GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Over time, Omar López continues to add to his résumé as a solid baseball lifer. Managing the Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Caribbean Series at Guadalajara’s Estadio Panamericano de Béisbol this week, López already boasts three winter league titles. The first two were in his native Venezuela, in 2014–15 with Caribes de Anzoátegui and in 2017–18 with Cardenales de Lara, followed by a championship in the Puerto Rican winter league this year with the Santurce club.
All Caribbean Series games will air live on MLB Network and stream on MLB DTC and MLB.TV.
López, the Astros’ bench coach, is also preparing to manage Team Venezuela once again next month in the World Baseball Classic. In his first stint skippering his country’s national team, Venezuela went 4-0 at Miami’s loanDepot park in a tough Pool D -- labeled by some as the proverbial “group of death” in the tournament -- defeating powerhouses such as the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, as well as Nicaragua and Israel, before being eliminated by the United States in the quarterfinal round.
Now, as López and the Venezuela squad look forward to facing the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Nicaragua and Israel in Pool D play – once again in Miami – López is savoring his championship in Puerto Rico and trying to close out the winter season with a Caribbean Series championship.
“It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” López said of managing in Puerto Rico the last two winter seasons. “When you create a project, you create a vision, you create something where you have a group of people who support you, help you, and align with you so that we’re all on the same page…it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.
“That’s when you say, ‘Yes, we can.’ Yes, you can bring together a group of people, of human beings, who can be on the same page and carry the same message.”
That message led the Santurce club to the best regular season record in the Puerto Rican league in 2025–26 at 26–14, and eventually a victory over the Leones de Ponce in the championship series.
With López and his countryman César Collins as general manager, along with Kelvin Colón, Héctor Otero, and Wilfredo Crespo in the Santurce front office, as well as veteran coach Luis Matos -- winner of the 2017 and 2018 Caribbean Series for Puerto Rico as manager of the Criollos de Caguas in Puerto Rico -- the Cangrejeros captured their 17th title this year and are seeking their sixth Caribbean Series championship.
“We forged such a unique friendship and relationship that all of us were always able to have moments of debate in which we could always reach a decision that was in the best interest of the team and the players,” López said, referring to the group dynamic on the Cangrejeros.
With a well-rounded background in baseball, having served as a minor league instructor and manager for the Astros since 1999 and in the club’s big-league dugout since 2020, López continues to raise his profile within the industry.
"Tremendous job," Matos said of López, 49. “We know he’s been here since last year. He was able to study the league, and this year we came in and executed. He’s super proud to represent Puerto Rico.”