GUERREROS TO REMAIN IN OAXACA

At this time last week, the Oaxaca Guerreros were on the clock to resolve a ballpark dispute at the risk of either being forced to move to another city or lose their Mexican League franchise altogether. A dispute between the Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca and the Union of Academics of the University of Oaxaca led to union workers blocking access for fans and teams to the university-owned Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos for a scheduled April 22 game between the Guerreros and Minatitlan, which was postponed. Oaxaca’s home series with Veracruz early last week was shifted north to the port city while negotiations continued.

A strike was averted when the two sides reached agreement on wage increases early last week and the university’s 25,000 students have returned to class. Now that their season has likely been saved, the Guerreros hosted Puebla in an incident-free series over the weekend while a series scheduled to be played in Veracruz this week has been shifted to Oaxaca.

The Mexican League office has said next to nothing about the resolution of Oaxaca’s ballpark crisis, referring only to “causes of greater force” in a press release announcing the shift of the Guerreros-Aguilas series this week from Veracruz to Oaxaca.