Photo: Getty Images
By Leif Skodnick
World Baseball Network
Editor’s note: This piece represents the opinions of the author and not those of the World Baseball Network.
MIAMI – That Miami, the “gateway to Latin America,” is hosting a Caribbean Series isn’t surprising, that it took 12 years after loanDepot Park opened is the surprise.
When the Caribbean Series was held at Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium in 1991, this wasn’t a Major League town. The Florida Marlins, two World Series titles, and LoanDepot Park were wild dreams.
In the 31 years since the last Caribbean Series in Miami, the Magic City grew up, as did the Marlins franchise. And now, for the second time in 11 months, the eyes of the Latin American baseball fan will be locked on loanDepot Park, after the group play round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic brought Venezuela, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic to town, and Cuba and Mexico each paid a visit during the knockout stage.
This time, the 2024 Caribbean Series brings the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey, Venezuela’s Tiburones de La Guaira, Puerto Rico’s Criollos de Caguas, Mexico’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo, Panama’s Federales de Chiriqui, and teams from Nicaragua and Curacao to town. Beyond the cultural significance and international flavor of Miami, this Caribbean Series is the biggest baseball event in the United States between the end of the World Series and pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training.
An international city with a vibrant aesthetic that blends American and Latin cultures, this Caribbean Series in Miami is the biggest baseball event in the United States between the end of the World Series and pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training.
After the final out of the World Series, most baseball fans in the United States fill the void of winter as they have for over a century with news of player signings and endless debates over the Hall of Fame qualifications of retired players, wishing they had games to watch.
But what if they did?
Growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s and still too young to understand that everywhere on Earth didn’t suffer cold winters, my father told me that there was baseball in the winter in Latin America.
Being a young kid and not understanding the mechanics of televising a baseball game (especially one originating, from, say, Caracas), I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t watch winter ball in the United States.
Thanks to the magic of the internet and live video streaming, now, we can – and far too few American fans know about it.
Sure, you can watch games from LIDOM, the Dominican Republic’s winter league, on MLB.tv with a paid subscription.
But why isn’t the Caribbean Series being carried live on MLB Network with commentary in English?
Perhaps it’s because the Caribbean Series isn’t an MLB-owned event like the World Baseball Classic.
American fans can, of course, tune in to ESPN Deportes and watch the Caribbean Series in Spanish, with outstanding commentary from Carolina Guillen, as good a baseball play-by-play announcer as there is, and Enrique Rojas, one of the best reporters covering baseball in any language.
But it’s a missed opportunity for Major League Baseball to show live baseball on MLB Network with players immediately recognizable to most American fans playing for national pride at a time when fans are desperately wanting to watch live baseball.
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It’s hard to find a hotter team than the Tiburones de La Guaira, who are headed to the Caribbean Series after winning the Liga Venezolana Beisbol Profesional title in five games last week.
Not only did the Tiburones breeze through the LVBP’s championship series, they romped through the 16-game round robin stage of the playoffs, winning 10 of their first 11 games and going 12-4 to secure a berth in the championship series.
This is a team that is peaking at the right time. They were led by former Major League Yasiel Puig, who hit .383/.442/.681 with a 1.123 OPS and four homers during the round robin. All told, five Tiburones – Puig, Wilson Garcia, Maikel Garcia, Alcides Escobar, and Leonardo Reginatto – all batted over .300 during the round robin.
The big question, though, is which Venezuelan players will be able to get visas to enter the United States and play in the Caribbean Series?
According to several reports, multiple Tiburones players are having difficulty obtaining visas to enter the United States, as currently there is no U.S. diplomatic mission to Venezuela, forcing the players to go to other countries to seek the necessary paperwork to enter the country from the U.S. government.
