Editor's Note: If one thing is certain in minor league sports, it's that change is going to come. Yes, this piece is similar to last year's 10 Things to Know About Winter Ball, but as with every offseason, there have been a number of changes to the winter ball landscape.

When the regular season ends, when your team has been eliminated from the postseason, or when the World Series finally comes to a dramatic conclusion, you don't have to while away the winter staring out the window waiting for spring.

Baseball continues elsewhere, and if you need your fix, there's plenty of baseball ahead. Across Latin America and several other places around the world, the new baseball season is just getting started.

If you have a question about winter baseball, hopefully you’ll find the answer below. If you can't, email World Baseball Network's Leif Skodnick at leif@worldbaseball.com and he'll try and get you the answer.

Which Are the Major Winter Leagues? Which Are the Minor Winter Leagues? – The four leagues that are members of the Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional del Caribe and send their champion to the Caribbean Series each year are Puerto Rico’s LBPRC, the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, Venezuela’s Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, and Mexico’s Liga Mexicana del Pacifico. These could be considered the "major winter leagues," which is not to diminish leagues elsewhere as being less important, but these four leagues generally have the highest level of play during the off-seasons for Major League Baseball, its affiliated minor leagues, and other summer leagues around the world

There are also active winter leagues in Nicaragua, Colombia, Curacao, and Cuba, with differing levels of play, schedules, and playoffs. Leagues are also playing in the Southern Hemisphere in Australia and Argentina during winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Panama's winter league, ProBeis, didn't play a 2025-26 season, though it did send a representative to the Caribbean Series. The league's status for the coming winter remains unknown.

Are There Winter Leagues Outside of Latin America? – Yes! The two most notable winter leagues outside of Latin America are the Australian Baseball League (which is actually a summer league, as it’s summer in the southern hemisphere) and Baseball United, which played its first season in 2025-26 but will not be playing a season this year due to the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East.

There are two levels (“tryout” and “advanced”) of play in the Japan Winter League, which plays in Okinawa. The Asia Winter Baseball League features teams of players from Nippon Professional Baseball, the Chinese Professional Baseball League, and the Japan Amateur Baseball Association.

What is the Caribbean Series? – The Caribbean Series is an annual postseason tournament that pits the champions of the four CBPC winter leagues in Latin America against each other, along with invitees from other countries. This year’s Caribbean Series will be held at Estadio Fernando Valenzuela in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, the home of the LMP's Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

What Leagues Are Sending Champions to the Caribbean Series This Year? – The champions of the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, the Dominican Republic's LIDOM, Puerto Rico's LBPRC, and Venezuela's Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional will all play in the 2027 Caribbean Series in Hermosillo.

The LVBP champion will return to the series after not playing in the 2026 event in Guadalajara.

What Leagues Are Sending Teams to the Serie de Las Americas? – Similar the Caribbean Series, the Serie de Las Americas is a postseason winter ball tournament run by the Asociation de Ligas Profesionales de Beisbol de Las Americas. It will feature champions from leagues in Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Curaçao, and Panama, as well as the runners-up from the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, the Dominican Republic's LIDOM, Puerto Rico's LBPRC, and Venezuela's Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional.

This year's SDLA will be held in Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela, in early February, around the same time as the Caribbean Series.

Who Makes the Playoffs? – Each league has a different playoff format, and for the sake of brevity, we’ll explain the playoff formats of the four CBPC leagues.

Puerto Rico’s LBPRC, a six-team league, has the simplest playoff format. The top four teams at the end of the regular season, with the first-place team playing the fourth-place team and the second-place team facing the third-place team in a best-of-seven series in the first round. The winners of the first-round series face off in a best-of-seven championship series.

In the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, the top four teams from the regular season advance to the 18-game round robin playoff. The top two teams in the round robin, which ends when two teams have been eliminated, then play a best-of-seven championship series.

Venezuela’s LVBP, an eight-team league, has the top four teams in the standings qualify for the round robin, with the fifth- and sixth-place teams playing a one-game play in for the final spot in the five-team, 16-game round robin. The top two teams in the round robin advance to the best-of-seven championship series.

The most interesting playoff qualification system is in Mexico’s LMP, which divides the 68-game regular season into two halves. Teams are awarded a number of points based upon where they finish in the standings in each half, with first place getting 10 points, second place getting nine, and so on. The teams are seeded in order of total points for the playoffs, with the team with the highest number of points being seeded first, the team with the eighth-most points seeded eighth, and the teams with the ninth- and 10th-most points missing the playoffs. The teams then play traditional best-of-seven series until the championship is awarded.

Can Major Leaguers Play In Winter Ball? – Yes, players from Major League Baseball can, and do, play winter ball, though in far fewer numbers, as playing winter ball gave MLB players a significant boost in salary. Generally, MLB players often need to obtain permission from their team to play winter ball, with rules on which players can play and how permission is granted or denied covered in the Winter League Agreement, a contract agreed to by Major League Baseball, the CBPC, and the four major winter leagues. Major Leaguers cannot be denied the ability to play in winter ball in their home country, though the amount they are allowed to play can be limited by their MLB club.

Do Prospects Play In Winter Ball? – Yes, prospects do play in winter ball.

Among the notable prospects known to be headed to winter ball this year is catcher Alfredo Duno, who is the No. 1 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization according to MLB Pipeline. Duno, a native of Miranda, Venezuela, is already in camp with the LVBP's Leones del Caracas, and has shown off his power at the plate early on in camp.

Houston Astros infield prospect Zach Dezenzo is reportedly headed to the Senadores de San Juan this winter. Other prospects will likely head south to get some at-bats or innings on the mound as the season goes on.

Where Can I Find Statistics For Each Winter League? – Generally, each league’s website will have complete statistics, though you’ll need to know the Spanish words for the statistics. For example, the Spanish word for “strikeout” is “ponche,” or P, and an RBI is a “carrera impulsada,” or CI.

Additionally, MLB.com's winter league site will also have full statistics and box scores for each of the four CBPC leagues.

Historical statistics can be difficult to find. Baseball Reference does not have complete winter ball statistics beyond the past five or six years, though a lot of statistics are available there. League websites and media guides (when available) are generally the best sources for historical statistics.

How to Watch – Each league has a different streaming partner, some of which you have to pay for, and some of which you don’t.

The Dominican Republic’s LIDOM and the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico are streamed live on MLB.tv with commentary in Spanish. You’ll need to have a subscription to watch.

Puerto Rico’s LBPRC has streamed its games live on the league’s YouTube page for free.

Venezuela’s LVBP streams its games live on BeisbolPlay, which charges a fee. Currently, a season subscription for 2025-26 is US$22.99.