The Caribbean Series is a round-robin tournament of baseball games played in Venezuela each year prior to the start of Major League Spring Training. The 2010 Caribbean Series will feature the winner of each of the four Winter Leagues; the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The tournament will be played on the country's Margarita Island.
Plenty of Coverage
If you are hurting for some live baseball action in the coming weeks, waiting for Spring Training to begin, you can watch the round robin tournament live on the MLB Network and MLB.com Gameday. So, if all the repeats of 2008 and 2009 games from the regular season and postseason are not quenching your thirst for baseball you can tune in for live coverage of one of the most exciting baseball tournaments around.
Teams Involved
The four teams playing in the 2010 Caribbean Series are the Leones del Escogido from the Dominican Republic, the Naranjeros de Hermosillo from Mexico, the Indios de Mayaguez from Puerto Rico and the Leones del Caracas from Venezuela.
A team from the Dominican Republic has won the Caribbean Series 17 times since 1970 and 11 times since 1990. Puerto Rico has 14 titles overall while Venezuela has seven championships, with the latest two coming in 2006 and 2009. Mexico has a total of five Caribbean Series titles, with the last title coming in 2005. The Caribbean Series begins Tuesday, February 2 at 2:30pm ET when Puerto Rico faces the Dominican Republic. Mexico and Venezuela will finish the night at 7pm ET to end the day's play.
A Classic Yankee-Red Sox Battle
Many players, managers, and officials from around the sport of baseball compare the Caribbean Series to a classic Yankee-Red Sox game. The fans in the stands are so passionate about baseball and their home country's team that the stands will be rocking with each pitch from the first inning to the final pitch of the game.
There are fewer Major League players in the tournament this year because they have opted out of playing due to the proximity of the Caribbean Series to the start of Spring Training. They have decided to report to Spring Training for team workouts and practices instead of playing for their native country in the Caribbean Series. Even though there are fewer Major League players on the participant's rosters in 2010 it does not mean that the level of competition will dwindle with each pitch and it does not mean that the fans will be less involved.
Sources:
Caribbean Series Sure to be Passionate (February 2, 2010)
James Vassallo - Full-time freelance writer well versed in legal, health, and automotive topics. Also the Sports Editor for two Patch websites.
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