Cuba will seek again to win the regional tournament, which it has not won for 11 years.
14ymedio, Havana, November 18, 2025 — Without having to earn its place on the playing field and through the ranking, Cuba obtained its pass to compete in the Central American Games of Santo Domingo in 2026. This Sunday, the Executive Committee of the Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) reported that it gave out five direct tickets to the tournament based on international rankings.
Originally, access to the regional competition was going to be split into two events at this year’s close: the American Baseball Cup, which would be played in Panama but was recently canceled due to sponsorship issues, and the Caribbean Baseball Cup, which will take place between December 1st and 9th, in Nassau and the Bahamas. Cuba will be present but without the pressure of gaining access.
However, due to the tight schedule, there will no longer be space to hold any tournament that would give those places, so they were awarded by world ranking and by using the last update of the list of the World Confederation of Baseball and Softball (WBSC) in mid-November. The top five teams in the Americas (except the US) received the pass: Mexico (third place in the Americas and sixth in the world), Puerto Rico (fourth in the continent and seventh in the world), Panama (fifth in the Americas and eighth in the world), Cuba (sixth continental and ninth international) and Colombia (eighth in the continent and thirteenth in the world).
The top five teams in the Americas (except the US) received the pass.
With ticket in hand, Cuba will try next year in the Dominican Republic to win back the gold in the Central American tournament, something that has not happened since 11 years ago, when they won the title at the 2014 Veracruz Central American and Caribbean Games, confirming Cuba’s dominance in the discipline, where it is the greatest winner in history.
Since the first edition of the Central American Games, held in Mexico in 1926, Cuba has won 15 gold medals, far above the rest; the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico won three. Nevertheless, Cuban domination has been diluted since the beginning of this century, because in the last six editions of the Games they won only two, as did Puerto Rico. The remaining wins were divided between Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The team’s poor performance has been particularly evident in the last two years, which led to it being ranked 12th in the WBSC ranking by mid-2025, its worst position ever since this system was invented in 2011. However, in recent months Cuba managed to climb to ninth, just 41 points above the eighth place, Panama.
Last year was also one to be forgotten. The Cuban team generated the fewest points of the teams in the top 10 of the world ranking
Last year was also one to be forgotten. The Cuban team generated the fewest points among the teams in the top 10 of the world ranking. The team could only add 401, far from the second worst team in that year, the Dominican Republic, with 760. The classification also takes into account achievements in minor categories, where there were also no major results.
The low performance has also caused Team Cuba, which in 2012 was the leader of the world ranking, to fall even at a regional level, where for two years it has occupied sixth place on the American continent.
In 2026, in addition to the Central American and Caribbean Games, the World Baseball Classic -in which Cuba was runner-up in 2006- is scheduled, but Cuba’s participation is still up in the air. Until the end of October, there was no confirmation from the organizing committee. Germán Mesa, who was going to be at the head of Team Cuba in the canceled Copa América, declared that “for the 2026 World Classic, we still don’t know if Cuba has received permission.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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