When winter ball season rolls around, there’ll be a new daddy shark in La Guaira, Venezuela.
Fernando Tatis Sr., who is managing in Mexico’s Liga Mexicana de Beisbol this summer with the Algodoneros de Union Laguna, has been named the manager of the Tiburones de La Guaira for the coming winter season. The Tiburones split their home games between Estadio Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro in La Guaira and Estadio Universitario in Caracas.
Es oficial: Fernando Tatis Sr. es el nuevo manager de los Tiburones de La Guaira.
— Daniel Álvarez-Montes (@DanielAlvarezEE) April 23, 2026
Tatis Sr. previously managed the Estrellas Orientales of LIDOM, the Dominican Republic’s professional winter league, to their first championship in 51 years in 2018-19, then returned to the club for the 2023-24 season before being fired mid-season last winter after making negative comments in the press about players and the current state of winter ball.
The LVBP plays a 56-game regular season, with the top four teams and the winner of the wild card series between the fifth- and sixth-place finishers advancing to a 16-game round robin. The top two teams in the round robin advance to the championship series, with the winner representing Venezuela at the Caribbean Series.
The Tiburones went 27-29 in the regular season and finished seventh in the eight-team league last winter.
Pujols Named Estrellas Orientales Chief of Baseball Operations – Albert Pujols, who managed the Leones del Escogido to the 2025 LIDOM and Caribbean Series titles, has been named Chief of Baseball Operations for the Estrellas Orientales, the LIDOM franchise based in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
Founded in 1910, the Estrellas Orientales have long been the lovable losers of LIDOM, winning the league title just three times, most recently in 2019 under manager Fernando Tatis. The club has never won the Caribbean Series, finishing 3-1 in round robin play and missing the championship game in 2019, their lone appearance at winter ball’s biggest event.
Pujols takes over a club that struggled to a 22-28 record during the regular season last year, parting ways with Fernando Tatis, who was in his second tenure as manager, in the middle of the season and then missing the playoffs.
Most recently, Pujols managed the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, leading a roster widely viewed as one of the most powerful teams ever assembled to a disappointing third-place finish after they were eliminated by the United States in the semifinals.
Photo: Algodoneros de Union Laguna manager Fernando Tatis Sr.
