MIAMI.- This was the year for the Tiburones de La Guaira, who after 38 years are once again crowned in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, after beating the Cardenales de Lara 3-0 this Sunday and thus achieving the fourth award in the final series and with this the ticket to the Miami 2024 Caribbean Series.
“It wasn’t going to be easy, but thank God everything turned out well,” celebrated Ozzie Guillén, who breaks a long streak of disappointments for La Guaira, as he had done when he guided the Chicago White Sox as manager to win the World Series. 2005 and then breaking an 88-year ‘curse’ for the Windy City club.
Ricardo Pinto pitched seven innings without allowing runs to take the victory and be the figure of the match and elected Most Valuable Player of the final unanimously.
“This means a lot to me,” the former Miami Marlins strategist, who was fired from the South Florida franchise after giving up in 2012, added in statements to the media after the title.
With this championship, La Guaira – which had not won since 1985 when Ozzie was a player on the team – has eight titles.
Ronald Acuña Jr, MVP in 2023 of the National League, was with the Sharks this season, although he did not participate in the season due to commitments with the Atlanta Braves and one day before seeing his champion team, he received the award for the outstanding campaign who lived in the majors.
Now the Sharks have another challenge: ending the drought in the Caribbean for the Venezuelan teams. Since 20009, when the Tigres de Aragua were the monarchs in the regional tournament, they have not lifted the title again.
The Sharks’ best result in the international tournament has been being runners-up twice in 1983 and 1986.
