GUASAVE WINS LMP FIRST HALF TITLE ON “RUN AVERAGE”

The Mexican Pacific League’s first half schedule concluded with a three-way tie for first place in the standings, and Guasave was awarded the top seed (and 8.0 points) on the basis of a so-called “run average” tiebreaker formula. Obregon finished second and Culiacan took third as all three teams finished with identical 19-16 records.

In the tiebreaker format, run average is determined by the percentage of total runs a team scored over the 34-game half in comparison with the aggregate runs of their opponents. Guasave scored 204 runs in the first half, or 125.15 percent of the 163 runs collected by their opposition. Obregon outscored their opponents, 205-181, for a run average of 113.25 to pick up 7.0 points; Culiacan led their opponents in runs, 157-148 for a 106.08 run average to gather 6.0 points for finishing third. Make sense yet?

Hermosillo, Mazatlan, Mexicali and Los Mochis were all one game out of first with 18-17 records. The Naranjeros got the nod for fourth and 5.0 points with a 112.65 run average, Mazatlan got 4.5 points for fifth at 98.07, Mexicali took sixth with an 88.82 RA for 4.0 points and Mochis came in seventh with an 88.61 RA for 3.5 points. Navojoa was the only team with a losing record at 11-24 to finish eighth with 3.5 points.

In final scores on Sunday, Mexicali shut out Guasave, 1-0, to create the three-way logjam at the top; Culiacan held off Hermosillo, 5-4; Navojoa doubled up on Mazatlan, 8-4; and Obregon overwhelmed Mochis, 8-2.

Navojoa's Matt Young leads the batting race at the midway point with a .379 average while Hermosillo's Luis Alfonso Cruz has 15 homers and 38 RBIs to top the circuit in both categories. Alberto Castillo of Mochis leads Mex Pac pitchers with 5 wins, Hermosillo's Travis Blackley tops the LMP with a 2.06 ERA and Mazatlan's Leo Rosales has 9 saves. Both Mexicali's Andy Sisco and Rolando Valdez of Obregon have 46 strikeouts.