Caribbean Series in Miami so far has had close games, largest crowd in event’s history

The Caribbean Series, held this year at Miami’s loanDepot park, is a little more than halfway through the round-robin portion of its tournament. All seven teams have played either three or four of their six games so far. The four teams with the best records after the round concludes Wednesday advance to the semifinals.

And the early returns have been good. The games have been competitive, with six of 12 games played so far decided by two runs or fewer. The crowds have been boisterous, including one game setting the record for highest attendance in Caribbean Series history.

And expect things to amplify even more when the tournament moves to the semifinals on Thursday and then the championship and third-place games on Friday.

For now, here are some of the highlights through the first four days.

The main three teams have drawn big crowds

As one would expect, the three round-robin games that featured any combination of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela have drawn the largest crowds so far in the tournament.

The Dominican Republic’s 5-2 win over Puerto Rico on Saturday night had an announced crowd of 35,972 — the largest attendance for a single game in Caribbean Series history.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s 6-2 win over Venezuela on Sunday afternoon drew 32,092 and Venezuela’s 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic, the nightcap on Thursday, had an announced attendance of 27,338. That’s a combined 95,402 over those three games.

The other nine games of the tournament so far? The crowd has been noticeably lighter. Four had announced attendances below 10,000 and the average announced attendance for those nine was just 9,455.

Panama the lone undefeated team left

The only team that remains undefeated after four days of tournament play? That would be Panama.

Panama won each of its first three games of the tournament by scores of 7-3 over Curacao on Friday, 4-3 in walk-off fashion over Mexico on Saturday and 6-3 over Nicaragua on Sunday.

Now comes the tough part, with Panama facing Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic over the final three days of the round-robin portion of the tournament. One win over any of the three clinches Panama’s spot in the four-team semifinals.

Here are the full standings through four days:

Panama: 3-0

Puerto Rico: 3-1

Venezuela: 2-1

Dominican Republic: 2-2

Curacao: 1-2

Mexico: 1-3

Nicaragua: 0-3

Game by game results

Thursday

▪ Puerto Rico 5, Nicaragua 2

▪ Curacao 6, Mexico 5

▪ Venezuela 3, Dominican Republic 1

Friday

▪ Panama 7, Curacao 3

▪ Dominican Republic 5, Nicaragua 4

▪ Puerto Rico 2, Mexico 0

Saturday

▪ Venezuela 4, Curacao 2

▪ Panama 4, Mexico 3

▪ Dominican Republic 5, Puerto Rico 2

Sunday

▪ Panama 6, Nicaragua 3

▪ Puerto Rico 6, Venezuela 2

▪ Mexico 9, Dominican Republic 1