Pedro Martinez hopes Caribbean Series in Miami has ‘same feeling’ as World Baseball Classic

Pedro Martinez, the hall of fame pitcher and an idol for baseball players in his native Dominican Republic, still gets emotional thinking about the success of last year’s World Baseball Classic. The international tournament, the majority of which was held at Miami’s loanDepot park, had sold-out crowds, a boisterous atmosphere and, most importantly to Martinez, “beautiful baseball.”

“My God,” Martinez said. “That was lovely to watch.”

That experience has Martinez hopeful for what’s to come in Miami over the next week and a half as loanDepot park hosts the Caribbean Series, the annual tournament that caps Latin America’s winter ball season.

“I would love to bring that culture and have that same feeling that we had during the Classic,” Martinez said. “I would love to see that again.”

The tournament, which begins Thursday, features teams from seven countries: The winning team from each of the four professional baseball winter leagues in the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico), plus a team each from Nicaragua, Panama and Curacao.

The rosters won’t be as star-studded as the ones showcased at the World Baseball Classic, but the passion and intensity, Martinez said, will be just the same.

“Baseball is more than just baseball,” Martinez said. “Baseball is culture. It’s love. It’s passion. It’s a career, of course, but it’s more than that. It’s more responsibility than people know. And we love the challenge of having to be a baseball player and the things that we have to do to actually make it better every single day.”

Caribbean Series the latest opportunity for Marlins to bring international baseball to Miami

The tournament opens with a round-robin format, with every team playing each other over seven days of tripleheaders — game times are 10:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. every day from Feb. 1-7.

The four teams with the best record after each has played six games will advance to the semifinals on Feb. 8, with the first game set for 3 p.m. and the second 8 p.m. The losers of the semifinals will play in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Feb. 9, while the winners play in the finals that day at 8 p.m. to wrap up the nine-day event.

Throughout the tournament, the Miami Marlins Foundation will be partnering with the Pedro Martinez Foundation, with the groups splitting the proceeds of the 50/50 raffle from the 25 tournament games.

There will also be a collectible cup available at the ballpark, with proceeds from that benefiting the Pedro Martinez Foundation.

Marlins president of business operations Caroline O’Connor said Martinez was one of the first people the organization reached out to once they were locked in as the host for the Caribbean Series and the groups have been in discussion for about a year about how to best serve both foundations’ interests.

“Pedro’s an icon of the game, having given so much to Caribbean baseball,” O’Connor said. “We know our own ace Sandy Alcantara looks up to Pedro, and really thanked him when he won his [NL] Cy Young in 2022. So Pedro was one of the first organizations that we reached out to.”

Added Martinez: “I think it’s really important that people get to understand better our culture. I think the Caribbean Series right now, and the fact that we’re here in Miami with such a mixed city, I think brings a beautiful opportunity for everybody to understand better why we are so loud, so happy, so excited about playing the game. And I think that culture needs to really be exposed. I think people need to understand how much we care about the youth.”