The Tigres de Cartagena (Cartagena Tigers) are a baseball team in the Colombian Professional Baseball League (LPB), playing in the Caribbean city of Cartagena de Indias. The team was founded in 1996 and plays at the Estadio Once de Noviembre. Its main rival is Caimanes, which plays in neighboring Barranquilla.
Several Colombian MLB players have played for Tigres, including Gio Urshela, Harold Ramírez, Meibrys Viloria, and brothers Jolbert and Orlando Cabrera. For a time, the team was managed by former MLB All-Star Bill Madlock.
In 2014, the team made history by winning the first international club title for Colombia, defeating Mexico's Brujos de Los Tuxtlas in the Latin American Series.
History Tigres were founded by Orlando Vélez Benedetti in 2003. The team reached its first title in the 1995-96 season, under the management of Jolbert Cabrera Sr., and with his two sons Jolbert and Orlando on the roster.
Édinson Rentería, brother of Barranquilla-born major leaguer Édgar Rentería, bought the team in 2003. Tigres again won the championship in the 2003-04 season, under the direction of Bill Madlock (a previous four-time batting champion in LPB), beating Leones de Cartagena in the final play off. They repeated this feat in 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07, defeating Caimanes de Barranquilla in three straight finals.
Tigres would not win another title until 2013-14. Afterwards, the team made history by winning the first title of the Latin American Series for Colombian baseball, defeating Brujos de Los Tuxtlas of Mexico's Veracruz Winter League in the final play-off by 9-1.
Tigres did not play in the 2016-17 tournament, when they were replaced by Indios de Cartagena, but returned in the 2017-18 season.
Under Rentería's ownership, the management of the team has been periodically leased out to other ownership groups. In 2025, the management group was criticized for failing to pay the team's players on time, as many reported not having received their salaries months after the season's end. Also in 2025, it was reported that a group of Cartagena businessmen were interested in purchasing the team from Rentería, which would be the first local ownership in nearly two decades.
Championships Season Manager Record Seriesscore Runner-up 1995–96 Jolbert Cabrera Sr. 23–24 4–2 Caimanes de Barranquilla 2003–04 Bill Madlock 16–14 4–1 Leones de Montería 2004–05 Bill Madlock 13–17 4–3 Toros de Sincelejo 2005–06 Neder Horta 17–13 4–1 Caimanes de Barranquilla 2006–07 Neder Horta 28–26 4–0 Caimanes de Barranquilla 2013–14 Donaldo Méndez 32–9 4–1 Leones de Montería Total championships 6
Roster
Notable players
Orlando Cabrera Jolbert Cabrera Jhonatan Solano Gio Urshela Guillermo Zuñiga Meibrys Viloria Adrián Sánchez
References