Caribbean Series
The Caribbean Series (Spanish: Serie del Caribe), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is normally played in February after all of the leagues have ended their national tournaments.
Current season, competition or edition: | |
 | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1949 |
| Inaugural season | 1949 |
| Countries |        |
| Most recent champion(s) | |
| Most titles | |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN Deportes ESPN Latin America ESPN3 MLB Network |
| Related competitions | |
| Official website | |
History
The competition was the brainchild of Venezuelan baseball entrepreneur Pablo Morales and Oscar Prieto Ortiz,[1] his business partner since 1936, who devised the idea after seeing the success of the now extinct 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.
Inspired by the Serie Interamericana 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 cancelled after Fidel Castro dissolved all professional baseball in Cuba in 1961. 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.
Leagues participating
Current
| League | Years |
|---|---|
|
1949–1960, 1970– |
|
1949–1960, 1970– |
|
1949–1960, 2014–19 |
|
1949–1960, 2019– |
|
1970– |
|
1971– |
|
2020– |
Series
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Championship games
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.
| Year | Venue | Champion | Result | Runner-up | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | |
|
4–3 | |
|
| 2014 | |
|
7–1 | |
|
| 2015 | |
|
3–2 | |
|
| 2016 | |
|
5–4 | |
|
| 2017 | |
|
1–0 | |
|
| 2018 | |
|
9–4 | |
|
| 2019 | |
|
3–1 | |
|
| 2020 | |
|
9–3 | |
|
Championships by team
| Rank | Team | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
10 | 1971, 1973, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2008 |
| 2 | |
5 | 1951, 1953, 1955, 1993, 2000 |
| 2 | |
5 | 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2007 |
| 2 | |
5 | 1954, 1974, 1987, 2017, 2018 |
| 5 | |
4 | 1988, 1990, 2010, 2012 |
| 6 | |
2 | 1957, 1958 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1949, 1959 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1956, 1960 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1970, 1979 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1984, 1989 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1978, 1992 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1996, 2002 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1982, 2006 |
| 7 | |
2 | 2011, 2013 |
| 7 | |
2 | 1976, 2014 |
| 7 | |
2 | 2005, 2016 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1950 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1952 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1972 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1975 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1983 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1986 |
| 16 | |
1 | 1995 |
| 16 | |
1 | 2009 |
| 16 | |
1 | 2015 |
| 16 | |
1 | 2019 |
| 16 | |
1 | 2020 |
Championships by country
| Rank | Country | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
20 | 1971, 1973, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2020 |
| 2 | |
16 | 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2017, 2018 |
| 3 | |
9 | 1976, 1986, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016 |
| 4 | |
8 | 1949, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 2015 |
| 5 | |
7 | 1970, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2006, 2009 |
| 6 | |
2 | 1950, 2019 |
Undefeated teams
| No. | Team | Record | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | |
6–0 6–0 5–0 |
1971 1977 1991 |
| 2 | |
6–0 6–0 |
1953 2000 |
| 1 | |
6–0 | 1949 |
| 1 | |
5–0 | 1952 |
| 1 | |
6–0 | 1960 |
| 1 | |
6–0 | 1995 |
| 1 | |
5–0 | 1998 |
| 1 | |
6–0 | 2006 |
| 1 | |
6–0 | 2016 |
See also
Notes
- Salón de la Fama y Museo del Béisbol de Venezuela Exaltados 2008 – Oscar Prieto Ortiz Archived 2013-12-31 at the Wayback Machine (Spanish).
- Bjarkman, Peter (1994). Baseball with a Latin Beat: A History of the Latin American Game. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-89950-973-0.
Sources
- 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.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serie del Caribe. |
- Béisbol en Cuba (Spanish)
- Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame
- Cuban Teams in the Caribbean Series
- Historia de las Series del Caribe (Spanish)
- Las Series del Caribe (Spanish)
- Sobre el Diamante (Spanish)