Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, the labor union that represents players and coaches under contract to MLB organizations, has approved a new Winter League Agreement.
The agreement now needs to be ratified by the Confederacion de Beisbol Profesional del Caribe and its four member leagues — the Dominican Republic’s LIDOM, Puerto Rico’s LBPRC, Venezuela’s Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, and Mexico’s Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico — according to a report from Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes.
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It is likely that the CBPC and its member leagues will approve the agreement, as hometown MLB players or rising prospects return to make cameo appearances. For example, the Leones del Escogido had six position players and four pitchers who appeared in MLB in 2024 play for the team in 2024-25, and 47 players with MLB experience appear in at least one game in the 2024-25 season for the eventual Caribbean Series champions.
¡YA HAY WINTER LEAGUE AGREEMENT!
Fuentes relacionadas a las negociaciones informaron a ESPN que la Asociación de Peloteros (MLBPA) y la MLB pactaron la firma de un nuevo Acuerdo de Ligas Invernales.
El documento debe ser ratificado por la Confederación del Caribe.— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) October 10, 2025
Negotiations for a new agreement began in September, with the MLBPA entering the mix for the first time. The Winter League Agreement governs, among other things, how winter ball teams can obtain permission for players with MLB or minor league contracts to play, how winter ball teams and MLB organizations will handle insurance for players and divide financial responsibility for injured players, regulates minimum standards for playing fields and team facilities, and puts forth best practices for game operations, press facilities, and security.
A copy of the Winter League Agreement signed in 2014, a 59-page document greed to by the presidents of the LIDOM, LAMP, LVBP, and LBPC, as well as CBPC Commissioner Juan Francisco Puello Herrera and the then-Vice President of International Operations of Major League Baseball, Kim Ng, is available here as an example of what the agreement encompasses.
The lack of a Winter League Agreement resulted in the cancellation of the Serie del Tequila, a pair of preseason games planned to be held at Estadio Panamericano in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, that were to pit the finalists of the 2025 Caribbean Series, the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido and Mexico’s Charros de Jalisco, against each other in a preseason rematch. Additional winter ball events, including the Serie del Cibao from Nov. 7-9, and the LIDOM/LBPRC All-Star Game planned for New York’s Citi Field on Nov. 15, were imperiled by the lack of an agreement.
Photo: The 68th edition of the Caribbean Series begins on Jan. 30, 2026 in Venezuela. Games will take place in Caracas at Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar and in La Guaira. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
