The life of Andy Pagés has a movie script. At the age of 16, after many sacrifices to become a baseball player in Cuba, he was crossing borders to reach the Dominican Republic with the dream of becoming a professional player. Nothing was certain, but his work and talent captivated the Dodgers, who signed him for a bonus of $300,000 just eight months after leaving his family behind in Pinar del Río.
Six years later, after a hard struggle through the training systems and the Minor Leagues, he again reached ecstasy in the blink of an eye when he was called to MLB to debut with the Chavez Ravine franchise. And, if that were not enough, just six months after his debut at the highest level of baseball, he was raising the World Series trophy to the sky with the Angelenos.
The rise was dizzying. Pagés was not like just another Dodgers player, in fact, he started more than 100 games, had a hundred hits, 37 extra-base hits, 13 home runs, drove in 46 runs, scored 65 and finished among the most outstanding rookies in the National League.
Heading to the White House
As a result of the Dodgers’ victory in 2024, Andy changed his baseball uniform for an elegant suit and tie outfit to enter the White House on April 7, 2025, meeting the traditional meetings between the president of the United States and the champion teams of the country’s main professional leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL).
The man from Pinar del Río was in the second row, just a few steps from President Donald Trump. In almost all the photos of the celebrations you can see the bearded Cuban smiling during the speeches of the day, starring the American president himself, Dodgers managers and team legends like Clayton Kershaw.
That was a simple anecdote, but just a few days later Pagés confirmed his intention to wear the four-letter uniform in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. “My dad told me he wanted to see me play for Cuba,” assured In an interview in Miami, the young player from Cuba, who overnight went from being photographed with Trump in the White House to being one of the potential Antillean axes in the Classic.
The “yes” to Cuba, a distant story
Almost ten months have passed since Andy Pagés was placed on the map of the Cuban national team heading to the 2026 Classic. At that time he was supposed to be an important figure for the team, but the significance of his probable call-up increased as the 2025 Major League season progressed.
The man from Pinar del Río definitely exploded with 27 home runs, 55 extra-base hits, 86 RBIs, 74 runs scored, 158 hits and a solid OPS of .774. Although he had offensive problems in the postseason, he was one of the heroes of the Dodgers in their second consecutive World Series with a saving fielding in the seventh and decisive game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
After becoming the second Cuban in history —after Orlando “El Duque” Hernández— in winning the MLB title in his first two campaigns, Andy was no longer just aiming to be another piece on Cuba’s potential payroll, but had become the team’s undisputed star ahead of the sixth edition of the Classic in 2026. Throughout that time, he remained firm in his desire to represent his country of origin, regardless of the very dissimilar criteria that appeared in the media, social networks and debate spaces.
“Since I said yes, there are people who did not accept it, others did, but I don’t worry about any of that. There are always people who are going to speak badly and others who are going to support you,” assured Andy a few months ago, when he defended tooth and nail the idea of playing for Cuba to please his father.
“Thanks to him I’m playing baseball, he’s the one who always encouraged me. I haven’t seen him for a long time, it feels a little bad sometimes, but I have to keep going,” Pagés stated.
However, today, all that is a distant story.
The causes of the “no”
What changed? That is the question that many Cuban baseball fans asked themselves after hearing the news that Andy Pagés, finally, would not play with the Antillean team in the 2026 World Classic. Was there any type of pressure beyond sport that made the man from Pinar del Río change his mind? Did the Dodgers block the outfielder’s participation or was it the player himself who decided not to be with Cuba?
The answer That cleared up those questions was given by Pagés himself to Yordano Carmona (Pelota Cubana) just a month ago: “I have many things to improve and I have to prepare for a long year. I have to work on what is most important.”
The sentence, by itself, left little room for doubt, but this was a scenario that could be foreseen if we analyze the current situation of the Dodgers. We are talking about a team that, after winning two consecutive rings, maintains the firm intention of consolidating its dynasty and to this end has spared no effort in its market movements.
Without going too far, this winter the Angelenos hired outfielder Kyle Tucker for four seasons and $240 million. His average annual salary will be the highest of all the Major Leagues.
The arrival of the left-handed hitter adds more competition to the Dodgers’ fields, right where Andy Pagés tries to retain his starting position at all costs.
So, his decision to not go to the Classic and focus exclusively on his preparation for the 2026 professional season sounds reasonable, in which the level of demand will be very high in Chavez Ravine. Now 25 years old and with a future ahead of him, the dream of the World Classic can wait.
World Classic: Between casualties and political tension, the “Team Asere” is a sea of doubts
For now, that approach is giving results to the Cuban, who has begun spring training shining in his maximum splendor. In seven appearances at the plate he has hit five hits, three of them extra-base hits, with two runs scored, three RBIs and an OPS of 1.911. That type of devastating production is the only thing that will guarantee him staying in a team full of stars.
