Omar López is managing Venezuela to 'make my country happy'

MIAMI -- When Venezuela finished its 8-5 victory against the defending champions Japan on Saturday night, manager Omar López wasn’t thinking about himself. Nor was he thinking about his team – not Wilyer Abreu, whose three-run home run provided the crucial blow, nor Enmanuel De Jesus, the unheralded pitcher on a team of stars, whose relief work shut down a menacing Japanese lineup.

López was thinking about the people back in Venezuela.

“My country right now is celebrating,” López said after the victory. “It’s extremely happy. [The people are] on the streets. They're drinking right now, and that makes me happier than anybody else in this world because this is the only thing that I can do. This is the only thing that I can do for my country.”

López is in charge for his second World Baseball Classic tournament with Venezuela, having navigated them a Trea Turner grand slam away from the semifinals in 2023. He led the team to a fourth-place finish at the Premier12 in 2024. Now, Venezuela is set to take on Italy in the World Baseball Classic semis on Monday night – the first time they’ve made it to the WBC semifinals since 2009. The team has never reached the finals.

He knows it's only baseball -- but then again, is it possible to be only baseball when an entire nation is watching, finding hope and happiness in the team's performance? Just look at the players and the way they explode with joy as they round the bases and you know that sometimes it just means more.

“I’m trying to manage a team with a lot of people behind me to make my country happy,” López said. “Right now they're celebrating. We've got two more games [to win] and they can celebrate in the entire country for about a week.”

It’s impossible not to like López, whose love for the game, his players, and his coaching staff is evident when he’s in the dugout or in the press room. As he assembled his coaching staff – whether former big league superstars like Miguel Cabrera or Johan Santana or baseball lifers like Carlos Méndez and bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte – there were a few qualities that were most important to him.

“You could have experience as a coach, but to me the most important thing was to have coaches with a human quality, humble, with good communication and connection with players,” López said. “We evaluated some coaches in each area. We interviewed them: 'What would you consider to select a runner or a pitcher or a batter?' We talked to them a lot.”

Having a staff with character he can trust becomes all the more important when López feels the weight of a country’s expectations upon him. He knows that it’s his call at the end of the day and he takes that responsibility seriously. It’s why these games have taken on almost Biblical importance.

“It was a game full of pride and emotions,” López said about the loss to the Dominican Republic in the group stage. “When you have that kind of game, the anxiety is higher. It is more like a spiritual war that you have to have with yourselves and as a team. If you are not able to control that, you can become your own enemy.”

He then referred to the victory against Japan as David defeating Goliath – though he also wanted to make sure people knew that Venezuelan baseball is no underdog, rostering the third-most players in the big leagues after the U.S. and Dominican Republic.

“Venezuela has always been a powerhouse in baseball,” López said. “Beating Japan for the first time – and this is the first time that Japan goes home before the semifinal – I mean … we all have an importance in the baseball world. But in general, we have had so many players, legends, players that are retired, others that are active. We can say that we are a global power.”

Every call, every decision he’s made is with his country on his mind. It’s why he’s not taking a paycheck to manage the team, pouring all of himself into this ballclub that's greater than any one man. It's also why there's a No. 58 written on his ballcap.

“If you didn't know, No. 58 is the international code to call Venezuela,” López said. “So, if you know someone in Venezuela, call them and tell them that Venezuela is in the Olympics and we are in the semifinal of the WBC.”

Should Venezuela defeat Italy and reach the final, then López will be happy – but not for himself.

“Twenty years from now, [I’ll remember that] I made my country happy at least for one or two days,” López said. “That's all I need.”