1986 Caribbean Series

The 1986 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the sixteenth edition of the second stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Maracaibo, Venezuela from February 2 to February 7. The series featured four teams from Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The Águilas de Mexicali of the Mexican Pacific League won the series and were managed by Benjamín Reyes. It was just the second Caribbean Series won by a Mexican team after the Naranjeros de Hermosillo won in 1976 - both teams were managed by Reyes. The Most Valuable Player was Randy Ready a third baseman and outfielder with the Indios de Mayagüez.

The Mexicali club overcame a 11-0 loss in game one and a shutout in game three to take their last three contests to finish 4-2 and in first place. Mexicali won three of their four games by one run. In the finale against the last place Indios de Mayagüez of the Puerto Rican Winter League, Mexicali won 5-4 in 10 innings thanks to two successful squeeze bunts. Jaime Orozco and Jim Leopold split Mexicali's four victories, while the offense was led by SS Houston Jimenez (.357) and C Frank Estrada (.333 and the winning hit in the last game). The Águilas were expected to win - the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican League that is, as they had Tony Pena, Juan Samuel, Alfredo Griffin and several Americans, but they went 3-3. MVP Randy Ready of Mayagüez had a .467 average with a .667 SLG and 7 RBI in six games, despite playing for a last-place 2-4 team.

Final Standings

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Águilas de Mexicali	MEX Mexican Pacific League	6	4	2	0.667	Benjamín Reyes
Águilas Cibaeñas	DOM Dominican League	6	3	3	0.500	Winston Llenas
Tiburones de La Guaira	VEN Venezuelan League	6	3	3	0.500	José Martínez
Indios de Mayagüez	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	2	4	0.333	Nick Leyva

Leaders

• Batting Average: .467 - Randy Ready, Indios de Mayagüez
• Home Runs: 2 - Andrés Galarraga, Tiburones de La Guaira
• Runs Batted In: 7 - Randy Ready, Indios de Mayagüez
• Wins: 2 - Jaime Orozco and Jim Leopold, Águilas de Mexicali

Sources

• 1987 Baseball America Statistics Report