Venezuela National Baseball Team
Information
Country	Venezuela
Federation	Federación Venezolana de Béisbol
Confederation	COPABE
Manager	Omar López
WBSC ranking
Current	5 (11 November 2025)[1]
Highest	3 (first in December 2024)
Lowest	11 (first in September 2018)
Home Away
World Baseball Classic
Appearances	6 (first in2006)
Best result	3rd (1 time, in2009)
World Cup
Appearances	18 (first in1940)
Best result	1st (3 times, most recent in1945)
Intercontinental Cup
Appearances	2 (first in1973)
Best result	6 (1 time, in2002)
Pan American Games
Appearances	3 (first in1955)
Best result	1st (1 time, in1959)

TheVenezuela national baseball team (Spanish:Selección de béisbol de Venezuela^[2] orSelección de Venezuela)^[3] is the nationalbaseball team ofVenezuela.^[4] It is currentlyranked sixth in the world by theWorld Baseball Softball Confederation.^[1]

Venezuela has competed in every edition of theWorld Baseball Classic since 2006, with its best result to date being a semifinal appearance in2009. It won its first major international title in the1941 Amateur World Series, defeating a heavily-favoredTeam Cuba, and won two more world championships in the 1940s. It has also historically dominatedbaseball at the Bolivarian Games. However, Venezuela has never qualified for theSummer Olympics.

Team Venezuela will compete againstTeam Israel,Team Netherlands,Team Dominican Republic, andTeam Nicaragua in the2026 World Baseball Classic from March 6-11, 2026, atLoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.

Venezuela debuted in international competition at the1938 Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama City, finishing sixth. The country first participated in what was then the top level of international baseball competition, theAmateur World Series (later to be known as theBaseball World Cup), in1940.

Venezuela won its first international baseball title the following year, defeating defending championsCuba at the1941 Amateur World Series in Havana. The championship team, with illustrious names from the country's amateur circuits likeHéctor Benítez,Daniel "Chino" Canónico, andJosé Antonio Casanova, was hailed as "Los Heroes del '41" ("Heroes of '41"). The victory of the 1941 AWS is cited as the catalyst forbaseball's exploding popularity in Venezuela,^[5][6] Venezuelan PresidentIsaías Medina Angarita declared October 22, the day of the championship game, a national holiday.

Venezuela competed in the2009 World Baseball Classic, playing its opening games in Pool C, inToronto, Ontario. The Venezuelans secured advancement out of Pool C with a pair of resounding wins overItaly. Along the way, Venezuela also lost a 15–6 slugfest against theUnited States, but won twice against the same team.^[7]

In the2013 World Baseball Classic, Venezuela was eliminated byPuerto Rico, who went on to eliminate Italy, the United States and two-time defending champion Japan. Their placing as the third team inPool C after defeating newcomersSpain was sufficient to secure direct qualification to the2017 World Baseball Classic.

The team competed againstTeam Israel,Team Puerto Rico,Team Dominican Republic, andTeam Nicaragua in the2023 World Baseball Classic in Miami, Florida, coming in first in the pool, but losing to the U.S. in the next round.^[8]

Team Venezuela will compete againstTeam Israel,Team Netherlands,Team Dominican Republic, andTeam Nicaragua in the2026 World Baseball Classic. They will play from March 6-11, 2026, atLoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, in Pool D.^[9]

Houston Astrosbench coachOmar López will manage Team Venezuela at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.^[10]

The following is a list ofprofessionalbaseball match results currently active in the latest version of theWBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.^[11]

Legend

  Win  Lose  Void or postponed  Fixture

WBSC Premier12 GS	November 5	Venezuela	4–8	Japan	Taoyuan Stadium,Taiwan
	18:00NST		Boxscore		Attendance: 3,868

WBSC Premier12 GS	November 6	Chinese Taipei	3–0	Venezuela	Taichung Stadium,Taiwan
	18:30NST		Boxscore		Attendance: 10,983

WBSC Premier12 GS	November 7	Venezuela	7–1	Puerto Rico	Taichung Stadium,Taiwan
	12:00NST		Boxscore		Attendance: 618

Bolivarian Games RR	June 30	Venezuela	9–2	Dominican Republic	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	14:00COT		Boxscore

Bolivarian Games RR	July 1	Venezuela	4–5	Peru	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	14:00COT		Boxscore		Attendance: 2,450

Bolivarian Games RR	July 2	Colombia	10–0(F/6)	Venezuela	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	19:00COT		Boxscore

Bolivarian Games RR	July 3	Dominican Republic	14–2	Venezuela	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	14:00COT		Boxscore

Bolivarian Games RR	July 4	Peru	5–6	Venezuela	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	14:00COT		Boxscore

Bolivarian Games RR	July 5	Venezuela	7–1	Colombia	Estadio Calamar,Colombia
	14:00COT		Boxscore

World Baseball Classic GS	March 11	Dominican Republic	1–5	Venezuela	loanDepot Park,United States
	19:00ET	LP:Sandy Alcántara (0–1)	Boxscore	WP:José Ruiz (1–0) HR:Anthony Santander (1)	Attendance: 35,890 Umpires: HP –Andy Fletcher, 1B – Tim Meyer, 2B –Ron Kulpa, 3B – Maikol Tibabijo

World Baseball Classic GS	March 12	Venezuela	9–6	Puerto Rico	loanDepot Park,United States
	19:00ET	WP:Pablo López (1–0) Sv:Silvino Bracho (1) HR:Anthony Santander (2),Salvador Pérez (1)	Boxscore	LP:José Berríos (0–1) HR:Eddie Rosario (1)	Attendance: 35,615 Umpires: HP –Chris Guccione, 1B – Chris Graham, 2B – Alejandro Pecero, 3B –Mike Estabrook

World Baseball Classic GS	March 14	Nicaragua	1–4	Venezuela	loanDepot Park,United States
	12:00ET	LP:Rodney Theophile (0–1)	Boxscore	WP:José Ruiz (1–0) Sv:José Alvarado (1)	Attendance: 21,873 Umpires: HP –Ángel Hernández, 1B –Chris Guccione, 2B – Alejandro Pecero, 3B – Tim Meyer

World Baseball Classic GS	March 15	Venezuela	5–1	Israel	loanDepot Park,United States
	12:00ET	WP:Jesús Luzardo (1–0) HR:Eduardo Escobar (1),Eugenio Suárez (1)	Boxscore	LP:Robert Stock (0–1)	Attendance: 18,277 Umpires: HP –Andy Fletcher, 1B –Ángel Hernández, 2B – Maikol Tibabijo, 3B – Alejandro Pecero

World Baseball Classic QF	March 18	United States	9–7	Venezuela	loanDepot Park,United States
	19:00ET	WP:David Bednar (1–0) Sv:Ryan Pressly (2) HR:Kyle Tucker (1),Trea Turner (2)	Boxscore	LP:José Quijada (0–1) HR:Luis Arráez (1), Luis Arráez (2)	Attendance: 35,792 Umpires: HP –Dan Bellino, 1B –Will Little, 2B – Atsushi Fukaya, 3B – Kun Young Park

In June 2005,Major League Baseball announced the formation of theWorld Baseball Classic, a sixteen nation international competition to be held in March 2006 for the first time. The team Venezuela sent to the2006 and2009 World Baseball Classic included Venezuelan players fromMajor League Baseball. A player is eligible to participate on a WBC national team if:

• The player is a citizen of the nation the team represents.
• The player is qualified for citizenship or to hold a passport under the laws of a nation represented by a team, but has not been granted citizenship or been issued a passport, then the player may be made eligible by WBCI upon petition by the player or team.
• The player is a permanent legal resident of the nation or territory the team represents.
• The player was born in the nation or territory the team represents.
• The player has one parent who is, or if deceased was, a citizen of the nation the team represents.
• The player has one parent who was born in the nation or territory the team represents.^[12]

World Baseball Classicrecord								Qualificationrecord
Year	Round	Position	W	L	RS	RA		W	L	RS	RA
2006	Round 2	7th	3	3	22	20		No qualifiers held
2009	Semifinals	4th	6	2	45	36		No qualifiers held
2013	Round 1	10th	1	2	17	21		Automatically qualified
2017	Round 2	8th	2	5	28	55		Automatically qualified
2023	Quarterfinals	5th	4	1	30	18		Automatically qualified
2026	To be determined							Automatically qualified
Total	Semifinals	6/6	16	13	142	150		—	—	—	—

WBSC Premier12record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L	RS	RA	Squad	Ranking
2015	Group stage	10th	5	2	3	26	36	Squad	10th
2019	Opening Round	7th	3	1	2	11	12	Squad	9th
2024	Fourth Place	4th	9	5	4	45	34	Squad	6th
2027	To be determined
Total	0 Titles	3/3	17	8	9	82	82	—

Amateur World Series & Baseball World Cuprecord
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	L	%	RS	RA	Org.
1938	Did not enter								IBF
1939
1940	Single-table tournament	4th	12	5	7	.417
1941	Single-table tournament	1st	9	8	1	.889
1942	Single-table tournament	3rd	12	7	5	.583
1943	Did not enter
1944	Single-table tournament	1st	12	9	3	.750			FIBA
1945	Single-table tournament	1st	10	10	0	1.000
1947	Single-table tournament	5th	8	5	3	.625
1948	Did not enter
1950	Single-table tournament	3rd	11	9	2	.818
1951	Single-table tournament	2nd	13	11	2	.846
1952	Single-table tournament	6th	10	5	5	.500
1953	Single-table tournament	2nd	10	9	1	.900
1961	Single-table tournament	3rd	9	6	3	.667
1965	Did not enter
1969	Single-table tournament	4th	10	7	3	.700
1970	Single-table tournament	5th	11	7	4	.636
1971	Did not enter
1972
1973	Single-table tournament	3rd	14	10	4	.714
1973	Did not enter								FEMBA
1974
1976									AINBA
1978
1980	Single-table tournament	7th	11	4	7	.364
1982	Did not enter								IBAF
1984
1986	Single-table tournament	7th	11	5	6	.455	63	73
1988	Did not qualify
1990	Group stage	12th	8	1	7	.125	33	63
1994	Did not qualify
1998
2001
2003
2005
2007	Group stage	12th	7	2	5	.286	33	37
2009	7th place game	7th	15	9	6	.600	70	58
2011	7th place game	7th	12	6	6	.500	52	91
Total	3 Titles	24/38	249	177	80	.689	—	—

• 2006 World Baseball Classic
• 2009 World Baseball Classic
• 2013 World Baseball Classic

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