Sure it’s not the regular season. It’s not even Spring Training. But just like last year when we were treated to the World Baseball Classic to get us ready for the spring, this year we can follow the Caribbean Series. And they’re actually going to televise this stuff. The wonderful MLB Network is airing this – because they can only show so much Bob Costas.
What is the Caribbean Series? It’s a double round robin tournament featuring 4 teams from places with better weather than here. Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela will be competing in Venezuela on an vacation spot known as Isla de Margarita. It’s the winner of each winter league, and the tournament won’t have a final game the way we’re used to in tournaments. More like an old school pre-World Series-era league winner, best record is the champion.
Even though the lack of a semi-final and final may seem anti-climactic, my take is “who the hell cares? They’re playing baseball!” So go ahead and root for PR, since they’re American, and that’s where I got married. Or root against them for those reasons. Root for or against the commies in Venezuela, or whatever it is you want to do. The point is you get to watch baseball, with real talent playing. You can find the full schedule here.
Who exactly will you be seeing? How about the Domincan team with Joel Peralta, who the Nats just signed to a minor league contract? They also have some decent guys like Nelson Figueroa, Freddy Guzman, Jose Veras and Fernando Martinez. Or you can check out the team from Puerto Rico starring ex-National Saul Rivera? Alright so the majority of the major leaguers that played there aren’t going to the series, they are instead getting ready for Spring Training. After all, pitchers and catchers report in about two weeks.
But that’s two weeks without any baseball. So if you’re ready for some, the first game is today at 2:30 pm. There’s two games a day from now until Sunday evening. And if you’re watching the Sunday evening game this week, wow, you are really into baseball.