The Latin American Series (Spanish: Serie Latinoamericana) was an annual baseball competition contested by the champions of the professional baseball winter leagues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The tournament was organized by the Latin American Professional Baseball Association (ALBP) as an alternative to the Caribbean Series.
The first winner of the series was Mexico's Brujos de Los Tuxtlas, who beat the Tigres de Chinandega of Nicaragua in 2013. The last winner was Nicaragua's Leones de León, which defeated Mexico's Tobis de Acayucan in 2019. Tigres de Chinandega were the most successful team, with two titles in three appearances.
History
On February 10, 2012, the then president of the Colombian Professional Baseball League, together with executives of Liga Invernal Veracruzana, organized the Mexico-Colombia International Baseball Series between the champions of both competitions, where the Colombian champions, Toros de Sincelejo and Veracruz champions, Brujos de Los Tuxtlas, met in a 3-game series at Estadio Once de Noviembre in Cartagena, Colombia, with the Colombian outfit winning two games to one.[1]
In the case of Mexico, the representative is the champion of Liga Invernal Veracruzana.[2] Often, teams who qualify for this competition receive loan players from other teams in their respective leagues in order to improve their country's chance of winning.[3]
With the creation of the Latin American Professional Baseball Association in late-2012, the idea of creating a series that would integrate Latin American professional baseball teams materialised. As a result, the first Latin American Series was held from February 1 to 4, 2013 in Veracruz, Mexico. The first five editions of the series only contained teams from Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico and Panama until the first expansion of the competition in 2018. This expansion included Curaçao, who had just created a professional league, followed by Argentina in 2019, with the intention of inviting Chile once a professional league is set up.[4]
The rules of the competition were based on those of the World Baseball Classic. Teams wore their respective national team uniforms, rather than their own professional uniforms.[5]
The impetus for the Latin American Series eventually faded with the expansion of the Caribbean Series to non-members of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CPBC). Panama, which was scheduled to host the 2020 edition, withdrew from the competition after being invited to the 2019 and 2020 Caribbean Series. On January 12, 2020, the ALBP confirmed the suspension of the 2020 edition. Colombia would also be invited to the 2020 Caribbean Series, as would Curaçao to the 2023 edition, thus making the Latin American Series moot.
Argentina
Colombia
Curaçao
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
