As of 7 October 2026. Between now and the middle of December, Cuba sends four different national teams to six international tournaments: two Baseball5 squads to Venezuela next week, an under-18 baseball team to the Dominican Republic, the youth Baseball5 team to the first Youth Olympic Games to include the sport, an under-23 baseball team to Nicaragua, and the senior Baseball5 team to Puerto Rico to defend its world title. All of it runs alongside the 65th Serie Nacional.
Each of these events has been reported piecemeal, mostly in Spanish, and the published dates do not always agree. This page puts the whole schedule in one place, with the squads named so far, and notes where the sources differ. We will update it as the remaining rosters are announced.
The schedule at a glance
| Dates (2026) | Tournament | Where | Cuban team | Squad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14–17 October | Baseball5 Pan American Championship (senior) | Barquisimeto, Venezuela | Senior Baseball5 | Named: 8 players |
| 14–17 October | Youth Baseball5 Pan American Championship | Barquisimeto, Venezuela | Youth Baseball5 | Named: 8 players |
| 22–29 October | U-18 Baseball Pan American Championship | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | U-18 baseball | 28-man shortlist; final 20 not named |
| From 30 October | Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, Baseball5 | Dakar, Senegal | Youth Baseball5 | Not separately announced |
| 6–15 November | WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup | Managua, Masaya and León, Nicaragua | U-23 baseball | 45-man preselection; travelling roster not named |
| 9–13 December | WBSC Baseball5 World Cup | Puerto Rico | Senior Baseball5 | Not yet named |
Playing dates. For the Baseball5 Pan Americans, teams arrive on 13 October and leave on 18 October (WBSC Americas). Sources for each line are listed in the sections below and at the foot of the page.
Baseball5 in Barquisimeto: both squads named
Baseball5 is the WBSC’s five-a-side street version of the game: no bat, a rubber ball hit with the hand, a small hard court and mixed teams of men and women. Cuba has won both senior World Cups played so far, and between now and December its two Baseball5 teams have four tournaments between them.
The senior and youth Pan American Championships are being played at the same time in Barquisimeto. Two dates are circulating for the start: WBSC gives 13 to 18 October, and JIT, the Cuban sports institute’s newspaper, gives 14 to 18. The organiser’s own release explains the difference. WBSC Americas says teams arrive on 13 October, the opening round runs from 14 to 16, the semi-finals and finals are on 17 October, and teams leave on 18 October. So the games are on 14 to 17 October.
According to WBSC Americas, the senior tournament has four teams: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and hosts Venezuela. The youth tournament adds Argentina and Peru, and it is the qualifier for next year’s Youth Baseball5 World Cup, which WBSC’s 6 October announcement also says is at stake.
Senior team
Cuba won the first two Baseball5 World Cups, in 2022 and 2024, and both WBSC and JIT describe the senior selection as built around those titles. Pablo Terry is the manager and Liorvis Savón the coach.
| Player | Note |
|---|---|
| Briandy Molina | Captain; world champion 2022 and 2024 |
| Orlando Amador | World champion 2022 and 2024 |
| Yoel Blanco | World champion at youth (2023) and senior (2024) level |
| Alexander Ortiz | Youth world champion 2023; first senior call-up |
| Chakira Aspiazú | World champion 2022 and 2024 |
| Lietis Arcia | World champion 2022 and 2024 |
| Claudia Lores | World champion 2022 |
| Yiliena Otamendez | World champion 2024 |
Cuba senior Baseball5 squad. Names as given by both WBSC (6 October) and JIT (6 October); titles as described in those reports.
Youth team
The youth side won the Youth Baseball5 World Cup in 2023 in Ankara and in 2025 in Tepic, Mexico. Sergio Arturo Pérez manages it, with Yoanki Betancourt as coach.
| Player | Note |
|---|---|
| Yandro Moracén | Youth world champion 2025 |
| Rafael Alejandro Socarrás | Youth world champion 2025 |
| Michel Vázquez | |
| González* | |
| Rachel de la Caridad Medina | Youth world champion 2025 |
| Adis Yudith Espinel | Youth world champion 2023 and 2025 |
| Geisel Camila Pupo | |
| Fernanda Ávalos |
Cuba youth Baseball5 squad, from WBSC and JIT (both 6 October). *The two reports give this player different first names: Lázaro (WBSC) and Luis Enrique (JIT). We have printed only the surname until one is confirmed. Fuller names are given where both reports agree or where WBSC gives the full form.
Dakar: Baseball5’s first Youth Olympic Games
The youth squad’s year does not end in Venezuela. Baseball5 is on the programme of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the sport’s first appearance at an Olympic event, and Cuba’s youth team will be there (WBSC; JIT). The sport opens the Games: its competition starts on 30 October, the day before the opening ceremony (WBSC; Francs Jeux, reporting the organising committee’s schedule). WBSC describes the Pan American tournament as preparation for Dakar. Neither federation has published a separate Dakar squad, so we have not assumed it will be identical to the Barquisimeto eight.
U-18: Santo Domingo, 22 to 29 October
The U-18 Pan American Championship is the Americas qualifier for the 2027 U-18 Baseball World Cup in China, with four places on offer. Cuba are in Group B with Venezuela, Mexico and Nicaragua. Alexis Moré manages a shortlist of 28 that has been training in Santiago de Cuba and will be cut to 20; the best-known name on it is Frederich Cepeda Jr., son of the Olympic champion. The groups, the shortlist and the sourcing are in our full U-18 preview. The final 20 had not been announced when we checked on 7 October.
U-23: Nicaragua, 6 to 15 November
Cuba qualified for this World Cup at last year’s North, Central America and Caribbean qualifier in Panama (WBSC; Tele Rebelde). Guillermo Carmona, who managed Industriales to the IV Liga Élite title, leads a 45-man preselection of six catchers, 11 infielders, eight outfielders and 20 pitchers (Tele Rebelde; Prensa Latina). Three of them are with Japanese clubs and are due to join later: shortstop Jonathan Moreno and pitchers Darío Sarduy and Randy Román (both reports). The preselection has been training in Cienfuegos (Tele Rebelde; Perlavisión).
Cuba are in Group B with Japan, the two-time defending champions, Korea, Venezuela, Great Britain and South Africa. The top three in each group go through to the Super Round on 12 to 14 November, and the final and bronze-medal game are on 15 November at the Estadio Nacional Soberanía in Managua (WBSC; Tele Rebelde).
| Date | Cuba v |
|---|---|
| Friday 6 November | Korea |
| Saturday 7 November | South Africa |
| Sunday 8 November | Japan |
| Monday 9 November | Venezuela |
| Tuesday 10 November | Great Britain |
Cuba’s Group B games. Order and dates from the ACN report carried by Radio Cumanayagua (10 June) and Tele Rebelde (14 September). Both WBSC and Tele Rebelde put the opener against Korea at the Estadio Rigoberto López Pérez in León. We have not printed first-pitch times, which have moved since the schedule was first released.
Cuba’s best finish at this level is fourth, in Mexico in 2021 (ACN; Tele Rebelde); see our 2021 tournament page. In 2022, in Chinese Taipei, they finished tenth (Tele Rebelde; the tournament’s Wikipedia standings). Our September report on the preselection and the draw sets out why Group B is the harder of the two.
Our reading: the clash with the Serie Nacional
None of these tournaments stops the domestic league, at least according to the published calendar. The Serie Nacional 65 schedule has group-stage subseries on 24 to 27 October and 29 October to 1 November, which overlap the U-18 Pan Americans, and zone-stage subseries on 3 to 8 and 10 to 15 November, which overlap the whole of the U-23 World Cup. Any player picked for either team who also holds a Serie Nacional roster place will miss those games. Frederich Cepeda Jr., for example, is on both the U-18 shortlist and the Sancti Spíritus roster in our SN65 rosters tracker.
We have not seen any report of how the federation will handle this: whether clubs will be allowed replacements, or whether any subseries will move. It is worth watching, because the U-23 tournament falls in the zone stage, where each subseries counts toward the places in the playoffs.
What to watch
- 14 to 17 October: both Baseball5 Pan American Championships. The youth result decides a place at next year’s Youth World Cup.
- Before 22 October: the final U-18 twenty.
- Late October: the U-23 travelling roster, cut from the 45.
- December: the senior Baseball5 squad for the World Cup in Puerto Rico, where Cuba are the defending champions.
Cuba’s U-15 team has already finished its autumn: our U-15 World Cup report has the details.
Sources
- WBSC, “Cuba name youth and senior Baseball5 teams for Pan American Championships”, 6 October 2026: both Baseball5 squads and coaches, Dakar, the Baseball5 World Cup in Puerto Rico (9 to 13 December).
- JIT (José Luis López Sado), “Cuba con sólidas escuadras a Torneos Panamericanos de Beisbol5”, 6 October 2026 (idnoticia 1215296): both squads, coaches, Dakar.
- WBSC Americas, “Pan American Baseball5: Senior and Youth Tournaments to be Held in Venezuela in October”, 1 September 2026: dates, arrival and departure days, teams.
- Francs Jeux, “Dakar 2026: Baseball5 will open the Youth Olympic Games”, 31 May 2026, reporting the organising committee’s competition schedule.
- WBSC, “Groups confirmed for WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2026”, 26 February 2026, and “WBSC unveils schedule for U-23 Baseball World Cup”, 5 June 2026.
- Agencia Cubana de Noticias via Radio Cumanayagua, “Cuba debutará ante Corea en Mundial sub-23 de béisbol”, 10 June 2026.
- Tele Rebelde (Randy Vasconcelos), “Cuba vuelve al Mundial Sub-23 con 45 preseleccionados”, 14 September 2026.
- Prensa Latina, “Béisbol cubano pone rumbo al Mundial Sub-23”, 10 September 2026.
- 14ymedio, on Industriales’ Liga Élite title and Carmona’s appointment; Perlavisión, on the U-23 camp in Cienfuegos.
- U-18 sources are listed in our U-18 preview; Serie Nacional dates are from our SN65 schedule.
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