The Puerto Rican team celebrates during the Caribbean Series on Thursday night. (Getty Images)
Puerto Rico beat the Dominican Republic on Thursday night in the yearly Caribbean Series — yet this wasn't any customary baseball triumph. No, for Puerto Rico, an island that is as yet reeling from the harm Hurricane Maria left in September, this triumph was additional sweet.
When it was over — a 9-4 triumph that secured Puerto Rico's second in a row Caribbean Series title — the message from players was clear: This was greater than baseball, this was for their home. They were playing in Mexico, yet they were playing for Puerto Rico.
Jonathan Morales, who hit a three-run homer in the seventh that put the amusement away for Puerto Rico, disclosed to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com
"This triumph implies a great deal for me and my nation of Puerto Rico, since it's been hard and it's been an extreme circumstance in light of the tropical storm," Morales said. "Yet, it doesn't make a difference, since when you have God in your heart, you play and you get that W. I feel honored."
In Puerto Rico, more than 500,000 individuals are still without control four months after Hurricane Maria's effect. While baseball isn't the most imperative piece of that, as Sanchez takes note of, the storm shortened the group's season and made it so every one of their recreations must be played in the light. Here's the scene after they won:
Puerto Rico's director Luis Matos said a while later:
"This is an open door you don't have each day. It's difficult to be a champion in Puerto Rico, to win consecutive titles and to come here to the Caribbean Series and do a similar thing. I know we could give some satisfaction and energy for seven days. Puerto Rico is experiencing a ton of things, yet I know Puerto Rico is exceptionally cheerful for this and they are appreciating it at the present time."
After a calamity, each win feels significantly greater — and that is something the Puerto Rican baseball group can bear witness to .
