Cuba will return as a guest to the Caribbean Series of 2026

Cuba will play again as a guest in the Caribbean series that will be played next year in Venezuela, the president of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP), Giusseppe Palmisano announced to the ESPN Sports chain.

The manager said that for the first time the tournament will be played in three different stadiums in the area known as Gran Caracas, which would allow to expand up to eight the number of participants in the so -called small Latin American world series.

Palmisano said immediately that he had already discussed with the Cuban sports authorities to have a representation of the largest of the Antilles and revealed that the other three that would complete the eight, in addition to the usual Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, could be guests of other latitudes, such as Japan, South Korea and Italy.

Already a Japanese club, the Japan Breeze, debuted in the Caribbean series that is played in Mexicali, and despite having lost all its games, he has already received the invitation to repeat next year.

The Venezuelan said that, before confirming the assistance of South Korean and Italian teams, he would prefer The Istmeños y Cafeteros, champions in the 2019 and 2022 editions, respectively.

Cuba, founding country of the event, together with Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, in 1949, dominated the first stage until 1960, when he won seven of 12 editions.

After the elimination of professionalism on the island by Fidel Castro, the Caribbean series entered a pause of a decade and resumed in 1970.

By then, they were no longer Cuba, or Panama, a country that had seen its domestic tournament disappear, and its places were occupied by the Mexican Pacific League (LMP) and the Dominican Republic.

In 2014, on the occasion of the Caribbean series played on Margarita Island, the return of the Cubans, represented by the Villa Clara champion, which ended last with 1-3 record.

A year later, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Los Vegueros de Pinar del Río were crowned champions, also as guests, by winning in the final the Tomateros de Culiacán, in the only title so far of Cubans from their return to these lides

Cubba remained invited in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions, but was excluded between 2020 and 2022, for discrepancies with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CBPC), which required Havana to formalize its membership, with the financial responsibilities that this implies.

In 2023, with the return of the event to Venezuela, the sports authorities of that country again invited their political ally, on the first time that the Caribbean series had eight participants.

The Cubans were absent in 2024 (Miami) and in 2025 in Mexicali, from where Palmisano announced his return for next year.