Caribbean Series a celebration of Latin American baseball

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Baseball doesn’t stop upon the conclusion of the World Series.

As fate would have it, Criollos de Caguas visited Gigantes de Carolina to open the final of Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican Winter League) on the first day of my vacation.

If you’ve never experienced baseball outside of the United States and Canada, I highly recommend it. It resembles the World Baseball Classic atmosphere, but on a local scale.

A giant statue of Roberto Clemente welcomes all to Estadio Municipal Roberto Clemente Walker in Carolina, where the late Hall of Famer grew up. A Pachanga band, like the one that frequents loanDepot park for Heritage Celebrations, performs throughout the concourse. Fans bring noise makers and regularly break out into team chants. Fireworks light up the night sky.

Though Carolina walked off that game thanks to former Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría, Caguas won the best-of-nine series and will participate in the Caribbean Series, which begins a week from today at loanDepot park. Caguas' manager is none other than retired Cardinals legend Yadier Molina, and former Marlins right-hander Alex Sanabia is on the roster.

Puerto Rico will compete against teams representing Nicaragua, Curaçao, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and the Dominican Republic in Serie del Caribe, which will feature seven days of tripleheaders.

Marlins president of business operations Caroline O’Connor sees this international tournament as the latest opportunity for the ballpark to thrive on the global stage. There will be country-themed food and beverage activations. Live entertainment will liven the West Plaza. The goal is to celebrate each country and what makes it special.

“We want to show that we're a world-class venue, are ready to host the biggest events,” O’Connor said. “Last year was so great with the World Baseball Classic. We don't want the fans of Miami to have to wait until 2026 for that energy again, so we're really excited to host the Caribbean Series this year. We hope to make it huge and have that kind of excitement and energy levels, and we're really optimistic about how it's progressing so far.”

Attendees also will be able to take in “3,000,” a large-scale photo exhibition of Clemente, which will be located on the West Plaza. It is an interactive experience of the most historic moments in Clemente’s Major League career.

The exhibit, which is designed to show the number 3,000 when viewed from a distance, includes images from before, during and after the day Clemente recorded his 3,000th hit on Sept. 30, 1972, when he became the first Latin American-born player to accomplish the feat.

The “3,000” exhibit was curated by Dennis Rivera Pichardo, director of photography at El Nuevo Día, which is owned by GFR Media and is the leading newspaper in Puerto Rico. It originally debuted at the Old San Juan historical site in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before its first U.S. stop in Pittsburgh, where Clemente played the entirety of his 18-year career.