Caribbean Series

The Caribbean Series (Spanish: Serie del Caribe) is an annual club tournament contested by professional baseball teams in Latin America. It is organized by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. The series is normally played in February, after the various winter leagues have ended their national tournaments.

The Dominican Republic has won the most Caribbean Series championships (23), with Tigres del Licey being the most successful team in the tournament's history. The series has been won by 29 teams from seven countries. Only two teams have won the tournament two consecutive years, the most recent being Criollos de Caguas from Puerto Rico in 2017 and 2018.

The competition was the brainchild of Venezuelan baseball entrepreneur Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz, who devised the idea after seeing the success of the Serie Interamericana in 1946, which featured the clubs Brooklyn Bushwicks from the United States, Cervecería Caracas from Venezuela, Sultanes de Monterrey from Mexico, and an All-Star team composed of Cuban players.^[1]

Inspired by the Interamerican Series and his experience as a former president of the International Baseball Federation, Morales joined Prieto and presented the idea to baseball representatives of Cuba, Panama, and Puerto Rico during a meeting held in Havana on August 21, 1948.^[2] The representatives then agreed to stage a four-country, round-robin tournament 12-game to be known as the Serie del Caribe, to be launched in Cuba from February 20–25 of 1949.

The Series ran annually from 1949 through 1960, with Cuba winning seven times. However, the event was suspended in 1961, as a result of the Cuban Revolution. Fidel Castro dissolved all professional baseball in Cuba, and MLB Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that American major leaguers were barred from playing in Havana, where the 1961 series had been scheduled.^[3][4]

It was not until 1970 that the Caribbean Series was revived. Moreover, the 1981 Caribbean Series was not held due to a Venezuelan League player's strike.

The tournament featured the champions of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela for over 40 years. Cuba returned in 2014. Panama returned to host the 2019 edition. Colombia was added for the 2020 edition, replacing Cuba who could not participate due to visa issues. Curaçao was invited as a guest in 2023.^[5]

Key

•   Member of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation

• ^a After the 1960 tournament, Panama would not appear in another Caribbean Series until 2019.
• ^b Venezuela's LVBP was replaced by the Liga Occidental de Béisbol Profesional for the 1960 tournament

Starting with the 2013 Caribbean Series, a championship game was introduced where the two teams with the best win–loss record from the round-robin first stage would meet to determine the champion. In 2013 the first round consisted of 12 games and each team faced the other teams twice, one as home club and the other as an away team; from 2014 on, with the return of Cuban teams to the tournament, the first stage was changed to a round robin of 10 games where each team faced the other teams once.

Notes

• List of baseball players who have played in the Caribbean Series
• Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame
• Caribbean Series MVPs
• Serie de las Américas
• Latin American Series
• Interamerican Series
• Asia Series
• European Cup
• Caribbean Series Awards

• Antero Núñez, José. Series del Caribe. Jefferson, Caracas, Venezuela: Impresos Urbina, C.A., 1987.
• Gutiérrez, Daniel. Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela – 1895–2006. Caracas, Venezuela: Impresión Arte, C.A., 2007.

• Béisbol en Cuba (Spanish)
• Cuban Teams in the Caribbean Series
• Historia de las Series del Caribe (Spanish)
• Las Series del Caribe (Spanish)
• Sobre el Diamante (Spanish)