{"id":114389,"date":"2026-03-18T04:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/maikel-garcia-we-play-for-venezuela-not-for-latin-america-in-the-world-baseball-classic-2\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:58:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:58:27","slug":"maikel-garcia-we-play-for-venezuela-not-for-latin-america-in-the-world-baseball-classic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nationals\/maikel-garcia-we-play-for-venezuela-not-for-latin-america-in-the-world-baseball-classic-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Maikel Garc\u00eda: &#8220;We play for Venezuela, not for Latin America&#8221; in the World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Maikel Garc\u00eda Prioritizes Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic<\/h2>\n\n\nMiami, Florida \u2013 Venezuelan third baseman Maikel Garc\u00eda has made his position clear regarding representation in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Although he acknowledges the outstanding Latin American talent in the tournament, the priority for the team is to defend the colors of Venezuela.\n\nGarc\u00eda&#8217;s statements came after Venezuela&#8217;s 4-2 victory over Italy in the semifinals, a result that secured their historic first qualification to the World Baseball Classic final.\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\n<p>\u201cThe people in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico may want us to play for Latin America, but we came to play for Venezuela\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<cite>Maikel Garc\u00eda<\/cite>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\nGarc\u00eda emphasized that, despite regional pride, the team&#8217;s focus is clearly defined.\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\n<p>\u201cObviously we put Latin America on high, but we are playing for Venezuela\u201d.<\/p>\n\n<cite>Maikel Garc\u00eda<\/cite>\n\n\nThe Kansas City Royals player has been fundamental in the performance of the Venezuelan team, contributing offensively in crucial moments of the tournament.\n\nVenezuela, which will face the United States in the final, will seek its first title in the history of the World Baseball Classic. The team has demonstrated cohesion, talent, and a strong sense of national identity.\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thexpeditionary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter Post<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nGarc\u00eda&#8217;s statements reflect the team&#8217;s competitive focus, centered on representing their nation on the international stage.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maikel Garc\u00eda Prioritizes Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic Miami, Florida \u2013 Venezuelan third baseman Maikel Garc\u00eda has made his position clear regarding representation in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Although he acknowledges the outstanding Latin American talent in the tournament, the priority for the team is to defend the colors of Venezuela. Garc\u00eda&#8217;s statements [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[997],"tags":[88,3879,2182,5529],"class_list":{"0":"post-114389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nationals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-maikel-garcia","10":"tag-venezuela","11":"tag-world-classic"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}