Serie de las Américas
The Serie de las Américas is an international professional baseball tournament contested by winter league professional baseball teams in Latin America. Envisioned as an alternative to the Caribbean Series, the first edition took place from January 24 to 30, 2025, in Nicaragua.
Background
The Caribbean Series is the longest-running international club baseball tournament in the Americas, but its participants have generally been limited to members of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, an organization which includes the domestic winter leagues of Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Various alternative competitions have also existed, often incorporating nations that lack or lacked full CPBC membership: namely, the Interamerican Series, the Latin American Series, and the proposed Intercontinental Series. The CPBC responded by provisionally expanding the Caribbean Series by inviting the league champions from Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and Curaçao. However, in 2024, the CPBC announced that the 2025 Caribbean Series would drop the new participants, and return to the four full members only.On September 20, 2024, representatives of the baseball federations of Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Curaçao, Panama and Nicaragua announced the formation of the Baseball Association of the Americas. The first Serie de las Américas was held at three locations in Nicaragua, at the Estadio Nacional Soberanía in Managua, the Estadio Roberto Clemente in Masaya, and the Estadio Rigoberto López Pérez in León. Panama and Colombia are slated to host the tournament in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The 2026 tournament was initially scheduled to be held in Panama City and La Chorrera from January 24-30. However, on December 25, 2025, it was reported that the series would be moved to Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela, to be played from February 1-7, 2026. Days earlier, Venezuela had been stripped of the hosting rights to the 2026 Caribbean Series due to geopolitical tensions. The new dates would pit the Serie de las Americas directly against the Caribbean Series, which was relocated to Mexico. The series was also threatened by uncertainty surrounding the Probeis season in Panama.
Participants
After Venezuela offered to host the 2026 edition, Venezuelan Professional Baseball League announced its participation in the tournament, presumably with players not affiliated with MLB due to the winter league agreement. ABAM president David Salayandia expressed optimism that the LVBP would continue participating in the tournament in future editions.Additionally, it was reported in 2024 that the baseball federations of Aruba and Honduras have shown interest in participating in the tournament. The 2026 edition of the tournament was initially expected to add Brazil, slated to participate as a national team rather than as a representative of its domestic tournament; however, Brazil was not included when the schedule was officially announced.