçao Suns, 5-4 at loanDepot Park in Miami during the 2024 Caribbean Series. The Japan Breeze, the only invitee to go winless, finished 0-4 in Mexicali in their first appearance at the event.
The Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombia (LPBC) was not invited to the 2024 Caribbean Series in Miami after failing to pay a $200,000 participation fee to enter as a guest. The league had previously claimed it was promised full CBPC membership. Instead, the LPBC champion was slated to participate in a new Intercontinental Series organized by the Team Rentería Foundation at Estadio Édgar Rentería in Barranquilla in January 2024, but the event was ultimately canceled.
Pedro Salzedo Salom, president of Division Profesional del Béisbol Colombiano, issued the official statement confirming LPBC’s exclusion from the 2024 Caribbean Series on April 25, 2023.
The Winter League Agreement (WLA) between CBPC and MLB plays a major role in determining player participation during the Major League Baseball offseason and being able to play in the Caribbean Series with the winners of the teams from LAMP, LIDOM, LVBP and LBPRC (pdf).
Without approval from MLB owners, players cannot participate in tournaments not covered under the WLA, such as Serie de las Américas, which happened this past January. As a result, securing top prospects and major league talent for such events remains challenging. Unless all 30 MLB franchises and the commissioner’s office agree to allow players from 40-man and active rosters to compete in additional winter league games, these tournaments will struggle to attract top-tier talent—especially with spring training and pitchers and catchers reporting soon after.
