Team Venezuela expects the WBC to be a celebration, even on US soil

MIAMI (AP) — A Venezuelan flag was stitched on the right side of Omar López’s cap. And an American flag was positioned a few feet to his left.

Baseball, meet politics. Politics, meet baseball. Like it or not, it’s happening.

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The World Baseball Classic — already underway in Tokyo — starts pool play Friday in three other locations, including Miami. And, to no surprise, Venezuela’s team is a top attraction for the games in Latin-centric South Florida.

Sporting events having geopolitical ties is nothing new, but the situation the Venezuelan team — managed by López — faces in this tournament is unusual. These games come two months after the U.S. executed a military operation in Venezuela to capture deposed leader Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” López insisted Thursday. “I’ve been working in baseball for 28 years and I don’t talk about political stuff, to be honest. I’m here to talk about our Venezuelan team. I’m not here to talk about anything about political situations around the world, around my country. We are alive, we are here and we want to play for our team to win every single game here.”

When news of Maduro’s capture seeped out in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, many Venezuelans — it’s believed, based on U.S. Census estimates, that about 200,000 people who identify as being from that country live in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area — took to the streets in celebration. Much of that was centered in the Miami suburb of Doral, which has the largest Venezuelan population in South Florida and also is where President Donald Trump owns a golf resort that will host the G20 Summit later this year.

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And based on just the numbers of tickets that are available and their resale prices online, Venezuela’s four games at loanDepot Park — the home of the Miami Marlins — between Friday and Wednesday will draw large crowds.

“I’m super happy, super happy to be here in my city,” Marlins utilityman Javier Sanoja said. “I love Miami because it’s the closest we have to our country, and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/team-venezuela-expects-wbc-celebration-202409124.html

Author : TIM REYNOLDS

Publish date : 2026-03-05 20:24:00

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