Bright Lights, New Heights

Puerto Rico’s top-tier professional basketball and baseball leagues building better on long legacies

Puerto Rico is passionate about its sports and its world-class competitors. The relatively small Caribbean archipelago has always punched above its weight at the highest levels of athletics, producing a long line of diamond greats, ring legends and hoops standouts. But the winning ways are not limited to the three big Bs of baseball, boxing and basketball. Take tennis ace Monica Puig for example, who captured Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Making his money as a big man who can shoot and stretch the floor, Cousins’ arrival in the BSN brought a next level of talent to Puerto Rico and has lured even more NBA standouts to the island.

While Puerto Rican athletes shine at the highest levels of sport around the globe, locals have long known that they don’t have to look far afield to see top-flight talent on display a lot closer to home. Case in point are the island’s top-tier professional sports leagues – the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) and Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (LBPRC) – both of which have been around for decades and are currently reaching new heights of popularity.

With teams spread out across the island, a game can probably be found close to wherever you happen to be staying. And with attractive ticket and concession prices, both leagues present an affordable option for the whole crew. You’ll be rubbing elbows with a high-energy and knowledgeable local crowd base that knows how to have a good time and is known for rolling out the welcome mat for visitors.

BSN

The BSN, which dates to 1930 and is overseen by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation, has served as a launching pad for Puerto Rican players to make the jump to the NBA and leading international leagues including Butch Lee, who led Marquette University to an NCAA championship in 1977, and J.J. Barea, the big-hearted point guard who exploded in the finals to help the Dallas Mavericks claim the NBA title in 2011. Other BSN players who reached the NBA and made their marks at the international level include Jose “Piculin” Ortiz and Carlos Arroyo, who was the face and driving force the Puerto Rico national team that rocked the basketball world when it took down the heavily favored United States team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The longshot win marked the first Olympics loss for a USA men’s basketball team with NBA players and just the third loss in USA men’s basketball team Olympic history.

An exciting new dynamic has been building in recent years as one-time NBA players opt to play professionally in Puerto Rico including Hassan Whiteside, Tyreke Evans, Robert “Tractor” Traylor and Brandon Knight. That trend hit a new high in the 2023 season when DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins signed with the Guaynabo Mets as a 32-year-old free agent and four-time NBA All-Star. Cousins, a 6’10” power forward who was the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft coming out of the University of Kentucky, had a stellar NBA career that included productive stints with the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks. Making his money as a big man who can shoot and stretch the floor, Cousins’ arrival in the BSN brought a next level of talent to Puerto Rico and is widely expected to lure even more NBA standouts to the island.

But it isn’t just players that are shining the brightest spotlight yet on the BSN. Celebrated Puerto Rican urban artists are now lending their considerable star power to the league. None bigger than global sensation Bad Bunny, the King of Latin Trap and ruler of the airwaves, who took an ownership stake in the Cangrejeros de Santurce team in 2021. Born Benito Martinez Ocasio and raised in the north coast town of Vega Baja, Bad Bunny has skyrocketed to the top at a worldwide level, earning multiple Grammy Awards, Latin Grammy Award, Billboard Music Awards and more than a dozen Lo Nuestro Awards along the way to being crowned Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022. All that and it still feels like Bad Bunny is bound for even greater heights.

He’s not alone among musical heavyweights who have set their sights, and invested their money, in the BSN. Reggaeton master Ozuna, a San Juan native who is among the top-selling Latin music artists of all time and a solid basketball player in his own right, revived the Osos of Manati in 2022 when he bought the Brujos de Guayama in 2022 and relocated them from the southeast coast town to the north coast town of Manati with a new monicker.

And then there is Yadier Molina, who is among the latest and is arguably the greatest in the long line of Puerto Rican catchers to reach legendary status in Major League Baseball (MLB), who bought his hometown team, the Vaqueros de Bayamon, outright in 2020. In addition to a sure spot in Cooperstown, it seems the future first-ballot Hall of Famer has a nose for business, picking up the winningest franchise in BSN history with an unmatched 16 championship titles. Molina’s arrival in the ownership box brought even more shine to Bayamon, whose professional basketball team boasts some of the most die-hard fans to be found anywhere and have the solid backing of the city’s government and business community.

Interestingly, the BSN has served as proving ground for upstart coaches that went on to make their marks running teams in the NBA including Basketball Hall of Fame members Dr. Jack Ramsay, Red Holzman, Del Harris, P.J. Carlesimo, Bernie Bickerstaff and Herb Brown. Let’s not forget the legendary Phil Jackson, who spent stints calling plays for the Piratas de Quebradillas and the Gallitos de Isabela before making it back to the NBA where he won a record 11 championships – six at the helm of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls and five more as skipper of the Los Angeles Lakers with rosters that included Shaquille O’Neill that the late great Kobe Bryant.

Building on a strong legacy, the future looks bright indeed for the BSN. Get out there and take in a game during a long season that stretches this season from April 2, 2024 to June 29, 2024. If you are staying in the San Juan metropolitan area, the home games of both the Cangrejeros de Santurce and Vaqueros de Bayamon are easily reached via the Tren Urbano, the mass transit rail line that includes stops just steps from either stadium. The eastern edge of the capital city tourism zone is the land of the Gigantes de Carolina, who are the defending BSN champions after grabbing the crown from the Vaqueros de Bayamon to cap a well-attended 2023 season.

LBPRC

Winter ball. Those two simple words when put together are as Puerto Rican as rice and beans, café con leche or bomba y plena – combinations that are fundamental elements of the island’s culture that never, ever go out of style. While the popularity of some pastimes may ebb and flow over time, baseball abides in Puerto Rico. That is true across the calendar as year-round tropical weather ensures that there are teams facing off in a ballpark in some corner of Puerto Rico virtually 365 days per year. No wonder the island produces a seemingly endless stream of players who not only make it to the MLB but shine. The list of Puerto Rican players who have made lasting marks in the big leagues is too long to attempt on these pages – but it is safe to say that the basepaths of the vast majority ran through island’s celebrated winter league.

Not to mention some of the renowned LBPRC team managers who have vast experience in the MLB. Molina, ex all-star catcher of the St. Louis Cardinals, who oversaw the Criollos de Caguas; Edwin Rodriguez, the first Puerto Rican MLB manager who held the reins of the Miami Marlins, led the Leones de Ponce.

Founded in 1938, the LBPRC was renamed in honor of Roberto Clemente, the Carolina-native who secured his place among the very greatest to ever play the game as a Pittsburgh Pirate before his remarkable life was tragically cut short in 1972 when the plane, he chartered to deliver tons of relief supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua crashed shortly after taking off from the San Juan airport in 1972. A rare gem on the diamond, Clemente remains beloved in Puerto Rico, across the Unted States and Latin America and further far-flung points for the way he lived his life beyond baseball.

Usually getting into full swing in November and reaching into January, the winter league has long provided an “off-season” home for high-level homegrown talent as well as big league players, managers and coaches looking to stay hot or get warmed up ahead of spring training back up on the mainland.

For the 2023-2024 season, the LBPRC boasted six teams – the Criollos de Caguas, Cangrejeros de Santurce, Gigantes de Carolina, Indios de Mayaguez, Leones de Ponce and RA12, which is a squad owned by Hall for Famer Roberto Alomar. The winner of winter ball goes on to represent Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series, or Serie del Caribe, in February to face off against heavy hitters from the top level of regional neighbors such as the Dominican Republic, Panama, Mexico, Curacao and Venezuela among others. The roughly three-month period packs a punch – each team plays 40 regular season games. The top four teams in the standings progress into the post-season, which consists of a pair of best-of-seven game series leading into a best-of-nine game championship series.

The slogan for the 2023-2024 season was El Futuro esta en el Terreno, or The Future is on the Field, which focused on shining light on young local talent as the winter league celebrated its 85th anniversary. And while you can watch a televised game from your hotel room, lobby or favorite watering hole, nothing beats a day or night at the ballpark. The sights, sounds and smells simply can’t be transmitted in full beyond the bleachers.

“Our primary aim for this season was to further motivate baseball lovers to come out to the ballparks to enjoy the games in a safe, family atmosphere,” LBPRC President Juan Flores said. “We encourage everyone to visit the ballparks to see first-hand what promises to be a hotly contested season.”

And that was exactly what happened with a record breaking 390,000 plus baseball fans attending games.

Night games from Monday to Thursday started at 7:10 p.m. while games on Friday and Saturday started at 7:45 p.m. and Sundays at 4:10 p.m. with exception of games at the Roberto Clemente Walker stadium which began at 6:10 p.m.

The Cangrejeros de Santurce and RA12 teams both play at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, the home of the Gigantes de Carolina is the Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium, the Criollos de Caguas play at the Yldefonso Sola Morales Stadium, the Leones de Ponce play at the Francisco “Paquito” Montaner Stadium, and the Indios de Mayaguez are at the Isidoro “Cholo” Garcia Stadium.