Everything you need to know about Venezuela’s debut in the 2023 World Baseball Classic

The Venezuelan team begins its path to glory on March 11, when it makes its debut in the tournament World Classic Baseball In a match against the Dominican Republic.

This will be the fifth edition of the competition and the Creoles are looking forward to getting their first title in their history.

After being suspended in 2021 by COVID-19 pandemicThe World Baseball Classic is back and will be held March 8-21.

The four venues for this competition will be the same as those originally chosen for 2021: Intercontinental Baseball Stadium from Taichung, Taiwan; he tokyo dome from Tokyo, Japan; he Loan warehouse garden Miami f Chase Field Phoenix, both in the United States.

How many teams will participate?

Like all of its versions, this classic game will feature 20 teams who will try to win the title of World Champion.

There will be eight participants from Latin America (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua and Venezuela), five Asians (South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan, China and Israel), four Europeans (Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom and Czech Republic). ) and two from North America (USA and Canada).

Who won the World Cup Classic?

The current tournament champion is United Statethe team that won the championship in 2017 after defeating Puerto Rico in the final by a score of 8-0 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.

Japan is the first winner of the Classic World Championships. The Japanese won first place in the inaugural edition in 2006, when they beat Cuba 6-10, and second place in 2009, by defeating South Korea 5-3.

The Dominican Republic team dominated and won the award in 2013, the year they beat Puerto Rico 3-0 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, United States.

How was Venezuela?

The Creoles have competed in the previous four editions of the competition and their best result was in 2009 when they were in Third place After falling in the semi-finals against South Korea, ten runs to two.

In 2017 and 2013, the Venezuelan team could not even pass the first round, while in 2007 it was eliminated in the second.

This year the national team will be in charge of the coach Omar Lopez And you will have an experienced led list Miguel Cabrerawhich will be supported by players who are successful in Major League Baseball (MLB) such as Jose AltuveAnd Ronald Acuna Jr. , Salvador PerezAnd Glaber Torres And Eugenio Suarez.

The indigenous people will share Group D with teams from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Israel.

Venezuela will face the Dominicans in their first appearance on Saturday, March 11 at 8 PM (Venezuela time) in Miami.

Both countries have the most players in the major leagues, after the United States.

When and who will play Venezuela?

led ones Omar Lopez They will play five matches from March 11 to 15, to try to pass the first stage and continue their quest to win the championship for the first time in its history.

This is the full schedule for Venezuela’s matches in Group D:

You can enjoy the meetings through Televen, Venevisión and IVC signals on national television. The games will also be broadcast on Simple TV, ByM Sports, and BeisbolPlay.