Why Pedro Martinez Believes Caribbean Series Can Build off of WBC

MIAMI, FL—As announced last week, the Pedro Martinez Foundation and the Miami Marlins Foundation are partnering up throughout the 2024 Serie del Caribe.

Before going on to establish himself as a Hall of Famer in the United States, Martinez played winter ball early in his professional career. He is passionate about the Caribbean Series itself as well as baseball all around the world.

"We're here in Miami, which is such a mixed city," said Martinez. "I think [Miami] brings a beautiful opportunity for everybody to understand better why we so loud, so happy, so excited about playing the game and I think that culture needs to really be exposed. I think people need to understand how much we care about the youth."

Martinez also touched on what type of atmosphere we can expect during these games.

"I think the Caribbean Series is gonna bring a lot of people just like the (World Baseball Classic) did," said Martinez. "I think there's a lot of work to be done. Some of the players that got picked up because they didn't win—some of them especially in the Dominican—they're gonna be really excited to be here and try to improve."

Considered one of the favorites to win the 2023 WBC, the Dominican Republic failed to advance past the group stage of the tournament, which was also held at LoanDepot Park. A Dominican himself, Pedro recalled how enjoyable the experience was despite his team's disappointing performance.

"What we saw was very unique and I'm extremely happy to help bring over that warm sensation that we had in the Classic," said Martinez. "It was beautiful to watch each game. Even the games that Dominican didn't win or Puerto Rico didn't win or Venezuela, it was beautiful baseball, beautiful respectful games that we saw. We're hoping to bring that over here in Miami."

La Serie del Caribe begins with a tripleheader of games on Thursday, February 1 (Nicaragua vs. Puerto Rico, Curacao vs. Mexico and Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic).