MIAMI — So much of what there is to appreciate and embrace about Miami — the passion, the diversity, the love of a good party — was in loud, colorful display Wednesday as the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico met at Marlins Park in a winner-take-all game to reach the quarterfinal of the World Baseball Classic.
And this was four hours before the first pitch.
Flags and shirts from the competing countries were flying all over on the walk to the park in the middle of Little Havana. Street vendors grilled meats from small carts on corners. From somebody’s speakers boomed “Block Party” by Miami’s own DJ Laz. At the stadium the West Plaza will filled, wall to wall, with fans swaying to the Salsa beats of a pregame concert. It took a minute of careful zig-zagging to move 10 steps.
We found a Puerto Rico native named Gabriel Narvaez dancing in the throng, his 5-year-old boy on his shoulders. From just outside Philadelphia, he had planned a family vacation to Miami on the chance Wednesday’s game might be the centerpiece. We spoke. No, we attempted to. We were shouting above the music and festive din.
“This is my October, in March,” he said. “For Puerto Rico to win this for the first time would be our World Series!”
Welcome to beisbol!
This is the real March Madness, at least across the Caribbean. No brackets or office pools required.
Wednesday was the sixth sellout in 10 games for Miami this WBC.
Sunday might be crazier. Different-crazy.
Because Cuba is coming.
The Cuban national team is coming to the heart of Little Havana, where so many Cuban-Americans fled toward their freedom and away from the tyranny of Fidel Castro. They will play in a semifinal game (against a still undetermined opponent) here Sunday evening. The atmosphere might not be as festive as Wednesday; there might be rancor, and protests.
Recall that in 2012 a firestorm arose when then-Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen made comments seen as praising Castro. The club suspended him. The news conference at which he apologized was a media spectacle. Let’s see how much Cuban Miami has softened in a little more than 10 years.
In any case Sunday night will be Miami to the core, heart and soul.
This two-week event embodies the passion and national pride of World Cup soccer, but with hardballs and bats. The WBC, in its fifth iteration with Miami the hub city for the first time, is baseball’s attempt to replicate what futbol has, and it has succeeded. It has taken strong root since its debut in 2006, and it is growing.
The WBC mirrors MLB’s effort to revitalize itself every bit as much as the new rules in place to quicken pace of play.
Miami for its diversity alone is the perfect host, and should count the WBC as a gem and highlight of the stadium’s 12-year history. The ballpark has hosted games in previous WBCs, but this year has had games in every round, and for the first time will host the championship game on Tuesday night.
The WBC to its credit embraces the party integral with the competition. Noise is encouraged. Bongos, cowbells, maracas, tambourines, even trumpets — all allowed. National flags, too, as long as they aren’t larger than 3-by-5 feet.
If only the hometown Marlins could fill this ballpark and enjoy this passion across 81 home games every MLB season. The club opened a developmental academy in the Dominican city of Boca Chica last fall and will host the 2024 Caribbean Series. With the Marlins Pachanga band and more, they are trying. But duplicating the same passion for the Marlins that this park sees for WBC games is the mystery the franchise still must find a way to solve.
The United States, Dominican Republic and Japan are the powers of what started with 20 nations, but the storylines are everywhere. A little-known Nicaraguan pitcher, Duque Hebbert, struck out three Dominican stars in a row ... and was signed by the Detroit Tigers before he could leave the ballpark. The Venezuelan team’s sole aim here was to win it all for retiring legend Miguel Cabrera, the long-ago Marlins star turning 40 next month.
The unique passion of the WBC speaks fluently to multilingual Miami. We are one of only 14 U.S. cities with all five major sports (the traditional Big Four plus MLS soccer), and we can get in a rut sometimes of thinking sports in Miami just means whatever the Dolphins or Canes are doing. Or why isn’t the Heat as good this year.
But is also means this. It means Wednesday night, when the estimated 210,000 Puerto Rico natives and 130,000 Dominican-born folks living in South Florida had a piece of home visit Little Havana.
The diversity that enriches Miami and is integral to the WBC is especially worth embracing these days, at a time when politics seem to be making Florida feel more and more like a dystopian state. Efforts to erase critical race theory from our schools? To erase drag shows from our entertainment options?
Wednesday night, as the U.S. flag flew outside the ballpark, Dominican and Puerto Rican flags were waving joyfully inside and Spanish was what you mostly heard in a party at the center of neighborhoods full of people who risked families and lives to escape Cuba in search of freedom.
It made the heart feel glad. It truly was a most American place to be.
