The history of Colombian
professional baseball is commonly divided into three eras: from 1948 to 1958, from 1979 to 1988, and from 1993 to the present. Professional baseball in Colombia has its origins in 1948, when two foreign teams — the
Havana Sugar Kings of the
Florida State League, and Chesterfield of the
Panamanian League — played an exhibition series against the
Colombian national team. Shortly thereafter, business interests in Cartagena created the country's two first professional teams: Torices of Cartagena and
Indios of Cartagena. Indios would go on to be the league's most successful club in its early years, winning seven championships. The first era of Colombian professional baseball continued until the 1957–58 season, when a national currency devaluation forced it to cease operations. Attempts to organize a new league in 1958 failed to materialize, despite fan interest. The professional league was revived in the late 1970s, and played host to some future major league stars including
Cecil Fielder,
Howard Johnson, and
Jesse Barfield. However,
Major League Baseball withdrew its support after the 1984 season, concerned about rising violence from the
illegal drug trade in Colombia. The Colombian league returned to operation in 1993 on a
semi-pro basis, known as the Copa
Kola Román-
Davivienda, with seven brand-new teams from different
departments of Colombia. In 1994, it returned to a fully professional format, with Caimanes, Vaqueros, and Rancheros returning from the previous era as well as a new team, Tigres, based in Cartagena. The league added two teams for the 2010–11 season, both in non-traditional baseball markets in the country's central regions: Potros, based in
Medellín, and Águilas, based in the capital of
Bogotá. Additionally, the Toros moved from
Sincelejo to
Cali for economic reasons. These changes were reversed in the 2012–13 season, after Toros moved back to Sincelejo and the two expansion teams folded. The league again added two new expansion teams for the 2019–2020 season: Gigantes de Barranquilla and Vaqueros de Montería. Vaqueros went on to become league champions in their inaugural season. They would also become the first team to represent Colombia in the
Caribbean Series, after the LPB made its debut in the tournament's
2020 edition (replacing the
Cuban National Series, which could appear due to
visa issues). After the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic, the LPB established a "bubble" format for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, with all games being played in Barranquilla. The pandemic also saw both Leones and Toros withdraw from the league. Gigantes were expected to fold after the 2021–22 season, but managed to return the next year. For the 2022–23 season, the league announced it was considering adding an expansion team in
Bolívar. However, before the start of the season, the league announced that both Getsemaní and Gigantes would not play due to financial difficulties; instead, Toros returned after a two-year absence, keeping the league at four teams. In 2023, the league announced that Leones and Gigantes would return for the 2023–24 season, bringing the number of teams back to six. == Teams and stadiums ==