(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
     Serie del Caribe opens on Monday in Dominican Republic
Nederlands
 SANTO DOMINGO DE GUZMÁN (Dominican Republic) -
The 58th edition of the annual Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series) opens on Monday, February 1.
All games will be played in Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, which last hosted the Serie del Caribe in 2012.
It marks the tenth time that the event takes place in the Dominican Republic and the ninth time that Santo Domingo will be the playing site.
In 2008, the event took place in Santiago de los Caballeros, the second biggest city in the Dominican Republic, which hosted the tournament for the first time in 1972.
The Serie del Caribe was held most in Venezuela, which was the host 14 times and will organize the event again in 2018.
Last year, the event was held in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.
It was won by Vegueros de Pinar del Río, the champion of Cuba, which then won the Final vs. Tomateros de Culiacán (México) with a 3-2 score.
Through the years, Dominican clubs have won the tournament the most times with 19 titles, followed by Puerto Rico (14), México (8), Cuba (8), Venezuela (7) and Panamá (1).
The most successful club is Tigres del Licey from the Dominican Republic, which won ten Series del Caribe.
The Caribbean Series (or Serie del Caribe) is the biggest baseball tournament at club level in Latin America.
Participating are the champions of the Winter Leagues in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, México, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
The Serie del Caribe was first organized in 1949 in Cuban capital Havana.
Alacranes del Almendares then was the first winner.
In all editions played since 1949, there were four participating teams, except for 1970 when three teams participated.
Since 2014, there are five participating teams.
In the first twelve editions of the event (1949-1960), the participants were the champions of Cuba, Panamá, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
There was no tournament from 1961 through 1969, but the Series re-started again in 1970 when the champions of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela faced each other.
In 1971, México joined.
There was an interruption in 1981 when the tournament was cancelled due to a strike by professional players in Venezuela.
In 2014, the field of participants was expanded to five when Cuba accepted an invitation.
Since then, Cuba became the fifth team to participate in the event.
This years Serie del Caribe is dedicated to Juan Marichal, the first Dominican to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
The 78-year old Marichal played in the Major League in 1960-1975 for San Francisco Giants (1960-1973), Boston Red Sox (1974) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1975).
He was a ten-times All Star and pitched an No-Hitter in 1963.
The stadium in Santo Domingo is named after the legendary pitcher.
Participating in the 58th edition of the Serie del Caribe are Tigres de Ciego de Ávila (Cuba), Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic), Venados de Mazatlán (México), Cangrejeros de Santurce (Puerto Rico) and Tigres de Aragua (Venezuela).
As its season is still underway when the tournament is organized (early February), Cuba's participant is the champion of the previous season.
Tigres de Ciego de Ávila won the title in the 2014-2015 season of the Serie Nacional de Béisbol.
The season is currently interrupted to enable Ciego de Ávila to participate.
Last week, the other four teams completed the finals of their respective leagues.
On Monday (January 25), Venados de Mazatlán won the title in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico (México).
On that day, the team won 4-3 in ten innings in Game 5 vs. Águilas de Mexicali, which had won the first game.
Herafter, Mazatlán won the next four to win the best-of-seven, 4-1.
In the fifth game, with two outs, Justin Greene reached on an error, then scored on a walk-off single by Cyle Hankerd.
On Tuesday (January 26), Leones del Escogido won the championship in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana (Dominican Republic).
Leones then won 8-6 vs. Tigres del Licey to win the best-of-nine, 5-1.
On Thursday (January 28), Tigres de Aragua became the champion of the Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (Venezuela).
Aragua won Game Six 8-2 vs. Navegantes de Magallanes to win the best-of-seven, 4-2.
The first five games were won by the home team, until the last one.
On Friday (January 29), Cangrejeros de Santurce became the last to qualify for the Serie del Caribe by winning the title in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico).
Santurce then won 2-0 vs. Indios de Mayagüez to win the best-of-seven, 4-2.
On Saturday (January 30), Dominican champion Leones del Escogido was invited to the Salón de Embajadores in the National Palace in Santo Domingo.
There, the team had a meeting with Dominican President Danilo Medina Sánchez, who handed the Dominican flag to Manager Luis Rojas and stated that he hoped that the team would capture the 20th Dominican title in the Serie del Caribe.
There were similar well-wishing ceremonies in the other participating countries.
On Friday, the Cuban baseball-team was at a ceremony in Majagua in the Ciego de Ávila Province.
Players Vladimir García and Alfredo Despaigne placed a wreath at a war memorial in the small community of Láraro López.
Hereafter, players José Adolis García, Yoelvis Fiss and Yorelvis Charles received the national flag from Dr. Antonio Becali Garrido, President of INDER.
Team-captain Yorbis Borroto then took the oath on behalf of the players to respect the decisions of the umpires and play according to the rules, as well as representing Cuba with dignity both on and off the field.
(January 31)
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