The iconic Cuban National Baseball team will take an expanded roster to Mexico to prepare for the upcoming WBSC Baseball Americas Olympic Qualifier. Cuba will play six games from 13 to 18 March against teams in the top-tier Mexican Baseball League (LMB, Liga Mexicana de Beisbol), including the Leones de Yucatan, Olmecas de Tabasco and Piratas de Campeche.
Cuba has medalled all five times that baseball has been played in the Olympics, including three gold medals, and not qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Games would be a great disappointment to the country, where baseball is in the DNA.
Ricardo Eizmendiz, the technical chief of the National Baseball Directorate, said that the national team is currently training at the Latinoamericano stadium in Havana. The Cuban Baseball Federation is currently negotiating to add players from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
The eight participating nations in the WBSC Americas Baseball Qualifier (22-26 in Arizona), include host and world No. 2 USA, Canada (No. 12), Colombia (No. 14), Cuba (No. 8), Dominican Republic (No. 10), Nicaragua (No. 15), Puerto Rico (No. 11) and Venezuela (No. 9). The winner of this qualifier will earn the fifth of six berths into the 2020 Olympics.
In the 2019 WBSC Premier12, which served as an Olympic qualifier, Cuba failed to get out of the opening round. Cuba has since fallen to eighth in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings.
