Venezuela wins their 8th Caribbean Series championship in history

The ongoing Caribbean Series held at LoanDepot Park in Miami concluded after Venezuela lifted their eighth championship. The competition, which saw participants from the winners of the Caribbean and South America’s winter ball leagues, saw Venezuela's Tiburones de la Guaira take down the Dominican Republic’s Tigres del Licey, 3-0.

This was the first championship for Venezuela since 2009, having previously won in 2006, 1989, 1984, 1982, 1979 and 1970.

Tiburones earned its first Serie del Caribe title in front of 36,677 spectators. This number indicates an increased popularity for the series, whose previous high attendance numbers were 35,972 for the Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico game. The competition finale also eclipsed the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship game, which saw 36,098 people turn up in LoanDepot Park.

Venezuela's stellar pitching helped them lift 8th title

For Venezuela, Ricardo Pinto started the game and pitched 5.2 innings, including six strikeouts, but left the bases loaded after allowing a single to Emilio Bonifacio, walking Robinson Cano and hitting Dawel Lugo. He was relieved by Jorgan Cavaniero, who got Yadiel Hernandez to ground out and eliminate the scoring threat.

The bullpen contributed immensely in the clutch, with Silvino Bracho, Anthony Vizcaya and Arnaldo Hernandez closing out the final three innings for a clean outing.

On the offensive side, Tiburones landed the first blow in the fourth, after former MLB star Yasiel Puig led off with a single before being removed from the game due to hamstring discomfort.

The base runners moved ahead as Roman Flores singled, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Luis Torrens. Leonardo Reginatto was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Alcides Escobar drove in pinch runner Odubel Herrera for the first run on board.

Tiburones added two more runs in the fifth on Wilfredo Tovar's RBI triple and Herrera's RBI groundout. These were the only offensive contributions that proved to be enough for Venezuela to win their eighth championship in the Caribbean Series.