Baseball: Tiburones win Venezuelan championship after nearly four decades. GETTY IMAGES

The Tiburones de la Guaira have been crowned Venezuelan baseball champions after a wait of almost 40 years, beating Cardenales de Lara 3-0 in the fifth game of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League final. They have also qualified for the 2024 Caribbean Series to be held in Miami.

Led by World Series-winning manager Oswaldo Guillén, Tiburones de La Guaira defeated Cardenales de Lara 3-0 on Sunday in the fifth game of the Venezuelan baseball finals to claim their first championship since the 1985-1986 season, almost 40 years ago. 

The title is the eighth in the history of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP) and the first since Oswaldo Guillén, now the club's manager, was a player. Winning the Venezuelan championship also gives the coastal team the opportunity to play in the 66th Caribbean Series 2024, which will take place from 1-9 February 2024 at LoanDepot Park in Miami, United States.

In Florida, a state full of Latinos and baseball fans, the best teams from various countries in the region such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Nicaragua and Panama will compete in the amazing Caribbean Series. 

The Tiburones de La Fuaira won the fifth game of the final with the same weapon they had used in the first three encounters, which fizzled out in the fourth game when the home side revived their hopes with a 6-5 victory. 

In this final chapter, neither team managed to score until the fifth inning when a hit by the Brazilian Leonardo Reginatto drove in the Colombian Harold Ramírez for the first run.

In the sixth inning, Alcides Escobar singled in the Tiburones' second run, which was followed by an error by Cardenales shortstop Jermaine Palacios that allowed La Guaira to score their third. 

The rest of the contest was a straightforward affair for the champions, who effectively made the nine outs that separated them from victory. 

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final series was the right-handed pitcher Ricardo Pinto, who picked up his second win of the final in La Guaira's 4-1 victory. Pinto pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits and striking out four.

The final season was named after Miguel Cabrera, in honour of the Venezuelan baseball player who recently retired from Major League Baseball with 3,174 hits, 511 home runs and a Major League Baseball championship.