The Caimanes de Barranquilla are a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team in the

Colombian Professional Baseball League The Colombian Professional Baseball League ( or LPB), is a professional baseball league based in Colombia. It is a five-team winter league that plays during the Major League Baseball offseason. In the past, the league's champion has taken part in ...

. They have participated in the league since the 1984–85 season, playing in the 12,000-capacity

Estadio Édgar Rentería Estadio Édgar Rentería is a baseball stadium located in Barranquilla, Colombia, and the current home of the Caimanes de Barranquilla. It has a capacity of 12,000 and opened in 2018. The ballpark opened in 2018 with an international friendly t ...

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

. Caimanes are the most successful team in Colombian baseball, having won 14 league titles, most recently during the 2024–25 season. They also won the 2022 Caribbean Series, making Colombia the first new country to win the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

since Mexico's

Naranjeros de Hermosillo The Naranjeros de Hermosillo () are a professional baseball team based in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. They compete in the Mexican Pacific League (LMP). The team plays at the Estadio Fernando Valenzuela with a capacity of 16,000 seated spectators. ...

won their first title in 1976.

History

Caimanes was founded in 1984, during the so-called "second era" of professional Colombian baseball. It replaced two teams, Cerveza Águila and Café Universal, that both folded the season before, leaving Barranquilla without a professional team. Caimanes won the title in its inaugural season. However, the league would fold by 1988. In 1998, the success of Colombian-born players in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, most notably

Édgar Rentería Édgar Enrique Rentería Herazo (; born August 7, 1975), nicknamed "the Barranquilla Baby", is a Colombian former professional baseball shortstop. He threw and batted right-handed. He played for the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston ...

(who was on the 1997 world champion

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

), led to a meeting in Miami of Colombian baseball personalities including

Édinson Rentería Édinson Rafael Rentería Herazo (born April 7, 1968) is a Colombian professional baseball executive and former player and manager. Originally signed by the Houston Astros organization, he played one season with the Brother Elephants of the Chine ...

, Edgar Perez and José Martínez (who led and contributed to the development of Colombian Professional Baseball between 1979 and 1985). The meeting established a working group consisting of the businessmen involved with professional baseball in Colombia in the 1980s and new executives from the cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena. This working group was presented with a proposal to revive professional baseball in Colombia under the leadership of the Rentería family. The working group decided to move forward with the proposal, beginning the 1999–2000 season with four teams, two in Barranquilla (Caimanes and Electricos) and two in Cartagena ( Tigres and Indios). Caimanes previously played at

Estadio Tomás Arrieta Estadio Tomás Arrieta was a baseball park in Barranquilla, Colombia. It served as the home of the Caimanes de Barranquilla. The stadium held Held may refer to: Places * Held Glacier People Arts and media * Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. ...

, until it was demolished and replaced by

. During its construction, Caimanes temporarily relocated to

Santa Cruz de Lorica Santa Cruz de Lorica is a town and municipality located in the Córdoba Department, northern Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular ...

, in the nearby

Córdoba Department Córdoba (, ) is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean Sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bol ...

, for the 2015–16 season. Luis_Escobar_-_CAI

Championships

International competition

Caribbean Series

Serie de las Américas

Baseball Champions League

Notable players

* José Tartabull *

Jorge Alfaro Jorge Mario Alfaro Buelvas (born June 11, 1993) is a Colombian professional baseball catcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, San Diego ...

* Sandy León * Dilson Herrera * Harold Ramírez * Daniel Missaki

References

{{Colombian Professional Baseball League Baseball teams in Colombia