0:00

I'm pretty sure if that roof was closed, it probably would have been blown off the top.

0:03

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It was loud. I'm sure your watch was freaking out and having

0:07

a panic attack. I turned it off. I turned off my watch.

0:10

I literally had to turn it off because it kept going off. Oh, your watch.

0:17

Music.

0:39

All right, well, I want to welcome you guys to yet another episode of the Data Chronicles.

0:44

I'm giving you guys a special edition episode here.

0:48

I'm calling it the Caribbean Baseball Series.

0:52

Let me tell you guys, at least for me, I was excited to do this.

0:56

This was like a, it happened like out of nowhere. My wife goes like,

1:00

I know you've been wanting to go. Why don't you do it? Look at flights and all that. And I'll tell you guys the story.

1:05

But, but first I want to introduce you guys to my guest, my good friend,

1:09

Zach Beeson, who, by the way, who also was there during the Caribbean baseball series.

1:15

I'm going to talk to you, my friend, because.

1:18

You, you were there longer than I was. I was only there like literally one night.

1:23

No joke. Not that was it one night. So, but first of all, man, how are you doing, man? Thank you for coming on the podcast, dude.

1:30

Appreciate it. Thank you for having me and glad to be here.

1:33

I'm doing great and love baseball and glad to see college baseball and MLB getting ready to start up soon.

1:41

You know, something that I, and I, and I give you credit for this to anybody

1:44

that, that That would, that listens to me is, you know, everybody,

1:48

when everybody, they say, oh, baseball season is over or baseball season hasn't started.

1:51

You're the one that says, what are you talking about? There's plenty of baseball

1:55

going on throughout the years, right?

1:57

The winter baseball series, which to your credit, and it is extremely correct

2:02

because you know, like in my homeland of Puerto Rico, we got the,

2:06

the, the Roberto Clemente, you know, series, you know, a season.

2:09

So it's, I love it when people like, other than myself, right.

2:13

Who lived there and all that and was born there are noticing those leagues and

2:18

are like, yeah, you guys got to pay attention to these leagues because there's

2:21

some legit Major League Baseball players going on there.

2:25

Exactly. I agree. And the way I look at it is the game we went to the other

2:29

night, Venezuela winning. I mean, all these podcasts and stuff talk about these summer collegiate teams or low A-ball teams.

2:36

Tell me which of those teams are going to beat that Venezuelan team. I can't think of any.

2:39

Not one. We were literally talking about it when we, when we met and we're like,

2:43

these two teams were stacked.

2:45

Yeah. Like, listen, as a, as a Puerto Rican, you know, you know,

2:50

representative, you know, representative of my country. I was like,

2:53

Puerto Rican had no chance. Like these two teams were like legit good from pitching to catching to hitting the fielding.

3:03

Everything was like major league level ready. Like these guys were like on point.

3:08

I mean, you got some major league players, right? You know, Robinson Cano and,

3:11

you know, all these other players. So, listen, I digress. Let's just get back to...

3:17

Talk to me, like, you know, you're, you're thinking about like,

3:21

how did it happen for you? Like, you know, what was your, your, your, your thinking about,

3:26

all right, let me plan this out and actually do this because it took a little bit of planning, right?

3:31

It did initially. So, I mean, to kind of go back a couple of years with the

3:36

Caribbean series, I didn't know what it was until about 2015, 2016.

3:40

Cause I was kind of in that low, like everybody else, like, oh,

3:43

I miss baseball. It's cold. It's terrible here.

3:45

I want baseball to come back. And I just remember flipping through, I'd sling TV at the time.

3:50

And for some reason I had the ESPN Deportes channel and they were playing the

3:55

Caribbean series. And I was like, what is this?

3:57

It says En Vivo, which means live at the top.

4:00

So like they're actually playing games. So what is this? And so I start doing

4:03

background research and I was like, oh, so there's baseball going on from the

4:06

last out of the world series to the first pitch of essentially the college baseball season.

4:11

And so Delvin doing my research, been watching over years. I've always had the

4:16

desire to go after learning about it.

4:19

If anybody ever saw my profile on Baseball Bucket, they would know Zach's always wanted to go to this.

4:26

And so when it came time for them to say, hey, we're doing this in Miami,

4:31

I thought, well, that's a lot easier to get to than the Dominican Republic or

4:35

the West Coast of Mexico or even Puerto Rico.

4:39

I thought, man, I hope that's doable. and so

4:42

I kind of made it as a birthday gift myself

4:44

since my birthday is coming up to the end of the month and I just lo and behold

4:49

doing internet research found a round trip ticket out of Cincinnati to Miami

4:52

for $78 round trip shut up dude yeah use my hotel point so I didn't have to

4:58

pay for lodging and made it happen so first of all and then you know.

5:04

So jealous that it was like 78 bucks. Like I paid $207 because it was like,

5:08

it was like, but it was last minute though. Right? Like, I mean, I did it like I flew out Friday. I booked my ticket Monday.

5:15

You know what I mean? Like that's how, that's how late I did it.

5:18

But anyways, but for those of you that don't know, right.

5:21

The Caribbean baseball series is a series of a number of winter leagues that

5:26

get together at the end of their respective seasons.

5:29

Right? So Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, usually Colombia's in it, Cuba.

5:34

Those are the two countries that weren't there. We were both pretty pissed off

5:39

about that that weren't there. But they all play their regular winter league season.

5:44

And then the winner of that league will go ahead and represent their country

5:50

in what is called the Caribbean baseball series.

5:53

So for Puerto Rico, it was Los Criollos de Caguas.

5:57

Then you have Los Leones. You had, you know, usually like, you know,

6:01

for like Mexico, Los Tomateros or Federales, whatever, right?

6:04

So Curacao was an interesting one because I was not aware of what the Curacao

6:09

series was, which was, you said it was a week-long tournament, correct?

6:14

Yeah, they played a week-long tournament right before Christmas.

6:18

And whoever won that was the team that gets to go to the Caribbean series.

6:23

And it was the team called the Curacao Sons was the name of the team.

6:27

And they gifted the opportunity to represent curacao and let me tell you dude they played,

6:33

they played they beat puerto rico like i mean they played they balled out bro

6:37

that was a crazy team so i mean you had didi gregorius in that team for god's

6:43

sakes like i mean this is how jerks and pro far dude jerks and profile like

6:47

i mean unreal so uh so you 78 bucks like you found for For $78,

6:53

you got your hotel and you're like, all right, I'm going to go for the semifinals and the finals, right?

6:59

Why? Like, just like you just specifically chose that time or is it because

7:04

you had that during that time of period or you wanted to get,

7:07

you know, like to get to the, like the cream of the crop teams.

7:12

So if it was up to me, I would have gone to the entire tournament and gone to

7:16

every single game they played, but my work schedule, I wasn't able to,

7:20

for example, the game we went to that day, I was on my laptop working. working.

7:25

And so, I mean, there's work to be done, but thankfully I'm able to work remotely at times.

7:31

And so that's how that worked out. And so that's just scheduling is all it was

7:35

really. And so that's why I was only able to go to the semifinal and the finals. Gotcha.

7:39

So talk to me about it, right? So you get there. Well, what did you do?

7:43

Like, you know, did you go around town? Like, what did you do?

7:47

So I got off the plane and the first thing I wanted to do,

7:51

because it's about lunchtime when the plane got there is I was

7:53

hungry and I wanted Cuban food because all I ever hear about is Miami is

7:56

basically little Cuba that is all the Cubans food

7:59

and so I went straight to La Carreta which was recommendation given by a comedian

8:05

Gabriel Iglesias and so I went to La Carreta had me a Cuban sandwich with some

8:10

tostones enjoyed and then kind of went around town just just being a sightseer

8:17

until the first game started.

8:20

Gotcha. So what was the first game for you? It was the semifinal between Panama

8:25

and the Dominican Republic. That was a good one. Yeah. I wanted to see Panama win, you know,

8:31

just kind of give the small guy a chance to win.

8:34

Because the Tigres del Lice, they were representing the Dominican Republic.

8:37

And for those that don't know, they're essentially the Yankees of the Dominican

8:40

Republic, the Yankees of the Caribbean series. They got the most titles.

8:43

They get the best players, all that. And so I wanted to kind of see Panama make an upset since they had been kicking

8:49

everyone's rear end the whole tournament anyway.

8:52

Yeah, for real. But it didn't happen.

8:55

It was funny because Panama was like, they got off right off.

8:59

Like, I mean, they were just boom, boom, boom, boom, beating everybody.

9:02

And they were expected to finish at the bottom. And they were just,

9:04

they slapped everyone around during the round robin tournament.

9:07

That's right. And even Puerto Rico. So, but, you know, and then, you know, you and me were talking about it,

9:15

like the two teams that really surprised us that didn't finish where they were

9:20

was Mexico and Nicaragua. Nicaragua didn't win a single game.

9:24

No. Not only that, they got no hit.

9:26

Their pitching didn't do them any favors. No, they didn't. No,

9:30

not at all. Which is kind of like upsetting, you know?

9:33

So it was, it was a little, it was a little disappointing. So.

9:38

Okay, so you watched the Dominican Republic, which, by the way,

9:41

we're going to talk about the Dominican Republic team because we got to do something

9:44

extremely cool that we both did not expect that we were going to do.

9:48

So that was like off the charts. So that was awesome.

9:52

All right. So you went to that game. What was the other semifinal games for

9:56

you then? It was Venezuela and Curacao.

9:59

Curacao. Yeah, that's right. How was that game?

10:03

It was an interesting game because I thought Curacao was going to pull off the

10:06

upset because they were leading for most of that game.

10:08

And I thought, wow, like this small team, nobody thought was going to do anything.

10:12

They're going to go to the final. Like, heck, yeah, this is awesome for them.

10:15

But then similar to Panem or similar to Nicaragua, their pitching didn't do

10:20

them any favors in the late stretches of the game. They gave it too many runs.

10:23

And that's where that went. And there was a lot of a lot of Venezuelans at that game, kind of like the final

10:28

that we went to. So there was, they had the crowd behind them cheering on Venezuela.

10:31

So that helped. I think that helped them a lot. Venezuela was what? 80, 20.

10:36

Yeah. Like it was insanity. The amount of people that were there from Venezuela was absolutely wild.

10:45

They moved like the whole city of La Guaira to Miami.

10:50

And geez, it was right there. It's like, like the whole country was just like right there.

10:54

We're going, we're going down to Miami and here's where we are.

10:57

Not only that, but it was absolutely, it was like pandemonium. It was absolutely loud.

11:04

I wear an Apple watch, right?

11:07

And then I have the loud decibel thing to notify me if it was too loud.

11:12

It kept going off every five minutes.

11:15

Like that's how loud this place was. Not only that, the roof was open.

11:21

Thank goodness. Or I've heard of anything. No, it was, it was like, I've never seen it.

11:26

It's like, for those of you that says like, you know, major league baseball, right?

11:29

Like, you know, that's a, that's a great experience. Like, you know,

11:31

playoffs and, and world series. That's an absolute wonderful experience.

11:35

I don't, I can't take that away from that because I've experienced that.

11:38

Right. I've been to a world series game with Cleveland and it was awesome.

11:42

And I loved it, but I'll be honest with you. it

11:45

it like it just the caribbean

11:48

series like what's up heads and shoulders way way

11:52

better like the experience wise the energy when it

11:55

comes to baseball game i don't know if you felt that way but that's how i felt

11:58

i did it was just an amazing energy and we think for the caribbean series they

12:02

made it a rule this year that they got rid of the pitch clock and it did not

12:06

felt like i was there for three and a half hours felt like i was there for 10

12:09

minutes and it was just a blast right and And I'll explain to you guys a little bit here, right?

12:15

So when doing the game is, you know, it's not like you see it here, right?

12:21

Like you see a little bit of music, no, none of that.

12:24

It is, it is from the very first moment that that game is, you know,

12:28

you're doing the national anthems and all that. It is, it is a party.

12:31

It is literally a party the whole time.

12:35

I mean, there's like instruments on there. Like I'm going to be putting some videos later on.

12:39

So that way you guys can see that. Like there was a, there was a parade going

12:42

on with some instruments going around the ballpark.

12:46

People had their guidos or congas and all of these, all this stuff.

12:50

Like, and it was an absolute wonderful flags everywhere.

12:54

Like, you know, obviously the championship that we, you and me went to,

12:57

it was Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. But I believe you were also keeping count of like how many hats from other countries

13:04

and other teams you were seeing. Everything was represented there. Like, and it was amazing.

13:10

I agree. i agree just man what

13:13

a what an energy and nothing i don't think anything

13:16

compares that because i've been to dodger stadium i've been

13:19

to the aguilas de mexicali and those felt

13:22

similar kind of party-like atmospheres but nothing like

13:25

the caribbean series i mean that's just wow i like

13:29

yesterday i was actually today i mean i was walking in work and i was just like

13:33

man i just want to go to a ball game right now because i'm still hyped from

13:37

being in miami like the energy I think I went to bed probably around 1 o'clock

13:43

to wake up super early to go to the airport,

13:46

but I could not go to sleep because I was so hyped up from all of this energy. Oh, yeah.

13:53

And not only that, guys, not only that, but I got to talk about the food there.

13:58

The food was amazing. Obviously I got there and he, he, he was,

14:03

this was supposed to be the plan for me. Okay.

14:06

The plan for me was I was going to go there early in the morning.

14:10

I found the flight that was like super early.

14:12

I was going to Uber there to that area. Like, you know, and then just walk around,

14:16

do some sightseeing like you were planning on doing and all that.

14:19

Right. And then, uh, eventually make it to, to the ballpark and then hang out.

14:23

And like, I invited my uncles, Hey, you know, you want to come,

14:26

you know, it would be awesome because he lives on there.

14:28

Right. And his team, which is team, the Dominican Republic, that was his,

14:33

that was his country. Right. He's from the Dominican.

14:35

So I was like, perfect. You know, let's go. Hopefully, you know,

14:38

by the time I was planning, I was like, hopefully Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic would play.

14:41

That didn't happen. So I was like, oh, well, right.

14:46

So, but I got yelled at by my aunt. She was like, no, you're going to come over here.

14:50

You're going to stay with us. And your mom, I'm taking you to lunch.

14:53

I'm like, all right, my bad. Sorry about that. Got to respect you.

14:57

Yeah. Yeah. You got to respect you. Like I told my wife, I was like,

15:00

I just feel like I just got yelled at, which is hilarious.

15:04

You know? And I told her that I was like, dude, I think you,

15:06

you were yelling at me. And I was like a little scared. I'm not going to lie, but it was awesome. Right. Cause they,

15:10

they took me to a Puerto Rican restaurant. We have some good food.

15:13

We have some more Fongo, some carne frita.

15:15

And you know what I mean? You got to have some Puerto Rican food or at least

15:19

some, some kind of like Hispanic food when you're in Miami. Right.

15:23

Oh, I agree. That's why I had Cuban food. I had Venezuelan food. I had Puerto Rican food.

15:28

You were, you were like, you, you took full advantage and you embraced.

15:33

You know, what it was, what the Caribbean series is like. And that's like,

15:37

that's what I was telling my wife. Like, man, this dude really did do it right.

15:42

Like, I mean, you embraced the Caribbean series. Like you embraced the food, the people.

15:48

I got to tell you, I don't know if my uncle told you this, but my uncle on the

15:52

way, on the way back to the house, he was like, His Spanish is very good. So he was very impressed by you.

16:00

So just so you know, like, I was like, good for him.

16:03

I'm like, I was like, and I, you know, I, I told them how many,

16:07

you know, ballparks you've been to. And he was like massively impressed by that.

16:11

I appreciate it. I don't know if he told you this. So I'll tell the story now. Right.

16:17

His cousin, my uncle's cousin is one of the directors for the Dominican team.

16:24

There. So he goes to tell, he tells us like, Hey, he's here.

16:29

I don't know if he can do this, but I'm going to try. They have a suite at the

16:33

ballpark. And I'm like, no way. He was like, I'm telling you. I was like, all right, so let's go.

16:37

So you and me were walking with him. And then he goes, he, he's sending him an IM.

16:41

He's like, I don't have his phone number, but I have his, his,

16:43

uh, he was messaging through Facebook. Right. And you and me, we find ourselves inside of the suite with the president

16:52

of the team, the owner of the team, the director of the team.

16:56

And we're like... Sitting in a luxury suite with the Tigres Elise in the final

17:00

of the Caribbean series. My mind is still blown. That happened.

17:05

It was insane, dude. And the picture that you took of the rings was awesome. Oh, championship rings. Oh, yes.

17:12

Dude, these were massive rings. Oh, yeah.

17:16

I've never been that close to a Major League Baseball ring. And so like,

17:19

I've seen Dominican rings, like I, you know, almost touched them.

17:23

I didn't want to, I felt like I would turn into dust if I touched them.

17:29

It was, I couldn't, I just couldn't believe it.

17:32

I mean, it was just like, we're here, we are in a luxury suite,

17:37

which by the way, it was like, you know, and then we were watching it there and it was still loud.

17:40

We were indoors and it was still super loud.

17:43

Like my ears were still ringing for a while.

17:46

Yeah, me too. And it just to think like, cause those luxury suites for the Caribbean

17:51

series finals, we're pushing somewhere between 18,000 and $25,000 just for the game.

17:56

And to think like, Oh, here is a Ed and I were standing here in the suite,

18:00

just like a Juan Soto, just like Miguel Cabrera, who are a couple of suites

18:04

down from us. Like we're doing the same thing. One soda there right like i mean he wasn't playing he was like i'm just i'm

18:12

here miggy right like i mean the uh one bunch of players from the miami marlins

18:18

were there i mean it was like,

18:20

this is this is it right i mean this is like you know when for me i automatically

18:25

call it like the beginning of my baseball season is the caribbean series is

18:29

that's when the season officially starts for me because the puerto rican series

18:33

is still doing it goes on in december and all that so i count it as,

18:36

you know, ending the season. But this thing was absolute wonderful. We had some, we had some arepas in at the ballpark.

18:44

And then you're like, you got to try it too. You got to, I was like,

18:46

all right, let's go. Let's go get, let's go get some because I was starving.

18:49

Venezuelan style arepas, arepas. Wow. Which was, you know, the little patty, right?

18:54

And then they cut it in the, in, in the middle and they stuff it with either chicken or beef.

18:59

And then they put shredded cheese on top of that.

19:02

We didn't get the sauce because they ran out. This is how popular this place was.

19:06

Like the guy was telling us, you were talking to the guys like,

19:08

yeah, I've been making this the whole time. It's been nonstop.

19:11

It goes on until the end of the game. That's that's how popular this place was. Hopefully it's there every game because

19:18

man, they are going to be raking some money. Amen. You know what I mean?

19:23

So was this your first time at Miami Marlins stadium? Yes.

19:27

I'd never been to any part of Miami ever until this past when we went down there.

19:32

Oh, really? So it was like your first time there.

19:34

Yeah. Wow. Tell me, give me your thoughts on the ballpark. What do you think?

19:39

I thought the ballpark was really nice. I mean, it's relatively new.

19:42

It's about 10 years old now. I know like the Marlins get made fun of and whatever this, that,

19:47

and the other, but I mean, their ballpark is really nice. Like it's a nice ballpark

19:52

to go to. It's set up great.

19:54

Concourse is good. I love when they open those windows behind left center for

19:58

the sea breeze to come in. Like it's a, it's a great ballpark.

20:02

It was. And I'm with you there. Like it was, it was a nice cool breeze.

20:07

I like for, you know, being in Southern, you know, Florida, like in Miami,

20:10

I was like, oh, it's a kind of like a little nice little cool breeze coming in at night.

20:14

Right. The, the, the roof was open and all that. But what I found interesting

20:19

about this ballpark, and tell

20:21

me how you feel about this, is it was in the middle of residential area.

20:26

Like, it's literally in Little Havana, right?

20:29

And the one thing that I think it was missing, and this is not a shot at them, right?

20:34

Because they built it where they built it, and it's cool.

20:38

But, like, I would have liked to see, like, restaurants and bars, right?

20:42

Right. So like to go there, you know, cause you see a lot of other ballparks

20:45

that are building entertainment areas along with the ballparks.

20:50

And I, and I feel like the Miami Marlins were, are missing that one piece of

20:55

the entertainment side of it. I just, I see it more as costs. So, I mean, the cost of land in Southern Florida

21:03

and then all the hotels, like good luck competing with those hotels on the beachfront.

21:07

Like I kind of see it as where else are you going to build?

21:10

Where you're saving money and, you know, who's going to set up.

21:14

I mean, imagine it's probably hard to open restaurants in Little Havana.

21:18

I don't know, but that's just the way I see it.

21:22

But let me tell you though, the energy was there. It was like,

21:25

it was awesome. It was like people like in their house or like letting people park.

21:29

It was like, all right, we're charging you 20, 30 bucks.

21:31

Here we go. You park here at our house and then you can go and enjoy the game,

21:35

which was a, it wasn't bad. Like, I mean, we found a parking in the parking garage because there's two parking

21:39

garages. Right. And because there was two games going on, right.

21:43

The, the one parking garage, they, they use it. And then the other one was being used for the other game.

21:48

So while that one was being empty out, the other one was getting filled in,

21:52

which was It was like the amount of work that they had to put in,

21:58

in order, the logistics of this, it was astronomical just for this series,

22:04

which was a week long. That was it.

22:07

Big shout out to the organizers. I mean, of course, with the Miami traffic, which is not very good.

22:13

It's kind of terrible traffic and parking situation, especially with this is

22:18

like the most teams they've ever had for the tournament as well.

22:21

So, I mean, I think the organizers did a great job with what they had. They did an amazing job.

22:26

Me, I didn't worry about the parking. I just said, I don't feel like dealing

22:29

with that. So Uber is going to do for me. Uber it is.

22:32

Smart man. That's what I was going to do. I was going to, I was literally going

22:35

to do Uber and that was it because it was, it was, it would have been easy just

22:39

to, and even if then it was like, they drop you off nearby. I was like,

22:42

dude, just drop me off here. I'll walk the rest of the way, which I think is what you ended up doing. Right? Yeah.

22:48

Yeah. Cause the traffic was so bad. Couldn't even move. and i

22:51

was like you know what the ballpark is right there you don't have to drop me

22:53

off at the front door of the stadium i'll just get out here and i

22:56

need the exercise anyway so it's okay man keep the

23:00

money you know you're good so we're

23:03

there we're like you know where where the when you know we're in the suite where

23:06

we're looking at the rings or massive rings which by the way the guy who had

23:11

the rings was very impressed by you as well at the number of ballparks that

23:15

you've been to thank you yeah he was like are you are you serious And I could

23:21

hear the conversation my uncle's having. He was like, yeah, like that's how many ballparks this guy has been to.

23:26

And he goes like, that's impressive. So...

23:29

Good. You know, you, you, you made an impression on the director of the Tigres

23:35

that night. So, you know. Appreciate it. I still need to get to a Tigres-Elise game. There you go.

23:41

So we, so we decided at that point, I was like, all right, let's not,

23:44

you know, let's not overstay our welcome. We go back to our seats, which was, they weren't bad either.

23:48

Like, you know, funny enough, we're both said in the same, you know,

23:52

we bought tickets in the same section. We didn't even know we did that.

23:56

So section 312 shout out to section 312 there so

23:59

we we go back we sit down and we're watching

24:02

and it's got my uncle's like this is not looking good so i'm looking at you

24:06

and i'm like it's not looking good for the dominican republic that the the venezuelan

24:12

team was the better team i mean i hate to say it but they were like i mean that

24:17

was a like we were checking it was a loaded team and And they were playing.

24:21

Yeah, I agree. They were making plays. They were getting hits with two outs.

24:26

They weren't swinging at bad pitches because you can see the Dominican Republic.

24:30

They were doing that early on. They were swinging at bad pitches,

24:33

trying to hit it to the ocean, and it didn't work out for them. They were forcing it.

24:37

Yep. That's what they were doing. They were forcing the whole thing.

24:40

It was like they were trying to hit home runs. Like you said, they were trying to hit it to the beach.

24:44

When, you know, when Venezuela was not doing that, they were getting those hits.

24:48

They were pushing to run it over. you know sacrifice buns they're

24:51

playing small ball and it worked for them i did

24:54

because i mean there was no home runs during the game no that game we were at

24:59

but i think a little bit of the crowd helped as well like there was a super

25:03

venezuelan crowd i think that helps the players i know some people try to argue

25:07

like oh well home field advantage doesn't really affect in baseball ball, it's like, okay, sure.

25:14

Yeah, no, it does. Let me tell you, it does. We experienced it.

25:18

Like that crowd, like I said, it was from pitch one, they were...

25:26

On it. Both teams, actually both countries, they were on it though.

25:29

Like, you know, you could hear the cheering and all that.

25:31

And it was like, I was like, all right, this is a baseball game. Here we go. Let's go.

25:36

I mean, the, you know, like you say, I was like, you know, that I think the

25:39

Dominican Republic were, were forcing a little bit too much on trying to hit

25:42

home runs, trying to, you know, try to force the, the getting them runs,

25:47

which ended up backfiring for them.

25:49

And then kudos to the Venezuelan pitching.

25:52

They were able to work at where where they worked themselves out of those tough situations.

25:57

And, you know, at the end of it, it proved that, you know, obviously Venezuela

26:01

won. Obviously, you know, we saw it. And it was cool to see that,

26:04

like, you know, when they won. Like, because it was a roller to second base and then boom, that was it.

26:10

Like, I mean, as soon as that out happened, dude, that place, like, right?

26:16

It went absolute bonkers.

26:20

I'm pretty sure if that roof was closed, it probably would have been blown off the top. Yeah.

26:24

Oh my gosh. It was loud. I'm sure your watch was freaking out and having a panic

26:28

attack. I turned it off. I turned off my watch. I literally had to turn it off because it kept going off.

26:34

And I just seeing that, you know, like, I mean, that was like the,

26:40

one of the coolest moments I've seen in a long time. Right. Like,

26:43

I mean, it was just like, wow. Yeah. Like they're playing for the name on their, on their front of the Jersey,

26:48

not the name on the back of the Jersey. And they were just, they were playing.

26:53

It was, it was cool to see. And they were playing to win.

26:56

It wasn't like a spring training game where they're just trying to get reps.

26:58

It was like, no, we want to win this ball game.

27:01

We, we are putting our heart and soul into this.

27:04

And that's, that's what I want to see. Cause I mean, if they were half-assed

27:07

and then I probably wouldn't go. No, absolutely. Absolutely. And like you said, it's like, you know,

27:11

I think this is, it goes to show you like the, the level of,

27:15

it was a record crowd. We hadn't even talked about that.

27:19

36,000 plus at that ballpark. Record for the Caribbean series.

27:24

And then the whole tournament on its own set the record for most attended Caribbean

27:28

series tournament ever. How could you not have it back in miami or you know have it somewhere where

27:35

like there's a big you know concentration of hispanic in there like i mean you you gotta bring it back,

27:42

i think houston would might be a good spot oh dude i was thinking the exact

27:46

same thing i literally was just thinking houston the rangers maybe in california

27:52

try that area as well like the The Dodger Stadium or Angels.

27:56

Oh, Dodger Stadium would be wild. Or Petco Park in San Diego. In San Diego, right.

28:01

That's what I'm saying. That will be cool to see there, right?

28:04

Because obviously next year, like we were talking about during the game,

28:08

it's going to be in Mexicali. 2025 is going to be in Mexicali. 2026 is going to be in San Juan.

28:15

And then after that, it still needs to be decided.

28:18

But they should bring it back because the level of popularity that arose from

28:24

this series cannot be matched. Mm-mm.

28:28

Not at all. Like you didn't have a country to, you know, like,

28:33

I mean, usually it's like, you know, USA, right? Like, or for me, Puerto Rico is like, you were just there for the experience

28:39

and you're like, I'm coming back.

28:42

Is there, I loved it. It was, wow. What an experience to be able to witness that.

28:47

And of course, I mean, I essentially I'm the minority in the crowd.

28:52

Like, I don't know. At times, I felt like I'm probably the only person in the

28:55

stadium that speaks English as a first language.

28:59

But, I mean, interacting with everyone, it was, oh, man, what an experience.

29:02

I'm going to remember it forever. The people were cool, right? I mean, everybody was like, there was no fighting,

29:08

which is interesting, right? There was no fighting.

29:12

And then they were making fun of each other. Yeah, I mean, it happened, right?

29:16

My uncle was also getting it. They still recognize like, oh,

29:19

it's just a game at the end of the day. Like we all still got to go back to

29:21

work tomorrow and, you know, support our families.

29:24

It wasn't like, let's get drunk and stupid and act like we're,

29:27

I don't know, Buffalo bills fans and just get dumb. Yeah, exactly.

29:31

It was, it was one of those situations. Like even my uncle was making fun of

29:35

some of the men as well. They managed what was making fun of them and everything.

29:37

They were, they were bantering back and forth and it was awesome.

29:41

Like the, like you're like, I was talking about early about the,

29:43

the little parade that they were doing. You could not, there was no one drunk there.

29:49

But it would, they were dancing and they were singing and, and they were playing their instruments.

29:54

And it was, it was an awesome experience. We're coming down the escalators,

29:58

by the way, these escalators were massive.

30:00

Oh gosh. Yes. Right. And then we were just experiencing the whole thing.

30:04

And it was like the whole place was shaking. The whole place was shaking. It was awesome.

30:08

Yeah. Oh my goodness. It was so cool to that big old band.

30:12

And I remember we went the opposite way. Cause it's like, we're not going to

30:15

make it through that parade to get out the doors. And it was, I mean, they're celebrating, they're happy.

30:20

Like people happy, like acting like that after a baseball game.

30:23

I was like, this is the, that's what I put on social media too.

30:26

I was like Latino baseball crowds. Like that's my spirit animal.

30:29

Cause like, I need more of that.

30:33

Like I need my fellow Americans to be excited about their ball team winning

30:37

a game like that you know that's what I want to see and so it was really cool

30:41

to do that and then an interesting thing is so you and your uncle had left yep

30:45

but I stayed to watch the trophy presentation. Which was pretty cool and then to promote the

30:50

Caribbean series next year in Mexicali what they did is they

30:53

put a mariachi band out there on the field and they

30:55

played a couple songs to to kind of advertise hey

30:59

this is going on in mexico next year and that was super cool to

31:02

see as well so got a little mariachi concert at the

31:05

end that's pretty cool the the and i

31:08

got to take a picture with the trophy too with this thing was massive oh yeah

31:12

goodness yeah that's huge holy mother of god there was a couple of things that

31:21

and again this is not to throw shade at the the Caribbean series or anything

31:25

like that, because they did an absolute wonderful job.

31:27

Like, I mean, the organizers did an absolute wonderful job.

31:30

MC, she needed to tone it down. She needed to tone it down a little bit.

31:34

The voice was just not going to happen for me. I'm sorry. Eric,

31:37

the peanut guy, if you're listening, don't be that. Don't be that because it was not good. Like it was like obnoxious loud when

31:44

you get to that, that decibel level of like obnoxiousness, that's what the level

31:48

of was, but it could have been a little bit lower and it would have been more enjoyable.

31:54

Another thing that was a little bit disappointing, disappointing is merchandise.

31:59

There was no, and you talked to this a little bit about this,

32:04

but there was no actual, like the actual team, like the Tigres del Ice or the

32:09

Criollos de Cagua, there was no actual merchandise for those specific teams.

32:14

What they had was Caribbean series and then team Puerto Rico or Team Dominican,

32:20

Team Curaçao, Team Venezuela. That's what they had, a certain number of things, but mostly Caribbean series merchandise.

32:28

I didn't. I didn't like that because, I mean, it almost felt like a World Baseball

32:34

Classics shop instead of a Caribbean series.

32:37

So for your listeners that don't know, the Caribbean series is similar to the Champions League.

32:42

We talked about this earlier, where the winner of their league in their respective

32:47

country represent that country. And so i would prefer them to wear whatever club they play for i mean if they were selling

32:53

tiburones hats or if they were selling curacao suns

32:57

or whatever if they were selling those in the shop i would have been all over it bro

33:00

me too i just kind of saw it as why do i want

33:03

to represent venezuela i wear team usa that's that's

33:06

your team that's that's why i feel like it just kind of felt like a

33:08

world baseball classic and so that's when i learned because i

33:11

was talking to people it's similar to the college baseball world series so

33:15

in the college baseball world series i'll use you for an example so if

33:17

kent state were hosting a super regional yep you

33:21

wouldn't be able to buy a kent state hat or t-shirt at the shop it

33:23

would only be like college world series regional like on the t-shirt so is the

33:28

same the caribbean series does the same thing you can't sell the teams you sell

33:32

what the caribbean series tells you you're gonna sell and you got to sell like

33:35

the country hats and stuff it just and then i'll be honest like i mean the The

33:41

material that they used, it was like ironed-on patches on the Caribbean series.

33:46

So I was like, I'm not going to buy an ironed-on Caribbean patch.

33:50

It just didn't make any sense for me. I did buy a Puerto Rico hat, though. I mean, all right, at least I'll buy that.

33:56

I bought the national Puerto Rico hat, and then a Dominican Republic snapback

34:03

hat fell on my lap at the end of the game. I remember that.

34:08

I don't know where this hat came from I try to give it to the people no one wanted it,

34:17

The one lady behind me, she goes like, it's yours now. I'm like,

34:20

well, not Dominican, but I'll take it.

34:23

But it's a nice hat, dude. Like, I mean, I still have it here. Look at this thing.

34:30

Nice. But it has the World Baseball Classic logo in the back.

34:36

And then look at the bottom of the brim that has the Dominican Republic on it.

34:40

So I was like, all right, I mean, I'll keep it. You know what I mean?

34:44

But again, I wish I would have seen, I would have been cool to see the Sons

34:50

of Kudasala. I would have bought a hat from there. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? Tigres de Lice.

34:57

That's what I wanted to see. And if there was a negative or something for them to work on, it was that.

35:07

Amen. I agree. The good thing is, though, for your listeners,

35:10

hats from the Venezuelan League, the Dominican League, Puerto Rican League.

35:14

They're not super hard to get. So you'd be able to get those as well.

35:17

So that, that part's not bad. And then also the Mexican league,

35:21

they'll ship to the U S the summer league, Mexican league.

35:24

They won't ship to the U S but the Mexican Pacific league that does participate

35:27

in the Caribbean series, they'll ship to the U S as well.

35:30

And you know, the good thing is because I saw the new era has some of the Mexico

35:38

ones and all of that. So that was pretty cool.

35:41

So I, I, like I said, I'm a little disappointed in that. That's the one thing.

35:46

Again, I want to do this again.

35:49

I want to go back and I want to experience this again.

35:52

I wish I would have been there longer because it was that cool of an experience

35:57

that anybody should experience, no matter what.

36:01

I mean, they should experience that no matter what.

36:04

I agree 100%. And so if people want to go to Mexicali next year,

36:09

I mean, I went to a game there this past November.

36:11

And so it's literally right across

36:14

the border so if you're kind of like mexico cartel is

36:17

dangerous then stay in calexico california you

36:20

get a hotel room there not far from san diego not far from phoenix and you can

36:24

enjoy the caribbean series it'd be a great time great opportunity to see what

36:29

just a big latino population looks like at a ball game so how was that experience

36:34

for you like you you know, going to Mexicali and seeing that,

36:38

like, I mean, that, that had to be, had to be cool, man. It was awesome.

36:43

It the part that stunk is a lot of that stadium is cash only oh that's right

36:48

i didn't have any cash and that part kind of sucked so i didn't get to try as

36:52

much food as i wanted to but the concessions are different i mean the the crowd

36:57

is different but it was it was a blast had a blast.

37:01

I'm i'm gonna get to it's funny paul

37:04

caputo you know literally texted me and says hey hey you

37:07

know how was it and and i i told him

37:10

like dude it was you know you should have i i literally try

37:13

to tell him dude you got to come with me i'm

37:16

telling you get your ticket let's go we'll stay at the at the airport we'll

37:20

hang out you know all night and then we'll leave didn't do it and he goes like

37:24

i wish i would have done it yeah it's like a man and then he literally said

37:29

to me that the very next day on my when i was already home he was like all right

37:33

so we're going are we going going for 2025. I was like, are we going to Mexicali? I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Let's go.

37:40

I'm in. That's awesome. I also cry foul at the same time. Cause I mean,

37:44

Denver to Phoenix or Denver to San Diego is not a very expensive flight for him.

37:47

So I know I'm like, dude, you could have just shoot him going over, over to the East coast.

37:52

I mean, it was a pretty long trek. I'll give him that.

37:55

Right. But it was like, yeah. And, and, and to their defense too, I did say it kind of late,

38:02

you know what i mean it's like ah you know like i didn't i didn't

38:05

give him too much of a no it is you know

38:08

so not a lot of people would have been able to do it but it was something like

38:12

my wife says like you you need to go do it you go you got to do this because

38:16

it was it was cool experience man yeah my girlfriend was saying the same thing

38:19

it's just you i mean it's what you love to do so why don't you do it instead

38:23

of talking about it and i was like fine then i will and so So I did.

38:27

Lo and behold, we had a blast. And I would do this again in a heartbeat.

38:33

I would do this all over again. Absolutely. So, you know, final thoughts on this, man, because obviously this

38:39

was, we both agree, you know, anybody should do it and you guys should do it.

38:44

Final thoughts on your whole experience for the Caribbean series overall.

38:48

I will say for me personally, I think it's been a great blessing.

38:53

Thank the Lord that I have had the opportunity to learn and know Spanish because

38:57

I think without that, I probably wouldn't have cared.

38:59

Like, oh, just a Hispanic crowd doing their baseball tournament and just thought nothing of it.

39:04

But I kind of see it as the experiences I've had in my life by knowing Spanish,

39:08

the experiences, the opportunities have been afforded to me.

39:12

I can't be grateful enough for that to be able to communicate with the people.

39:17

I feel like it's my second culture, my adopted culture, if you will.

39:22

Absolutely. Absolutely to be able to talk to people and glad to compliments

39:26

on the Spanish. I try to make it sound good.

39:28

Cause I mean, my, my parents are white folk. I'm white American.

39:31

My parents don't know Spanish. My parents don't know Spanish. I learned it. And so it's, it's opened up so

39:38

many doors and be able to experience something like that.

39:40

I'm glad I know the language to interact with the people, which made it even

39:44

a thousand times better. I'll tell you this, dude, you, you,

39:48

You killed it. I'll, you know, for, you know, for me to be able to have a conversation

39:51

with you in Spanish was awesome. Right. And, you know, you, you pronunciation is amazing.

39:57

Like you were having a conversation with the guy at the Arapa stand,

40:01

which was awesome. You were trying to buy his hat, but he wouldn't sell it.

40:06

So you know you said you went there during the semifinals

40:09

you tried to do it he didn't do it then and then you tried it

40:12

in the finals again he still didn't do it but i was like

40:15

all right this is my dude my dude trying now i i respect that

40:18

i respect that a lot thank you i appreciate it

40:21

and yeah and i encourage everybody if you speak english

40:24

go attend the caribbean series it's a

40:27

heck of an experience for your spanish speakers filmmakers tienen que

40:30

asistir a la sede de la caribe porque es muy divertido and that's

40:33

it's amazing i'm gonna end it with that because that

40:36

was awesome i'm gonna go ahead and end it there and yeah

40:40

i don't have anything else to say guys that guy like he said go to the caribbean

40:44

series if you ever had an opportunity to do it do it it is an experience it

40:49

is baseball at its purest and finest you know like that you can look at it like

40:55

you know it's a party people are enjoying enjoying themselves.

40:58

There's no fighting that, you know, I didn't see any of that, which was amazing.

41:02

Like usually you go to a major league game or a minor league game or anything,

41:06

or any football games, whatever you see fighting, there was no fighting here.

41:09

Everybody was all, was having fun. The food was amazing.

41:12

The, you know, the drinks were amazing. It was all, it was all awesome.

41:16

So definitely I suggest that you guys do it. And then if you do talk to my man,

41:21

Zach, he'll give you some pointers of what to say, what to do and where to go.

41:25

Cause obviously that we set in 2025, it'll be in Mexicali and everybody should do with that for sure.

41:31

And then we'll leave it there, man. I mean, this was awesome,

41:34

dude. Thank you so much, Zach, for, you know, doing this little special edition,

41:38

you know, Caribbean baseball series recap for us, because it was,

41:42

it was an experience and let's do it again, my friend.

41:46

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Take care of me, hermano.

41:48

Thank you. Thank you, my friend. Guys, take care.

41:53

I hope you guys enjoy that episode with my good friend, Zach.

41:56

I listen. I cannot say enough good things about this dude. He was awesome.

42:01

We had an awesome time with my uncle.

42:04

And then also with Zach, you know, the guys, you guys have to go to a Caribbean baseball series.

42:12

Okay. I'm telling you, you will not regret it.

42:15

So next year, 2025, like I've been saying this whole episode, Mexicali 2026.

42:20

It's going to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico. So you guys got to go out there. Okay.

42:24

Uh, before I go guys, make sure you guys go on to my Instagram channel,

42:29

go to my YouTube channel, make sure you guys are following me. I put videos every day, uh, different content.

42:33

And then, uh, I'll see you guys on, uh, the, the dad hat Chronicle sports show

42:38

every Tuesday and Thursday nights, 9 PM.

42:40

Eastern time. All right, guys. So then keep on grinding and always super tomato lakes. See, uh.

42:49

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