The 2024-2025 season of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP) reached its final phase with two great teams competing for the championship: Bravos de Margarita and Cardenales de Lara. The two teams come from being the best in both the regular round and the Round Robin.
In the first phase of the tournament, which ended in December, the Crepusculars managed to qualify first in the table with 33 victories out of the 56 games played, while the islanders followed them in second place with 31 wins.
Then, in the preliminary round before the final, both teams were again at the top of the table, but this time with 11 wins each out of 16 matches played. So, in theory, they would be evenly matched for the final stage of the tournament.
However, the incentive of “The War Machine” to return to play at the Guatamare stadium on Margarita Island, accompanied by the accuracy of the strategist José Moreno and the powerful bat of the experienced Alexi Amarista, could lead the Braves to their first championship since their appearance in the LVBP in the 2007-2008 season.
It is worth noting that before assuming the name Bravos de Margarita, the franchise created in 1991 responded to the names: Petroleros de Cabimas, Pastora de Occidente and Pastora de los Llanos. Since then they have gone 34 years in the Making for this team to reach the final stage.
Cardenales de Lara, for its part, would be looking for its seventh trophy under the guidance of manager Henry Blanco, who debuted in the 2014-2015 season as a strategist with its current rival, the team with which he won the Manager of the Year award in Venezuela in 2016.
Blanco is reaching his third consecutive final, the second wearing the Lara team's jersey, and hopes to win the championship title this year, something he was unable to achieve last season when he lost to Tiburones de La Guaira.
To do so, he will also leverage the offensive power of the Round Robin's Most Valuable Player, Harold castro, who in 57 plate appearances had an average of .386.
The last time the Crepusculares lifted the LVBP trophy was in the 2019-2020 season when they beat Caribes de Anzoátegui in 7 matches.
It is worth highlighting that the ninth most winning team of the LVBP is the Caracas Lions with 21 titles, followed by the Magallanes Navigators (13), Aragua Tigers (10), La Guaira Sharks (8), Zulia Cardinals and Eagles (6) and Anzoategui Caribes (4).
En DataUN We joined the passion for the country's favorite sport and decided to find out what our readers think about this final round.
For this reason, we launched a survey through our website and digital platforms from Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd January, in which 944 users participated. The results of the survey can be seen below:
They will have their first time
We start by asking directly: Who do you think will win the final of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League? For 75,8% of those surveyed, the islanders will be crowned champions for the first time this season, which reaffirms the good moment that the team is experiencing, which started the final series with two victories.
Next, we asked participants to predict how many games would see the winning team crowned champion of Venezuelan professional baseball. Opinions were divided, with the “5 games” option receiving the most votes with 41,1%, followed by the “6 games” option with 29,9%.
On the other hand, the “4 games” option obtained 14,7%, while the option for both teams to play all seven matches was 14,3%.
The key is pitching
We also asked what the key would be for the champion to win the title. For our readers, everything is determined from the mound with the work of the pitchers.
The “pitching” option was voted for by 41,6%, while the mix of good bullpen, hitters and defense grouped into the “all of the above” option obtained 33,8% approval.
Power with the wood remained in third place, being preferred by 20,4%, and finally, defensive work obtained 4,1%.
Amarista and Castro the most valuable
We started with Bravos de Margarita and, unsurprisingly, we saw that Alexi Amarista's option obtained 46,1% of the votes. The second baseman was followed by catcher and former major leaguer Wilson Ramos who obtained 19% of the preferences.
The “other” option received 13,1%, while starter Félix Doubront only received 11,7% of the votes. The poll was closed by outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola who took fourth place with 9,6% of the votes.
In the case of the people of Lara, there was no surprise either, and Harold Castro took first place with 39,4% of the votes. Afterwards, the opinions were a little more even about the MVP.
Cuban Rangel Ravelo, who is reinforcing the Crepusculares this season, together with Ildemaro Vargas, one of the best hitters of the postseason, share second place with 15,9% of the preferences.
The “other” option was left with 14,9% and Andrés Chaparro, who was one of Cardenales' reinforcements to face the Grand Final, came in at 13,9% of the preferences.
Caribbean Series
It is worth remembering that the LVBP champion will have the honor of representing the country in the Caribbean Series, a continental tournament where it will have to face the champions of Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and, in this edition, Japan as the guest country.
It will take place from January 31 to February 7 in the city of Mexicali, Mexico.
To conclude our digital survey, we asked: Regardless of who wins the LVBP, do you think Venezuela will have a prominent role in the Caribbean Series? Venezuelans' confidence in their teams was evidenced by 87,3% of affirmative responses.
I think the Braves have an excellent team, but they have to do their internship in the finals, Lara must come back and win the final