# Nicaragua national baseball team

The Nicaragua national baseball team (Spanish: Selección de béisbol de Nicaragua) is the national baseball team of Nicaragua. Considered the best in Central America along with Panama, it represents Nicaragua in international tournaments.
Nicaragua has a long history of international baseball, making its first appearance at the second Baseball World Cup (then called the Amateur World Series) in 1939; it hosted the BWC/AWS hosting five times and earned five second-place finishes, the last in 1990. It has participated in the Olympic Games twice, in 1984 and 1996. Nicaragua qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time in 2023.
In regional competitions, Nicaragua has qualified for the Pan American Games five times, in 1983, 1995, 2007, 2015, and 2019. It is a regular competitor at the Central American and Caribbean Games, and has historically dominated the Central American Games.

## History
### World Baseball Classic era (2013–present)

Nicaragua first participated in the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualification, held from 15 to 19 November 2012 at the Estadio Nacional de Panamá in Panama City. They were assigned to Qualifier 3 alongside Brazil, Colombia and Panama. The tournament used a double-elimination format and the Nicaraguan team lost against Colombia 1–8 in their opening game and 2–6 to Panama in their second, resulting in their elimination. The Nicaraguan squad was managed by Dennis Martínez, the first Nicaraguan player to reach Major League Baseball.
The Nicaraguan team participated in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualification, competing in Qualifier 2, that took place from 17 to 20 March 2016 at the Estadio B'Air in Mexicali, Mexico. Led by former San Francisco Giants outfielder Marvin Benard, Nicaragua shared the pool with hosts Mexico, Czech Republic and Germany. The qualifier followed a modified double-elimination tournament. Nicaragua defeated Germany 5–4 in the preliminaries, but lost to Mexico 0–11 in the semifinals. The team had the chance to reach the qualifying game after defeating Czech Republic 7–6 in the lower final; however, they lost again to Mexico 12–1, that secured its place in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
The team failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at the eight-team Americas Qualifying Event held in Florida from 31 May through 5 June 2021. Nicaragua finished the first round with a 1–2 record, suffering defeats against the United States (1–7) and the Dominican Republic (3–13 in eight innings); their sole victory was against Puerto Rico 7–6 in extra innings. The team was managed by Marvin Benard.
Nicaragua qualified for the first time in their history to the 2023 World Baseball Classic. They participated in the Pool B of the 2023 World Baseball Classic qualification, held from 30 September to 5 October in the Estadio Nacional de Panamá. The tournament used a double-elimination format again. The Nicaraguan team lost to Brazil 1–4 in their first game, defeated Pakistan 12–0 in seven innings in their second game, defeated Argentina 6–5 in their third game and defeated Brazil 3–1 in their fourth game to secure a spot in the final tournament.
The team competed in the 2023 World Baseball Classic Pool D from 11 to 15 March 2023 in Miami, Florida, now under manager Sandor Guido. They shared the pool with Dominican Republic, Israel, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Nicaragua finished last in the pool, losing all four of its games.
Nicaragua participated in the 2026 World Baseball Classic qualification as part of the Pool A held in the Taipei Dome from 21 to 25 February 2025, alongside hosts Chinese Taipei, South Africa and Spain. They finished the tournament undefeated and secured a spot in the 2026 final tournament.

## Results and fixtures

The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

### Legend

Win  Lose  Void or postponed  Fixture

### 2025
## Tournament results
### World Baseball Classic

| World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | World Baseball Classic record | Qualification record | Qualification record | Qualification record | Qualification record |
| Year | Round | Position | W | L | RS | RA | W | L | RS | RA |
| 2006 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held |
| 2009 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held | No qualifiers held |
| 2013 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | 0 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| 2017 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | 2 | 2 | 13 | 33 |
| 2023 | Group stage | 19th | 0 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 10 |
| 2026 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | 3 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| Total | Round 1 | 2/6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 48 | 59 |

### Olympic Games

| Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | | Qualification |
| Year | Round | Position | W | L | % | RS | RA | | Qualification |
| 1984 | Preliminary | 5th (tied) | 1 | 2 | .333 | 11 | 29 | | 1983 Pan American Games |
| 1992 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1996 | Bronze Match | 4th | 4 | 5 | .444 | 48 | 48 | | 1995 Pan American Games |
| 2000 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | | Did not qualify |
| 2004 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | | Did not qualify |
| 2008 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | | Did not qualify |
| 2020 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | | Did not qualify |
| 2028 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | | To be determined |
| Total | 1/5 | | 4 | 5 | .444 | 48 | 48 | | |
* ↑ No medals awarded; tournament was a demonstration sport only
* ↑ Totals only include years 1992 to 2008 and 2020, during which baseball was an official medal sport.
The team tried but failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at the Americas Qualifying Event on May 31 through June 5, 2021.

### Baseball World Cup

Amateur World Series and Baseball World Cup record :
| Year | Host | Round | Position | W | L | Year | Host | Position | Year | Host | Round | Position | Position | W | L | RS | RA |
| 1939 | Cuba | | 2 of 3 | 3 | 3 | 1961 | Costa Rica | 7 of 10 | 1984 | Cuba | | | 7 of 13 | | | | |
| 1940 | Cuba | | 2 of 7 | 9 | 3 | 1965 | Colombia | 6 of 9 | 1988 | Italy | | | 7 of 12 | | | | |
| 1941 | Cuba | | 7 of 9 | 2 | 6 | 1969 | Dominican Republic | 5 of 11 | 1990 | Canada | | | 2 of 12 | | | | |
| 1944 | Venezuela | | 7 of 8 | | | 1970 | Colombia | 8 of 12 | 1994 | Nicaragua | | | 4 of 16 | | | | |
| 1945 | Venezuela | | 4 of 6 | | | 1971 | Cuba | 3 of 10 | 1998 | Italy | Finals | | 3 of 16 | | | | |
| 1947 | Colombia | | 3 of 9 | | | 1972 | Nicaragua | 3 of 16 | 2001 | Taiwan | Round 1 | | 9 of 16 | | | | |
| 1948 | Nicaragua | | 7 of 8 | | | 1973 | Nicaragua | 2 of 11 | 2003 | Cuba | Finals | | 6 of 16 | | | | |
| 1950 | Nicaragua | | 5 of 12 | | | 1974 | United States | 2 of 9 | 2005 | Netherlands | Finals | | 6 of 16 | 7 | 4 | | |
| 1951 | Mexico | Round 1 | 5 of 11 | 6 | 4 | 1976 | Colombia | 4 of 11 | 2009 | Italy | Round 2 | | 6 of 16 | | | | |
| 1952 | Cuba | | 5 of 13 | | | 1978 | Italy | 5 of 11 | 2011 | Panama | Round 1 | | 14 of 16 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 47 |
| 1953 | Venezuela | | 3 of 11 | | | | | | Total | 30/39 | 5 5 | 5 5 | 5 5 | - | - | - | - |

### Pan American Games

* 1983 : 2nd
* 1995 : 2nd
* 2007 : 3rd
* 2019 : 3rd

### Intercontinental Cup

* 1973 : 4th
* 1975 : 3rd
* 1977 : 4th
* 1979 : 4th
* 1983 : 6th
* 1985 : 7th
* 1987 : 7th
* 1989 : 3rd
* 1991 : 3rd
* 1993 : 4th
* 1995 : 3rd

### Central American and Caribbean Games

* 1935 : 2nd
* 1938 : 3rd
* 1950 : 3rd
* 1978 : 2nd
* 1998 : 2nd
* 2010 : 3rd
* 2014 : 2nd

### Central American Games

* 1977 : 1st
* 1986 : 1st
* 1990 : 2nd
* 1994 : 1st
* 1997 : 2nd
* 2001 : 1st
* 2006 : 1st
* 2010 : 2nd
* 2013 : 1st
* 2017 : 1st