The Jewel of the Caribbean
Baseball fans are a couple of weeks away from the best tournament in all of professional baseball.
No, I haven’t gone crazy, I know when the World Series takes place. For my money, the best tournament takes place every single year in late January and early February and it’s known as Serie del Caribe. I write this column every single year for one site or another, but not enough of you have realized the absolute blast that is Serie del Caribe, so here I am yet again telling you to watch the best baseball tournament in the world.
Let’s get the quick primer out of the way right now. Serie del Caribe is a tournament from the top winter leagues in Latin America, with the exception of Nicaragua’s Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional and Cuba’s Serie Nacional de Béisbol (those two leagues are regularly denied entry for purely political, in the baseball sense, reasons). The tournament brings the champions from Béisbol Profesional de Panamá, Liga Colombiana de Béisbol Profesional, Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana, Puerto Rico’s Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente, Liga Mexicana del Pacífico, and Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional together for one week of action. That week consists of a five game round robin, and then a single elimination tournament between the four top teams from the round robin.
The games can sometimes be streamed through various methods. Check out The Guide as the games are happening for some possible options. I started streaming via Sling TV and their orange plus best of Spanish TV option. It’s not the cheapest route, but every game is streamed and they are high-quality streams. Ultimately, choose whatever option works for you, I don’t care, as long as you’re getting to see the games.
In terms of overall stature, Serie del Caribe is a major league. It doesn’t matter one iota that Major League Baseball doesn’t recognize it as a major league. They don’t get to decide the status of unaffiliated leagues; never have, never will. When it comes to talent level, popularity, host city population, global reach, the history of the tournament, and other factors Serie del Caribe is a major league. That doesn’t, and shouldn’t, affect one’s enjoyment of the tournament. It’s still something important to keep in mind when you’re crying about there being no baseball to watch while you are ignoring a major league tournament taking place in the here and now.
Most of all, Serie del Caribe is a barrel full of fun. From beginning to end the fans, Coronavirus willing, are raucous and the players display a passion for winning the tournament that is infectious as a viewer. Serie del Caribe matters to the teams, players, leagues, and countries (Puerto Rico should be its own country, calm down) participating. It’s hard as a viewer to not get swept up in the action taking place because of how into the proceedings all the people involved are.
The games are usually close, especially once the elimination round starts. However, these teams are the best of the best from high-level leagues (some of which would likely qualify for major league status themselves) and there is the occasional blowout when one team is severely overmatched. Be that as it may, from January 28th until February 3rd a good helping of some of the best baseball players in the world are all gathered in one place playing their hearts out and producing baseball that is entertaining, fun, and highly skilled. It doesn’t get much better than that, which is why year after year I tell you, folks, to seek out Serie del Caribe action and watch the excitement unfold.
For some of you, I am aware that saying Serie del Caribe is better than the World Series may be a tough sell. No one, including myself, is denying that MLB has a higher talent level than Serie del Caribe. However, Serie del Caribe is a major league and their talent level isn’t far behind that of MLB. Serie del Caribe is, simply put, a fun tournament with plenty of great action that is chock full of amazing players. There’s nothing to dislike about the actual action on the field, ask anyone who regularly watches the jewel of the Caribbean and then watch for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
