2000 Caribbean Series

The 2000 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the thirtieth edition of the second stage of the Caribbean Series. It was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from February 2 to February 8. The series featured four teams from Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican League won the series and were managed by Mako Oliveras. The Most Valuable Player was José Cruz, Jr., an outfielder with the Cangrejeros de Santurce.

The Águilas Cibaeñas were fighting to become the fourth straight Series champion from the Dominican League but they needed a win in their final game to tie the Puerto Rican Winter League's Cangrejeros de Santurce. Santurce led 10-4 after seven innings but the Águilas rallied to tie it agasinst Ismael Villegas and J.C. Romero. With the potential tying run on third and two out in the ninth, Saul Rivera came in and got the last out to force extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Jose Valentin homered (his second of the game) and Raul Casanova doubled in two more. Rivera retired the side in the bottom of the inning to lock it up.

Santurce had been led by Cruz Jr. (.385, .692 SLG, five doubles, 8 R, 10 RBI), Armando Rios (.471, .824 SLG, 7 R), Jose Vidro (.448, .621 SLG, 9 R, 7 RBI) and Eduardo Perez (.385, .538 SLG, 7 R) at the plate and Stevenson Agosto (2-0, 0.00, 2 H in 8 IP), Willie Adams (1-0, 1.13) and Julio Valera (1-0, 1.80) on the hill. Santurce set Series records for hits (86), doubles (24) and average (.365).

The Dominican squad had gotten solid production from two long-time Caribbean Series presences of the era, David Ortiz (.370, .444 SLG) and Miguel Tejada (.389, .611 SLG, 7 R) while Alberto Castillo hit .400. Miguel Batista (1-0, 0.00), Luis Vizcaino (1-0, 0.00, 2 H, 9 K in 7) and Antonio Alfonseca (3 Sv, 2 H, 0 ER in 5 IP) did good jobs on the mound.

The Mayos de Navojoa tied for third at 1-5 and had no stellar performances, while the 1-5 Águilas del Zulia had the Series batting champion, Marco Scútaro (.480, .600 SLG) as well as Jolbert Cabrera (.400, .650 SLG). Horacio Estrada (1-0, 1.13) got their lone win while Wilson Alvarez lost a game despite having an ERA of 0.00.

Final Standings[edit]

Team	League	G	W	L	WPCT	Manager
Cangrejeros de Santurce	PRI Puerto Rican League	6	6	0	1.000	Mako Oliveras
Águilas Cibaeñas	DOM Dominican League	6	4	2	0.667	Tony Peña
Mayos de Navojoa	MEX Mexican Pacific League	6	1	5	0.167	Lorenzo Bundy
Águilas del Zulia	VEN Venezuelan League	6	1	5	0.167	Marc Bombard