The Puerto Rico national baseball team (), also known as Team Rubio is the national baseball team of Puerto Rico. The men's senior team was ranked 7th in the world . Puerto Rico is the incumbent Pan American and Central American/Caribbean champion, as well as the 2017 World Baseball Classic runner-up. The team competed against Israel, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The team that Molina built pulled out an 5–2 victory over their rivals Dominican Republic Dominican Republic–Puerto Rico baseball rivalry
After debuting in the amateur predecessor to the Baseball World Cup, the team won its first medal by finishing second in 1947, a performance that it repeated the following year. In 1951, Puerto Rico became the world baseball champion by winning the event. The team went on to gather six more medals during the tournament's existence, finishing second twice and third four times.
Puerto Rico was an inaugural member of the World Baseball Classic, making its debut in the first edition. The team has advanced to the second round in all of its appearances, in the process becoming the first team to score mercy rule wins over Cuba and the United States. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Puerto Rico became the second team from the Western Hemisphere to advance to the final, eliminating two-time defending world champion Japan in the semifinals before finishing as the event's runner-up. The team has also participated in several other international competitions, such as the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Pan American Games, Americas Baseball Cup, Intercontinental Cup, and Haarlem Baseball Week, winning medals in most.
Team Puerto Rico will compete in the 2026 World Baseball Classic in March 2026.
Baseball World Cup era Early years of amateur baseball Puerto Rico made its debut at the Baseball World Cup, then known as the "Amateur World Series" in 1940, only two years after the creation of the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (LBPPR), which at the moment was an amateur league. Like all of the other expansion teams, they finished in the bottom half of the table, tied with Mexico with a record of 2–10. The following year the team repeated this performance, finishing tied with El Salvador. Between 1942 and 1943, Puerto Rico did not participate due to the ongoing World War II to which several LBPPR players were drafted. The team returned in 1944, but finished tied with Nicaragua with a record of 1–6. Puerto Rico declined participation in the 1945 Amateur World Series, joining Mexico and Cuba in absence.
World Championship As the LBPPR expanded and became more organized, the quality of players composing the Puerto Rican national team improved. Returning in 1947, Puerto Rico won the silver medal, having entered the round robin tied with a record of 6–2, defeating Nicaragua to advance before losing to the host, Colombia, in the finals. Puerto Rico went 6–1 in the round-robin but lost 11–1 and 2–1 to the Dominicans in the best-of-3 finals. They won their second straight silver medal. M. Ruiz tied for the most doubles (4) and most triples (2). In 1950, the team finished the regular phase of the tournament tied with the Dominican Republic and Cuba for the first place with a record of 9–2, the team defeated Cuba and lost to the Dominican Republic during the round robin phase. However, the Federación Internacional de Béisbol Aficionado (FIBA) ruled that several players that had joined the team were ineligible to play, ruling several key victories "forfeits" and dropping it out of the podium. This incident was the result of the LBPPR from amateur to professional a few years earlier.
In 1951, Puerto Rico earned a record of 7–3 in the regular stage, handing Cuba its only defeat in the first games. After advancing, the team went undefeated with wins over Cuba and Venezuela to secure the gold medal. The team was headlined by Sotero Ortiz who scored more runs (21) and stole more bases (10) than anyone else, while teammate Ramon Maldonado hit 8 doubles to lead the statistic. In 1952, Puerto Rico went 7–3, including 2–2 in the final round to take bronze medal. They were the only team to beat Cuba in the finals. W. Figueredo led in triples (3) while J.R. Garcia led in homers (2) and steals (7). Sotero Ortiz tied for the most doubles (4) and runs (13). Due to the improving quality of its players, Puerto Rico soon began experiencing the loss of its best players to the professional leagues at a very young age, including Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda. In 1953, the team finished 6th with a record of 5–5. However, Félix Torres drove in 15 runs to lead the Series.
By the time that the series resumed in 1963, Major League Baseball had become the primary employer of Puerto Rican talent, making them ineligible to play in the Amateur World Series and the team did not participate in this edition. Back for the tournament in 1965, Puerto Rico won Bronze with a 5–3 record. Andres Cruz led the Series in average (.485), hits (16) and RBI (8). Pitcher Efrain Contreras set an Amateur World Series record by striking out 19 against the Netherlands Antilles. After another hiatus of four years, the event resumed in 1969, which saw Panama, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Nicaragua all tied for 5th with 4–6 records. Luis Mercado led the tournament in doubles (6) and tied for the most triples (3). In 1970, Puerto Rico won the bronze medal with a record of 9–2. Ramón Ortiz hit the most home runs (3) in the competition.
FIBA vs. FEMBA; unique dual medallist In 1971, Puerto Rico finished tied with Nicaragua in the third place with a record of 6–3, but did not receive the bronze medal due to their individual series. Carlos Lowell led all pitchers with 3 wins. In 1972, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Chinese Taipei tied for 6th, all with 9–6 marks. The team was managed by Roberto Clemente (only weeks prior to his death) and featured a no-hitter by Sandalio Quinonez against Costa Rica. In 1973, Puerto Rico participated in two versions of the Amateur World Series due to internal conflicts in the sport, in the Federación Internacional de Béisbol Aficionado version, the team won the silver medal with a record of 10–3, with two of those loses coming at the hands of eventual winner, Cuba. J. Fontanez led in average (.432). The team was managed by Vic Power. A splinter cell of the national team won the bronze at the event's Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur version with a record of 8–2. Puerto Rico is the only participant to win medals in both of the 1973 events. Eventually the FIBA and FEMBA merged and the event had only one sanctioning body, the International Amateur Baseball Association (IABF). In 1974, Puerto Rico finished tied for fourth place at the Amateur World Series along Canada, Italy, Chinese Taipei and the Dominican Republic. In the 1976 World Amateur Series, Puerto Rico won Silver with an 8–2 round-robin before leaving the tournament prior to the final round. J.L. de Leon led the tournament with a 0.00 ERA. After missing the 1978 edition of the World Amateur Series, the team came back in 1980, but finished tied in the 7th place with Venezuela with a 4–7 record. After missing out another version of the Amateur World Series, the team returned in 1984, finishing behind Panama with a record of 6–7, despite gathering a 54–46 advantage in runs. Mariano Quinones (2–0, 2.48) was their most effective pitcher. The top hitter was 1B Luis Fontanez (.353/.400/.569). Future MLB player Hector Villanueva was part of the roster, but had an unsuccessful tournament going 2 for 13 with a double and no walks. In the 1986 Amateur World Series, Puerto Rico tied for 7th at 5–6, despite outscoring opponents 56–45. Roberto Santana (.369) led the Series with 6 stolen bases. Eddie Rodriguez (1.28) had two saves. By 1988, the Amateur World Series became known as the Baseball World Cup and Puerto Rico beat both No. 3 Taiwan and No. 4 Japan and lost to No. 1 Cuba by just one run. However, losses to Canada, Nicaragua and South Korea kept the team out of the final four. CF Ángel Morales (.395/.490/.737, 14 R, 14 RBI) and DH Helson Rodriguez (.300/.462/.650) guided the offensive charge. Victor L. Martinez was 0–1 with a 1.80 ERA, the lowest on the staff.
Migration of MLB All-Stars and fallout Beginning during the late 1980s and extending throughout the 1990s, Puerto Rico saw a major increase in its production of high-caliber players, including Iván Rodríguez, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, Rubén Sierra, Jorge Posada, Juan González, Carlos Delgado, Edgar Martínez, and Carlos Beltrán. This fact severely limited the quantity of talent available for the national baseball team, due to the protective behavior exhibited by the MLB teams that signed these players since their teenage years. In the 1990 Baseball World Cup, Puerto Rico went 7–2 but finished fourth thanks to the format. They were 4th with 52 runs and second in ERA (2.89). 1B Efrain Garcia (.351/.385/.568, 7 RBI), All-Star CF Ángel Morales (.417/.463/.556, 8 R, 10 RBI), and DH Helson Rodriguez (.371/.385/.714, 3 HR, 11 RBI) paced the offense. Headlining a fine staff was Jesus I. Feliciano (1–0, 0.56). In 1994, Puerto Rico finished with a 3–4 record, with two close one-run losses (3–2 to Panama and 4–3 to the Netherlands). They hit .305 as a team, fifth in that tournament. Top performers were 1B Efrain Garcia (.448/.484/.724, 8 RBI in 7 games), C Jose Lorenzana (.400/.455/.500), RF Joel Perez (.318/.348/.682), and P Nelson Sanchez (1–1, 2.25). After being absent from two World Cups, the team returned in 2005 but Puerto Rico, managed by Bert Peña, went 6–5 despite being outscored overall, 60–56. They finished 8th overall. Randy Ruiz (.346/.452/.654), CF Jesus Feliciano (.378/.410/.649, 10 R, 9 RBI) and Edwards Guzman (.343/.375/.543) led the offense However, former MLB player Angel Echevarria had a weak performance, with averages of .083/.241/.125. Orlando Román (2–0, 0.50) was their clear top starter, as 4 pitchers had ERAs over 8.
Puerto Rico debuted in the inaugural World Baseball Classic by hosting Pool C on March 7, 2006, and defeating Panama with a score of 2–1. The team followed this by winning their second game over the Netherlands, 8–3. Puerto Rico closed the first round by winning Pool C with a 12–2 mercy rule victory over the defending world champion, Cuba. The team opened the second round by defeating the Dominican Republic 7–1. However, the team lost its next game to Venezuela 6–0. Puerto Rico was eliminated with a 4–3 loss in a rematch with Cuba.
2008–2011 Puerto Rico began this Olympic cycle participating in the 2008 Copa América. The team debuted on September 26, 2008, defeating Mexico 2–1. This game was won by Josué Matos. Puerto Rico concluded the tournament's first round undefeated, with victories over Brazil (6:3), Aruba (7:0) and Guatemala (8:0). In the first two games, Andy González hit four doubles, and Carlos Rivera hit his second home run of the round. In the game against Aruba, Orlando Román threw a perfect game over seven innings. In the second round, Puerto Rico defeated Panama (9:4) to qualify for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. On the second date, the team lost their only game of the tournament to Venezuela (5:4). In the next game, the team defeated Netherlands Antilles by ten runs (14:4). Puerto Rico won the tournament on October 5, defeating Nicaragua in the final.