YAQUIS WIN LMP FIRST HALF, EARN 10 PLAYOFF POINTS

Obregon players celebrate their 10-point first half

Despite dropping the final two games of a midweek series in Culiacan to wrap up the first half of the schedule, the Obregon Yaquis were able to hold on to first place in the Mexican Pacific League at the midway point of the season and pick up the ten playoff points accompanying their finish.  Obregon opened the set with a 4-3 win over the Tomateros last Tuesday as Carlos Sepulveda singled twice and drove in a pair of runs while starter Carlos De Leon allowed two runs on as many hits over five innings on the mound to go to 3-0 on the season.  Although Culiacan came back to win on Wednesday and Thursday, the visiting Yaquis finished the stanza with a 22-13 record to outlast second-place Hermosillo (21-13) by a half-game while Jalisco ended a game back in third at 21-14.

With two new franchises in the MexPac this season, the loops playoff points system has changed from past seasons.  Where first-place finishers used to earn eight points per half, now the top team is awarded ten points while the second-place club picks up nine points.  Eight points now go to the third-place team as the old points system is applied to the rest of the teams, with last-place Navojoa (11-23) coming away with just 3.5 points.  Points accrued over the two halves of the season determine seeding for January's LMP playoffs, which will now include the top eight teams (meaning the former "lucky loser" system, where the team with the most wins in a first-round loss still advanced to the semifinals,  has been shelved).

Speaking of Navojoa, the Mayos have named longtime MexPac manager Lorenzo Bundy as their new skipper.  Veteran catcher Adan Munoz was fired November 6 after leading the Mayos to a 6-14 record in his first season at the helm.  Pitching coach Hector Heredia filled in for the rest of the first half and fared a little better, turning in a 5-6 mark before Bundy's arrival last Monday.  Bundy is no stranger to Navojoa, having led the Mayos to their second (and most recent) LMP pennant in 1999-2000 when they swept Hermosillo in the title series.  Navojoa was swept in Mazatlan to start off their new era under the 60-year-old Philadelphia native, who has managed seven teams in the MexPac over his career, but the Mayos recently activated Red Sox hurler Hector Velazquez (the MexPac's 2016-17 Pitcher of the Year) and outfielder Juan Perez, who hit .335 with 11 homers and 12 steals for Monclova and Aguascalientes in the Mexican League last summer, so Bundy will have two more tools at his disposal along with outfielder Alonzo Harris, third baseman Christian Zazueta and infielder Jovan Rosa.  Harris, who had a banner summer with Quintana Roo, is expected to improve his current .242 batting average.

Lorenzo Bundy managed Navojoa's last title team

Los Mochis outfielder Noel Cuevas is leading the LMP in batting with a .371 average, twenty points ahead of Jalisco speedster Carlos Figueroa.  Monterrey's Michael Choice has 10 homers to top the circuit, one more than Stephen Cardullo of Jalisco and Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde.  Choice's 27 RBIs ties him for second with two other players behind the 28 of Jalisco's Dariel Alvarez.  Rico Noel of Culiacan is 16-of-19 in stolen base attempts and leads the MexPac in swipes while teammate Elizalde is second with 12 steals.

Yoanys Quiala of Los Mochis is 6-1 for the Caneros (who have a 16-20 overall record) to lead the league in wins, two more than five pitchers with four victories apiece.  Mexicali's Jon van Meter is only 1-2 after sevens starts for the Aguilas but his 1.86 ERA tops the loop ahead of the 1.91 of Navojoa's Raul Carrillo while Obregon's Arturo Lopez and Juan Pablo Oramas of Hermosillo are tied for the lead in strikeouts with 40 each.  Hermosillo's Trey McNutt tops the table with ten saves and the holds leader is Monterrey reliever Nick Struck with 10.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE
Final 2019-20 First Half Standings
Obregon 22-13 (10.0 points), Hermosillo 21-13 (9.0), Jalisco (21-14 (8.0), Culiacan (19-16 (7.0), Monterrey (18-17 (6.0), Mazatlan 17-18 (5.5), Los Mochis 15-20 (5.0), Guasave 15-20 (4.5), Mexicali 15-20 (4.0), Navojoa 11-23 (3.5).


CASTRO TO MANAGE MEXICO IN 2020 OLYMPICS

Sweeping Group A and then qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics by finishing third in this month's World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament was enough for Mexico manager Juan Gabriel Castro to keep his job for the Olympics in Tokyo nest summer.  It's been quite a month for the retired infielder, who spend 17 seasons playing in the majors.  While managing the Verdes Grande in the Premier12, he was hired by the Philadelphia Phillies as a coach for the 2020 campaign under new manager Joe Girardi.  Now it's on to Japan and managing Mexico's first Olympic baseball team, assuming the Phils allow him to leave the team for the Olympics, which will take place between July 24 and August 9 next year.

Although Mexico was defeated by Japan and South Korea in the Premier12 Super Round after winning all three of their Group A games in Guadalajara and topping Taiwan and Australia in the second stage, their win over the United States in the Bronze Medal game at the Tokyo Dome punched their ticket to the Olympics as the highest-placing team from the Americas in the Premier12.  "Our thought in this tournament was to be champions," Castro told Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso.  "We did not succeed and we are left with that little thorn, but I think that Mexico has the possibility of winning the gold medal in the Olympic Games.  I'm proud to have been present, to be part of the history of the Mexican National Team in the Olympics...I hope it is a big step for the Mexican baseball team to continue growing, keep improving."

Castro told Pereyra that he regretted questions about members of the national team who have dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States, an issue he said generated annoyance not only among the player but their families as well.  "I gave them a personal example," explained Castro, who was born in Los Mochis in 1952.  "My children were born in the United States.  They are American by birth, but they are also Mexican...My oldest son was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico bus I think he feels more Mexican than me. He even just had an Emiliano Zapata tattoo on his arm.  I think that was a reason for the boys to feel more proud and give extra for the team, and I'm very proud of them."  Castro stressed that he still down know what the process will be for putting together an Olympic team, noting that while he was able to carry 28 players for the Premier 12, he'll be limited to a 24-man roster in Tokyo.

Mexican players after Olympics-clinching win

Mexico is one of four teams to clinch a berth in the Olympic field, which will consist of just six nations in 2020.  Japan automatically qualified as host team, South Korea earned their slot by reaching the Premier12 title game against the Baseball Samurai and Israel (like Mexico) will make their Olympic baseball debut after a surprise win in September's Europe/Asia qualifying tournament in Italy.  Israel and The Netherlands tied for the lead in the round-robin tourney with identical 4-1 records and earned the nod by virtue of their 8-1 win over the Dutchmen on September 19 in Parma.  The final two berths will be determined at an Americas qualifier in Arizona next March and a Final qualifying Tournament in Taiwan next April.  The Olympics will consist of a 16-game schedule with two round-robin pools followed by a rather convoluted double-elimination bracket.


2020 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE IN PUERTO RICO SET

San Juan's Bithorn Stadium to host 2020 CS

The Caribbean Series will return to Puerto Rico next February and the schedule for the six-team field had been announced.  Panama returns to the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball after being a surprise winner last winter as a late entry, meaning the event will feature five days of round-robin tripleheaders between February 1 and 5, followed by a pair of semifinal games on February 6 and the championship game on February 7.  Colombia and Nicaragua were expected to join the competition this winter, bringing the number of nations involved to eight, but their entry will apparently be delayed at least one season.

Puerto Rico last hosted the Caribbean Series in 2015, when Cuba's first CS entry since 1960, the Pinar del Rio Vegueros, went 3-3 in the first round before winning the title.  San Juan's 18,264-seat Hiram Bithorn Stadium (home of the defending Roberto Clemente League champion Santurce Cangrejeros) will host the event.  The venue served as "home" field for the MLB Montreal Expos for 22 games in both 2003 and 2004 before the Expos were moved to Washington and renamed the Nationals in 2005 and has also hosted World Baseball Classic group play in 2006 and 2013.  A number of Major League exhibition games have been played at the facility, which was opened in 1963 and received a major overhaul prior to the Expos' two-year stint there.

The Serie del Caribe will mark the first large-scale baseball event to be staged in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria devastated the island in September 2017.  The storm resulted in over three thousand fatalities and over US$90 billion in damages, from which the country is still recovering in many areas.  The host Roberto Clemente League, which dates to 1938, was struggling financially for several years prior to Hurricane Maria, which exacerbated things to the point that the LBPRC was limited to a one-month schedule of daytime games in 2017-18 with only four teams.  The adverse conditions did not prevent the Caguas Criollos from repeating as league and Caribbean Series champions that winter.

Tickets for the 2020 Serie del Caribe range in price from US$7.50 to US$56.00 and are on sale at the Ticketpop.com website.

2020 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE
Saturday, February 1:  Cuba vs. Venezuela (10:00AM), Mexico vs. Dominican Republic (2:30PM), Panama vs. Puerto Rico (8:00PM).
Sunday, February 2:  Cuba vs. Panama (11:00AM), Puerto Rico vs. Mexico (3:30PM), Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela (8:30PM).
Monday, February 3:  Panama vs. Mexico (10:00AM), Dominican Republic vs. Cuba (2:30PM), Puerto Rico vs. Venezuela (8:00PM).
Tuesday, February 4:  Dominican Republic vs. Panama (10:00AM), Mexico vs. Venezuela (3:30P), Cuba vs. Puerto Rico (8:00PM).
Wednesday, February 5:  Panama vs. Venezuela (8:00AM), Cuba vs. Mexico (2:30PM), Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico (8:00PM).
Thursday, February 6:  Semifinal 1 (2:30PM), Semifinal 2 (8:00PM).
Friday, February 7:  Championship Game (8:00PM).

All games played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  All times local.

MEXICO TOPS USA 3-2 IN 10 TO QUALIFY FOR OLYMPICS

Mexico's Efren Navarro and Matt Clark

Matt Clark's ninth-inning solo home run put the game into extra innings, but it was Efren Navarro's single in the bottom of the tenth that gave the Mexican National Team a hard-fought 3-2 win over the United States in Saturday's Premier12 Bronze Medal game at the Tokyo Dome.  More important, the Verdes Grande's second win over the USA in the tournament meant that Mexico will make their Olympic baseball debut next summer in Tokyo.

The Americans sprinted to a quick 1-0 lead when Angels prospect Jo Adell socked an opposite-field solo homer off Mexican starter Arturo Reyes in the top of the first, but Reyes settled down to toss two-hit shutout ball before giving way to reliever Brennan Bernardino with one out in the sixth frame with the score still at 1-0.  Mexico tied the contest up in the bottom of the sixth when Clark drilled a sharp bases-loaded single to right off reliever Daniel Tillo to plate Jonathan Jones from third base.  Tillo had replaced Cody Ponce, a Pirates farmhand who whitewashed the Mexicans on three hits with six strikeouts over the first five entradas.

The USA regained the lead in the top of the seventh when Andrew Vaughn led off with a single, moved to second on Eric Kratz' sacrifice hit and scored when Bobby Dalbec singled up the middle off Jesus Rios to make it a 2-1 contest, a score that held up until Clark belted a leadoff four-bagger deep to center off American closer Brandon Dickson to tie things up at 2-2.  Dickson got out of the inning without further damage and manager Scott Brosius decided to keep the former St. Louis pitcher (who's spent the past seven years with NPB's Orix Buffaloes) on the mound for the tenth after the USA failed to score on Mexican closer Carlos Bustamante in the top of that inning.

Using WBSC tiebreaker rules, Noah Perio was placed on second base and Jorge Flores on first to start the bottom of the tenth for Mexico.  Jones led off with a sacrifice bunt to Dickson on the mound, moving Perio to third and Flores to second.  Dickson then intentionally walked Esteban Quiroz to load the bases before being pulled for Caleb Thielbar to face Navarro, who blooped a broken-bat single to shallow center to bring Perio in from third for the walkoff game-winner.   Navarro, who was 0-for-4 for the game at that point, fouled off four consecutive Thielber deliveries before delivering the coup de grace for Mexico on the eighth pitch in the count.  Bustamante earned the win by hurling a scoreless tenth while Dickson was tagged with the loss.  Clark finished with a pair of hits and two RBIs for Mexico while Adell singled and doubled for the Americans while contributing defensively with a diving catch of a Navarro fly to left field in the eighth.

Verdes Grande: "We're going to Tokyo (again)!"

After sweeping all three of their Group A games in Guadalajara, Mexico won their first two Super Round contests in Japan, including a 2-0 shutout over Taiwan last Monday in Chiba as Reyes and five relievers combined on a three-hitter while Ali Solis contributed a solo homer.  The Verdes Grande followed that up with another shutout on Tuesday, this one a 3-0 blanking of Australia in Tokyo with Eduardo Vera and four relievers tossing a four-hitter while Jones and Clark went deep for the winners.  Mexico then lost for the first time in six games Wednesday, dropping a 3-1 decision to host Japan in the Tokyo Dome despite Jones' second homer in as many nights.  Then it was a second loss in a row on Thursday as manager Juan Castro's side fell, 7-3, to South Korea with Jones homering once again for Mexico, who finished third in the Super Round with a 3-2 record, including a Group A win over the USA (2-3) that counted in the second stage to set up the Bronze Medal contest.  Japan (4-1) and South Korea (3-2) squared off Saturday for the Gold Medal, with the Baseball Samurai emerging victorious by a 6-3 score.

By defeating the second-ranked Americans, Mexico (rated sixth in the world by the WBSC prior to the Premier12) qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, marking the first time the Verdes Grande will play in the Games.  After Saturday's win, Navarro was humble. "You must credit all of the team for this accomplishment, " he said,  "including the pitchers and Matt Clark, who kept us in the game with his homer."  For his part, Clark said, "We're going to the Olympics.  You can't put it in words.  It's such a great achievement as a country, as players, as coaches...everyone that's involved back home, the fans.

"It's going to be an amazing experience for everybody to be able to go there and show the world what we have."


YAQUIS TAKE LMP LEAD INTO FINAL WEEK OF FIRST HALF SCHEDULE

Obregon lefty Arturo Lopez

With just six games remaining in the Mexican Pacific League's first-half schedule, the Obregon Yaquis have pulled into a two-game lead over Jalisco in a battle for first place and the eight accompanying playoff points.  The 21-11 Yaquis completed a three-game road series in Navojoa Sunday with a 4-0 shutout over the Mayos as Arturo Lopez and four relievers combined to hold the host team to three singles while number nine hitter Ricardo Valenzuela keyed a four-run seventh inning for Obregon with a two-run single.  Jesus "Cacao" Valdez contributed a pair of doubles and scored once for the winners while leadoff batter Taike Sekine, an import from Japan's Yokohama BayStars, chipped in with two singles, one of them scoring a run.

The Yaquis have been led offensively by outfielder Jose Aguilar, who leads the team with a .358 average and 25 runs scored.  Aguilar has had his share of misadventures on the basepaths thus far this season, however, and has been caught stealing seven times in eleven attempts.  Obregon's power has been supplied by the triumvirate of Valdez, Paulo Orlando and Art Charles, who have six homers each and a combined 68 RBIs through 31 games.  Orlando is second to Aguilar on the Yaquis with a .326 average.  Charles has otherwise struggled to a .216 mark but his 19 hits have produced six homers and 21 ribbies.  Sekine, a 24-year-old outfielder who bats left, has hit .282 since joining the Yaquis after the season started, but his most valuable asset may be his speed.  On a team where no other player has more than four stolen bases, Sekine has 10 swipes in 11 attempts over 23 games.  To put that into perspective, the rest of the Yaquis are a combined 10-for-27 in steals, which makes the 5'6" Sekine even more valuable to manager Sergio Gastelum.

Yaquis outfielder Taiki Sekine

The aforementioned Lopez has been the most consistent pitcher among a pretty good mound staff.  His win Sunday brought his record to 3-1, his 2.04 ERA ranks third in the MexPac behind Navojoa's Raul Carrillo and Jon van Meter of Mexicali and Lopez' 35 strikeouts leads the league.  While no other Obregon pitchers ranks in the top 20 of qualified hurlers in the ERA race, the Yaquis' team ERA of 3.42 is fifth in the circuit and their collective 242 strikeouts lead the LMP.  Former White Sox prospect Ryan Kussmaul has been the primary closer for the Yaquis and while his 2.37 ERA over 18 outings has been fairly impressive (as is his limiting opponents to a .222 batting average), he's only got a team-high five saves for the season thus far and none since November 1.  The Obregon roster generally doesn't stack up favorably compared to the likes of Culiacan or Jalisco, but Gastelum has shown over his short managerial career that he can figure out ways to win with limited resources and took an underpowered Oaxaca Mexican League team to the Fall 2018 Serie del Rey so the Yaquis shouldn't be summarily counted out either.

Los Mochis outfielder Noel Cuevas leads the MexPac in batting with a .371 average, just ahead of Navojoa veteran Christian Zazueta's .368.  Jalisco first baseman Stephen Cardullo's nine homers is tops in the LMP with four players tied at seven roundtrippers apiece, while Cardullo teammate Daniel Alvarez (one of that foursome) leads with 27 RBIs, one more than Monterrey's Felix Perez.  Rico Noel of Culiacan continues to pace base stealers with 15 SBs, while Tomateros teammate Sebastian Elizalde has 11.  Elizalde has reached double figures in steals once in his 10-year professional career.

Yoanys Quiala of Los Mochis earned a win over Guasave Friday night to run his record to 6-0 in seven starts for the Caneros and still leads the LMP in wins.  As mentioned, Obregon's Lopez leads with 35 strikeouts while Navojoa's Carrillo leads in ERA at 1.71.  Ralph Garza of Monterrey and Trey McNutt of Hermosillo are tied at the top with nine saves apiece and Monterrey's Nick Struck's nine holds head that list as well.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE standings
Obregon 21-11, Jalisco 19-13, Hermosillo 18-13, Culiacan 17-15, Monterrey 16-16,  Los Mochis 15-17, Mazatlan 14-18, Mexicali 14-18, Guasave 14-18, Navojoa 11-20.



FERNANDO, 3 OTHERS INDUCTED INTO SALON DE LA FAMA

Rodriguez, Valenzuela, Fernandez and Saenz

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching star Fernando Valenzuela was one of four new members who were inducted into the Mexican baseball hall of fame last week in Monterrey.  Valenzuela was joined by Daniel Fernandez, Ricardo Saenz and Cuauhtemoc "Chito" Rodriguez at ceremonies held at the new Salon de la Fama facility, which was completed earlier this year and largely bankrolled by Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros owner Alfredo Harp Helu.  The foursome were elected in 2014 and become the first actual inductees since a similar ceremony was held in 2011, after which the old Salon de la Fama on a brewery site was shut down by its owners and all plaques and other treasures were placed in storage until last spring.

Valenzuela, who now owns the Quintana Roo Tigres with his wife Linda Burgos, was the Mexican League Rookie of the Year with Yucatan in 1979 as an 18-year-old before being purchased by the Dodgers.  He made his MLB debut one year later, going 2-0 in ten relief appearances in 1980.  However, it was in 1981 when "Fernandomania" gripped southern California and baseball in general as the Navojoa native went 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA and a league-leading 180 strikeouts, winning the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year while making the first of six All-Star game appearances as the Dodgers won the World Series that Fall, all at the ripe age of 20.  Valenzuela went on to a 17-year MLB career and finished with a lifetime 173-153 record and a 3.54 record.  While he likely won't end up elected to the other Hall of Fame in upstate New York, "El Toro" was easily the most popular Mexican player in the big leagues and is still beloved by fans south of the border.

Fernandez is a Veracruz native who spent 26 seasons playing in the Mexican League, all but one with the Diablos Rojos, and hit .315 lifetime (including sixteen .300+ campaigns).  The 5'8" outfielder, who tipped the scales at 170 pounds, was never a slugger and hit fewer than 100 homers for his career.  However, Fernandez was a productive leadoff batter who had enough gap power to stroke 388 doubles while his 111 triples are tied for third all-time in the Liga.  He was also speedy enough to steal 479 bases (also third on the all-time list) and his 1,837 career runs are the most ever scored by an LMB player and nearly 200 more than his nearest competitor.  Fernandez also managed Mexico City to a pennant in 2008, his first year as a skipper, but has yet to duplicate that success since.

Saenz was another longtime veteran in the Mexican League, as the Coahuila product patrolled left field over 25 seasons for several teams during his playing career, primarily for Saltillo and Monclova.  Although he didn't hit for as high an average as Fernandez did (batting .296 for his career, although he did top .300 twelve times), Saenz had much more power and belted 296 career homers among his 2,453 career hits, topping 20 homers five times and once hit four longballs in a single nine-inning game.  He also drove in 1,318 runs and had enough speed to swipe 102 bases.  Saenz is the LMB's all-time leader with 496 doubles.  Saenz also spent 21 winters in the Mexican Pacific League, knocking out 102 homers in that time.

Rodriguez is a Sonora native who made his mark in Mexican baseball off the field, spending over four decades in the front office as a general manager with LMB teams, primarily the Tecolotes and Tigres.  He was in Nuevo Laredo from 1975 through 1994 before joining the then-Mexico City Tigres in 1995 and remaining with them through franchise shifts to Puebla and Cancun until his retirement in 2017, shortly after Carlos Peralta sold the Tigres to the Valenzuelas.  Between the two organizations, Rodriguez oversaw nine Mexican League pennant-winning teams.  He was also part of a player selection committee for Mexico in three World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009 and 2013) and represented the LMB for several years with Minor League Baseball, who named him "King of Baseball" in 2011.

New Salon de la Fama in Monterrey

Salon de la Fama director Francisco Padilla welcomed guests to last week's ceremony before turning things over to new Electoral Committee president Antonio de Valdes.  Also taking part were Harp and Nuevo Leon governor Jaime Rodriguez as the four Salon newcomers brought the total number of enshrinees to an even 200.  Mexican League co-founder Alejandro "Fray Nano" Aguilar, a sports writer by trade, introduced the Salon de la Fama in 1939, albeit on more of a conceptual basis.  Annual inductions began in 1973 in Monterrey at a building on the Cuahutemoc Brewery grounds and continued until the brewery decided to shut down the Salon in 2012.  There was an abortive attempt to resurrect the Salon in Culiacan a few years ago but it wasn't until the billionaire Harp stepped up to cover the cost of construction that a permanent home in Monterrey was opened this year.

PREMIER12: MEXICO SWEEPS GROUP A, ON TO JAPAN

The Mexican National Team clobbered The Netherlands, 10-2, last Tuesday in Guadalajara to complete a three-game Group A sweep in the World Baseball Softball Confederation's Premier12 tournament.  The Verdes Grande had earlier defeated the Dominican Republic and the United States to clinch a berth in the second stage of Premier12 competition, the Super Round, this week in Japan.  No players on a 40-man roster in Major League Baseball are being allowed by their respective teams to play.

Mexico took an early lead over the Dutchmen in the bottom of the first when leadoff batter Jonathan Jones singled to left, advanced to third base on Noah Perio's single up the middle and then came home to score when Holland centerfielder Roger Bernadina made an errant throw to the plate that catcher Chadwick Tromp couldn't make a play with.  Perio advanced to second on Bernadina's throw, took took when Netherlands starting pitcher Tom Stuibergen uncorked a wild pitch to Efren Navarro and then plated a tally on Navarro's groundout to Sharlon Schoop at second base.

The Mexicans added two more runs in the third when Navarro doubled in Perio and Jesus Araiza later punched a two-out single to plate Navarro, bringing the score to 4-0.  After three scoreless innings, Mexico essentially put the game in their hop pocket with four seventh-inning runs.  A combined three runs came in on two Dutch errors and another scored on a wild pitch in an ugly defensive frame for the European side.  Ageless Yurendell de Caster, who played for Reynosa of the Mexican League in 2010 and 2011, accounted for The Netherlands' only scoring when the 40-year-old Curacao native rapped a two-run single up the middle off Jesus Rios in the top of the eighth but Mexico scored twice more in the bottom of the entrada for the final 10-2 margin of victory.

Mexico outfielder Noah Perio

Arturo Reyes started on the mound for the Verdes Grande and tossed three scoreless innings of one-hit ball, but it was reliever Manny Barreda who got the win by pitching 1.2 frames of no-run ball into the fifth frame.  Stuifbergen took the loss for The Netherlands.  Jones went 3-for-5 with two runs for the winners, who collected ten hits and three walks on the night.  Holland had seven hits and drew seven walks but 12 Dutch runners were left stranded on base as they finished 0-3 in the Premier12 under manager Hensley Meulens and coaches Bert Blyleven and Andruw Jones.  One night earlier, the United States beat the Dominican Republic, 10-8, to clinch Group A's second Super Round berth.

The Mexican National Team is now in Japan, where they'll open Super Round play against Taiwan Monday at Noon local time at Chiba Marine Stadium.  Taiwan finished second to unbeaten Japan with a 2-1 record while hosting Group B action in Taichung.  Mexico will open the second stage with a 1-0 record because they defeated the United States, 8-2, in the opening round while Taiwan starts the Super Round 0-1 after losing to Japan in Group B.  South Korea (3-0) and surprising Australia (2-1) emerged from Group C in Seoul, with the Aussies topping both Canada and Cuba to advance.  Each of the six remaining teams will play four games this week, followed by two games at the Tokyo Dome on Friday: A Bronze Medal game between the third and fourth place finishers at Noon and a Gold Medal Game between the top two seeds at 7:00PM.  Two teams will advance to next year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

It was a good week all around for Mexico manager Juan Gabriel Castro, who was also hired as an infield coach for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2020.  Castro gave up a coaching job with the Los Angeles Dodgers for an ill-defined with the Tijuana Toros in 2018, only to be fired two months after his hiring.  Castro spent last summer in the Phillies organization as coordinator of minor league infielders and will join new manager Joe Girardi in Philadelphia to replace Bobby Dickerson, who left for a bench coaching job with the San Diego Padres.

MEXICO PREMIER12 SUPER ROUND SCHEDULE
Monday, Nov. 11 (12pm) vs. Taiwan, Chiba Marine Stadium
Tuesday, Nov. 12 (12pm) vs. Australia, Tokyo Dome
Wednesday, Nov. 13 (7pm) at Japan, Tokyo Dome
Thursday, Nov. 14 (7pm) at South Korea, Tokyo Dome


THREE LMP MANAGERS FIRED; WILL OSUNA PITCH FOR CHARROS?

New Mexicali manager Pedro Mere

Less than one month into the 2019-20 season, three Mexican Pacific League managers were fired with the usual thanks from teams not thankful enough to spare their jobs.  While it's a little unusual to see three skippers axed after fewer than four weeks, this is an LMP expansion year and there are now ten helmsmen to show the door.

The first firing came November 2 in Guasave, one of the MexPac's two new clubs, who parted ways with manager Rigo Beltran.  A former MLB and NPB pitcher who was a winterball mainstay in Culiacan, Beltran has spent the past six summers as pitching coach for the Indians' AAA Columbus affiliate. The Algodoneros decided they'd seen enough after a 6-12 start, jettisoning both Beltran and pitching coach Jose Silva.  The Cottoneers' new dugout boss will be Oscar Robles.  Robles was LMP Rookie of the Year in 1995-96 for Guasave and has managed both Culiacan and Obregon, and was recently fired from Tijuana in the LMB after leading the Toros to the best regular-season record in the Liga.

Four days later, the axe fell on Adan Munoz in Navojoa.  The longtime catcher who did a decent job in Cancun after being named Quintana Roo manager on May 9 and leading the Tigres to the postseason.  Munoz was in his first season with the Mayos when he was let go with the team in last place after going 6-14 over the first 20 games.  Pitching coach Hector Heredia was named interim Navojoa manager while the front office looks for a permanent (relatively speaking) replacement for Munoz, who may be reassigned elsewhere within the Mayos organization.

The Mexicali Aguilas capped the opening week of canning season by pink-slipping yet another first-year manager, Bobby Dickerson.  A former Yankees draft pick and farmhand, Dickerson was an infield coach for Baltimore for seven seasons and spent last summer with Philadelphia before taking a similar job in San Diego next season.  This was his second stint with Mexicali (he managed the Eagles to the playoffs in 2009-10), but ownership became disaffected with the Aguilas' 7-16 record, although they did "thank Bobby Dickerson for his dedication and professionalism, recognizing him as a hard working and committed manager, wishing him much success in his future projects."  Pedro Mere becomes the latest to enter the revolving managerial door in Mexicali.

Osuna signed with Charros in 2017, but didn't pitch

Meanwhile, a couple of MLB players have been talked about as possible MexPac performers this winter, although one of them has ruled out the possibility.  Telediario of Guadalajara reports that Houston closer Roberto Osuna has told Jalisco team president Salvador Quirarte that he wants to pitch for the Charros this winter.  "When it was the Houston game in Monterrey," Quirarte said, "I was talking to Roberto and he said, 'Hey, I want you to take me with the Charros this year."  Quirarte admits it's up to the Astros to allow Osuna to pitch anywhere this winter, saying "We have to wait, although being very clear and seeing the Houston team so strongly, I don't see much hope."  Another big league pitcher, Sergio Romo, is already in Guadalajara with the Charros, but the 12-year MLB veteran is a free agent and not under the same restrictions Osuna is.

Another MLBer, Luis Urias, was rumored to be a possible addition to the Obregon roster this winter, perhaps as soon as this month.  However, El Fildeo reports that Urias himself is discounting the talk on social media.  A middle infielder, the 22-year-old Urias played 71 games for San Diego this year, batting .223 with 4 homers, and is considered one of the Padres' top prospects.  He hit .280 over 36 games for the Yaquis as an 18-year-old in 2015-16.  Like Osuna, Urias' availability would be subject to his parent club's approval and it's not known whether the San Diego organization would sign off on it.

The battle for first place remains tight with only nine games remaining in the first half.  Culiacan (16-9) holds the narrowest of leads over Hermosillo (15-9) and Jalisco (15-10) at the top of the table, while Lobregon and Los Mochis (both 14-11) sit two games out of first.  At the bottom of the standings, Mexicali (8-17) is eight games out of first and as mentioned above, former manager Bobby Dickerson bore the brunt of the Aguilas' slow start.

Jose Aguilar of Obregon leads the batting race with a .373 average while Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde is second at .361.  Jalisco's Stephen Cardullo may be hitting a pedestrian .255. but he's making the most of what he can with an LMP-best seven homers among his 24 base hits.  Teammate Dariel Alvarez and Obregon's Art Charles are among three players trailing Cardullo by one homer while being tied at the top with 21 RBIs apiece.  Culiacan outfielder Rico Noel has stolen 14 bases in 16 attempts to take a healthy lead in that category.

Yoanys Quiala of Los Mochis leads the LMP in wins with a perfect 5-0 mark after six starts.  Quiala's 1.95 ERA is third behind Hermosillo's Mike Kickham (1.55) and Teddy Stankiewicz of Guasave (1.91).  Quiala also leads in strikeouts with 31 (Obregon's Arturo Lopz has 30) and his 0.81 WHIP is also tops, just ahead of Kickham's 0.86.  Monterrey's Ralph Garza and Trey McNutt of Hermosillo are tied for saves supremacy with eight apiece.  Even though Garza's Sultanes teammate Nick Struck's ERA of 4.09 may not be overly impressive, his eight holds are.

The MexPac says the one-million mark in attendance had been surpassed by the 21-game mark of the first half on November 8.  The LMP states that a total of 1,108,336 attendees witnessed games across the loop's ten cities through seven series, a number that projects to an overall average of 10,556 per opening, which is higher than any MiLB league north of the border.  According to a story on the league website, Culiacan leads with 15,853 attendees per game, followed by Hermosillo's 15,155 average.


MEXICAN LEAGUE CUTS BACK TO 102 GAMES IN 2020; 80 GAMES IN 2021?

After expanding its regular season schedule to 120 games per team for the first time since 2001, the Mexican League is making a drastic cut in games for 2020 and at least one prominent baseball writer south of the border things the LMB could be looking at even fewer openings in 2021.

The Liga once played as many as 140 games per season but gradually adopted shorter schedules until adopting a 110-game calendar in 2002, a format the circuit kept until creating two separate 56-game seasons last year.  When that proved unworkable, the LMB returned to a single-season format in 2019 with 120 games and although the loop drew 5 million fans for the first time in the 21st Century, the decision was made among owners last month to cut back to 102 games, the fewest since the reorganized Mexican League joined the National Association (Minor League Baseball's predecessor) in 1955 with a Class AA designation.

The 2020 schedule will open Monday, April 6 when the newly-crowned champion Monclova Acereros host the rival Monterrey Sultanes at Estadio Monclova, the "Biggest Oven in Mexico" (as per the LMB's own website).  Even though the schedule has been shortened, the format has each team hosting and visiting every Liga opponents so home fans will be able to watch all 15 other LMB teams in their own ballparks next season.

The two-half system will be back for a second year in a row, with the First Half closing on June 4, followed by All-Star Weekend between June 5-7 in Monclova.  The Second Half opens on June 9 and ends August 6.  As in past seasons, if three games or fewer separate the fourth and fifth place teams in either division, a wildcard game will be held August 7 at the fourth-place team's ballpark.  The full playoffs (all best-4-of-7 series) will begin Tuesday, August 11 with the Division Semifinals.  Division Championship Series will open Saturday, August 22 while the Serie del Rey for the LMB title opens Tuesday, September 1, with a Game Seven (if needed) slated for Wednesday, September 9.

Tabasco Olmecas game in Villahermosa

The point system for playoff seeding will now reflect the one used in the Mexican Pacific League per half:  First place in each division gets 8 points, second place gets 7 points while third place gets 6 points.  Fourth place gets 5.5 points, fifth place gets 5.0 points, sixth place gets 4.5 points, seventh place gets 4.0 and eighth place gets 4.5 points.

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros notes that the elimination of almost one month from the Mexican League season is in response to "great economic losses" after what he said was "another of the bad decisions taken in the Javier Salinas era by the council of owners."  The new 2020 calendar will be approved at December's Baseball Winter Meetings in San Diego.  Ballesteros, who says the LMB wants to cut its schedule back further to 80 games in 2021 (which would make it difficult for the Liga to remain at Class AAA in the MiLB structure), all 16 franchises will vote for a new president to replace Salinas.  According to Ballesteros, Salinas was installed by just three clubs, "and today they are sorry as a league in general."

MEXICO WINS FIRST TWO PREMIER12 GAMES

Ali Solis in his Monterrey uniform

A two-run single by Efren Navarro and a three-run homer by Ali Solis in the eighth inning broke open a one-run game as Mexico went on to defeat the United States, 8-2, Sunday night in WBSC Premier12 play at Guadalajara's Estadio Charros.  The win gives Mexico a 2-0 record in Group A play with one game left to play against The Netherlands (0-2) Tuesday night at 7PM Central time.  Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Mexico (who has outscored their opponents 14-3 over their first two games) will advance to the second round of the Premier12 in Chiba, Japan because they've defeated both the USA and the Dominican Republic, who'll take 1-1 records into their game Monday night.

The Verdes Grande, who were Sunday's visiting team, opened the scoring early when Christian Villanueva singled off American starter Tanner Houck to plate in Jonathan Jones and Juan Perez in the top of the first inning to go up 2-0.  The United States chipped away at their deficit via the longball, as Eric Kratz belted a solo homer off Mexican starter Horacio Ramirez in the top of the third and Bobby Dalback followed suit with a bases-empty blast off Ramirez one inning later to knot the score at 2-2.

Mexico went back ahead for good in the top of the fifth when Noah Perio hit a leadoff single, moved to third on a Javier Salazar safety and then scored the go-ahead run with two out when reliever Daniel Tillo's pitch to Esteban Quiroz got away from catcher Kratz.  From that point on, Felipe Gonzalez, Jesus Cruz, Brennan Bernardino and Carlos Bustamante held the Americans scoreless the rest of the way as Navarro and Solis put on their eighth frame fireworks show to cinch the win for the Mexicans.

Gonzalez earned the win with 1.2 innings of scoreless pitching for Mexico while Houck took the loss for the USA.  The Grandes Verde collected 10 hits to 6 for the Americans as Perez, Solis and Perio each had a pair of hits.  A crowd of 10,123 witnessed the contest at Estadio Charros, the largest gathering over the first two days of Group A action.  Going into the Premier12, the USA (managed by ex-Yankees infielder Scott Brosius) was ranked second in the world while Mexico was sixth.

Esteban Quiroz hit grand slam vs. Dominicans

Quiroz belted a fourth-inning grand slam homer to break open Mexico's Premier12 opening game against the Dominican Republic Saturday in Guadalajara as the hosts went on to top the Dominicans by a 6-1 score.  The contest was halted by rain after six innings, sending the reported 8,000 fans at Estadio Charros home or to their hotel rooms early.

The Dominicans took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first when leadoff batter Geraldo Perdomo singled off Mexico starter Eduardo Vera, advanced to second base on an Otto Lopez groundout and later scored on a two-out single up the middle by former Mariners outfielder Carlos Peguero.  Peguero played three seasons with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan before batting .286 with 9 homers and 44 RBIs in 52 games this summer for the Korea Baseball Organization's LG Twins (after spending a month with Tijuana in the Mexican League, hitting .259 with 5 homers in 22 contests).

The score held until the bottom of the third frame, when Salazar and Jones led off with singles and Christian Villanueva drew a one-out walk before Quiroz launched his bases-loaded blast over the center field wall off an Enny Romero delivery to give the Mexicans a 4-1 lead.  Two innings later, Navarro and Matt Clark hit back-to-back homers to right off reliever Luis Perez to make it a 6-1 contest.  Solis then struck out and Salazar grounded out to first before the game was called because of rain.  Reliever Humberto Castellanos got the win for Mexico after tossing two perfect innings while Romero absorbed the loss.

The Dominicans bounced back Sunday to even their Group A record at 1-1 with a 14-4 win over The Netherlands as Peguero, Charlie Valerio and Jeison Guzman each bopped solo homers after Holland had taken a 3-0 lead in the first.  The United States had swamped the Dutchmen, 9-0, in the Group A opener Saturday afternoon behind a two-hit shoutout from winner Cody Ponce (5 IP) and four relievers who were backed up by four homers, including a grand slam from Red Sox prospect Bobby Dalbac.  Venerable Rob Cordemans took the loss for The Netherlands.  Cordemans, who turned 45 on Halloween, has pitched internationally for Holland since 1995, including appearances in the World Baseball Classic, Olympic Games, Baseball World Cup and Intercontinental Cup (winning the 2011 Gold medal) while anchoring eight European Baseball Championship title teams.


LIFETIME SEATHOLDERS THREATEN SULTANES WITH LEGAL ACTION

Estadio Monterrey, Mexico's largest ballpark

Weeks into their inaugural Mexican Pacific League season, the Monterrey Sultanes are finding life a little tougher on the playing field as well as in the luxury suites and box seats.  The Sultanes are a perennial powerhouse during the spring and summer during the Mexican League season, but they currently have a 7-12 LMP record to tie fellow expansionists Guasave for sixth place, four games behind the 11-8 Obregon Yaquis.

Monterrey's winterball team is operated separately from their Liga brethren, with largely different players and coaches.  Former White Sox outfielder Alejandro de Aza leads the Sultanes with a .394 batting average while outfielders Michael Choice and Felix Perez have combined for four homers and 23 RBIs (although Perez is hitting just .209 thus far after batting .308 with 30 homers for Monterrey over the summer).  Sultanes manager Homar Rojas' pitching staff has struggled at times, although starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez has pitched better than his 1-2 record indicates, with a 2.01 ERA and 19 strikeouts and just 2 walks over 22.1 innings.

Even though the team is not performing up to the usual Monterrey standards, they ARE a new LMP entry and there are still nearly two months to turn things around in the won-lost column.  The front office may be wishing their team's on-field performance was their biggest concern, but that distinction may belong to the some of the Sultanes' most well-heeled fans.

According to Puro Beisbol, lifetime holders of seats and luxury boxes at Estadio Monterrey have sent a letter to the Sultanes threatening legal action after the team allegedly failed to honor terms of the agreement between the two sides dating back 30 years.  At that time, several prominent baseball fans in Monterrey made significant monetary contributions toward the construction of Estadio Monterrey, which opened July 12, 1990, when the city hosted the World Youth Baseball Champions for players 16 and under.  The Sultanes' first LMB home game there was played against Nuevo Laredo one week later.  The agreement between the franchise and benefactor fans was that in exchange for their contributions toward building Mexico's largest ballpark at present (capacity 21,906), the fans would receive "lifetime" access to their designated boxes and seats for up to 50 years, or until the year 2040.

Sultanes co-owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz

Now, those fans are claiming that Sultanes co-owners Grupo Multimedios, who bought half the team in 2017, have reneged on the agreement cobbled together by co-owner and team president Jose "Pepe" Maiz three decades ago.  "As many know," the letter states, "a new administration led by Multimedios entered two years ago and arbitrarily decided this year not to invalidate those rights granted to us nearly 30 years ago."

Making things more complicated for the Sultanes is another claim made in the letter: That the team cannot use Estadio Monterrey for Mex Pac games because the contract (presumably the one between the team and lifetime seatholders) needs to first be modified by the Nuevo Leon state government and has been suspended by order of a federal judge.  "We want to see the Pacific League and encourage teams in our state," the letter concludes, "But we will not let a company (Multimedios) make fun of us and our rights."

Back between the LMP foul lines, a first-half dogfight has developed at the top of the standings between Culican and Hermosillo.  The Tomateros have a 14-5 record to clutch a narrow half-game lead over the 13-5 Naranjeros.  Los Mochis and defending champion Jalisco are two games out of first with identical 12-7 records, one game ahead of Obregon.

Noel Cuevas of Los Mochis leads in batting with a .395 average while Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde is second at 387.  Obregon outfielder Paulo Orlando is tops with 6 homers and tied with teammate Art Charles for third with 17 RBIs, one behind co-leaders Henry Urrutia of Jalisco and another Yaquis player, Jesus "Cacao" Valdez, who have 18 ribbies each.  Culiacan's Rico Noel is first in stolen bases with 9. 

Six pitchers have three wins apiece, one of them being Jalisco reliever Linder Castro.  A 28-year-old righty who represented Aguascalientes in the 2018 Mexican League All-Star Game, Castro is 3-0 with a save and has yet to be scored upon in eight appearances out of the bullpen, striking out 10 batsmen and walking one in 10.2 innings.  Among LMP starters, Los Mochis' Luke Heimlich has the lowest ERA at 0.77 after four starts, Arturo Lopez (Obregon) and Greg Mahle (Mexicali) are tied with 23 strikeouts and Hermosillo's Trey McNutt leads with 8 saves.


VERACRUZ WRITER: LIV OWNERS TO ASK AMLO FOR 2019-20 FUNDING

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador touted how much a baseball fan he is during his 2018 campaign, and has proven as good as his word since the 65-year-old Tabasco native took office for his 6-year term last December.  Lopez Obrador has ordered the Mexican League to reinstate four financially-troubled teams scheduled for a one-year hiatus in 2019 as well as demanding the Mexican Pacific League expand from eight to ten teams this winter to fulfill a campaign promise to voters in Guasave to bring the Mex Pac back to the agricultural city. AMLO has also taken an active role in building the sport by appointing ex-MLB infielder Edgar Gonzalez as head of the newly-created President's Office for Promotion and Development of Baseball in Mexico while envisioning a series of federally-funded baseball academies at school campuses across the country.  Whatever one thinks of his ideas, nobody can deny that Lopez Obrador has been very proactive on behalf of his favorite sport.

AMLO's love of baseball has led the summer Northern Mexico League to hold talks with Gonzalez seeking government subsidies to help the LNM operate last season and now, the Veracruz Winter League is apparently following suit.  Diario de Acayucan writer Enrique Reyes Grajales recently reported that several teams are interested in playing in the LIV this winter, but most lack the money to meet player payroll without government subsidies.  Reyes Grajales says sisters Regina and Fabiola Vasquez Saut, co-owners of the Acayucan Tobis who rebooted the LIV last year, are hoping for an audience with Lopez Obrador to ask for federal assistance to keep their league afloat for another season.

Taxpayer support used to not be a problem when the state of Veracruz was led by then-governor Javier Duarte, who was generous with both the LIV (formed in 2005) and the Mexican League Veracruz Rojos del Aguila.  However, state subsidies dried up after Duarte left office amid a corruption scandal that eventually led to his extradition from Guatemala and subsequent imprisonment, causing owner Jose Antonio Mansur to move his LMB franchise to Nuevo Laredo a year after the original LIV had shut down altogether in 2016.  Former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Narciso Elvira led a replacement circuit named the Veracruz State Baseball League for two winters, but the four-team loop relied on untested rookies playing a short weekend-only schedule and the LVEB never really caught on before folding after the 2017-18 season.

Acayucan Tobis celebrate 2018-19 LIV title

The second LIV featured six teams playing weekend series in the regular season and playoffs. The Vasquez Saut sisters' Acayucan team won the pennant for their second straight berth in the Latin American Series, where the Tobis reached the title game in Veracruz' Estadio Universitario Beto Avila, losing to Nicaragua's Leon Leones, 4-3, on February 1.

Since then, the LIV website has shut down and no posts have been made on their Facebook page since July 29 with a plug for a local restaurant and an appearance by Salon de la Fama pitcher Angel Moreno. the Mexican League's career wins leader among left-handers with a 263-171 record.  Only time will tell if Reyes Grajales was correct and whether the Vasquez Saut sisters were able to get AMLO to give federal help in keeping the LIV alive but now that November is underway, that time is running out.