Host nations for the next five Caribbean Series confirmed

The recent Caribbean Series, the 66th edition of the baseball tournament, closed with a flourish as Venezuela’s Tiburones de La Guaira were crowned champions after beating the title holders - the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey 3-0 in the grand final at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

Panama finish third

Earlier, Federales de Chiriquí had taken third place in Latin America’s premier baseball tournament, after beating the Curaçao Suns 5-4. A great achievement for Panama’s representatives, who were taking part in the competition for the second time and improved on their debut performance in 2023 when they failed to get past the preliminary round.

Overall, the 2024 Caribbean Series was a huge success for organizers with a new attendance record set - 36,677 fans were present in the stands for the final. That figure exceeded the attendance recorded in the final of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between the United States and Japan game which drew a crowd of 36,098 at the same sports venue.

After the success of this year’s tournament, the nations which will stage next five tournaments have been revealed - all are member countries of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CBPC).

The 2024 edition of the Caribbean Series was the first to be held in Miami since 1991 when Tigres del Licey were crowned champions for the sixth time. The series, which is normally played in February, is traditionally staged in Latin America after the various winter leagues have reached their conclusion.

Dominican Republic teams have been the most successful since the first edition of the series in 1949, obtaining a total of 22 titles, followed by teams from Puerto Rico with 16, Mexico’s representatives have accumulated nine, Cuba and Venezuela both have eight, Panama has two and Colombia has won one.

The Caribbean Series employs a single round-robin format. Each team faces each other once. The four teams with the best records advance to the semifinals (1st vs. 4th and 2nd vs. 3rd). The two losers meet in the match for third place while the two winners advance to the final to decide the tournament champion.