OBREGON WINS MEX PAC FIRST HALF BY 4.5 GAMES

Obregon's Alonzo Harris is 20-for-22 in steals

    Despite a 16-10 loss at home to Culiacan last Thursday in the final game of an abbreviated first half, the Obregon Yaquis were able to capitalize on their hot start to finish first in the Mexican Pacific League's opening stanza with a 21-8 record, four-and-a-half games ahead of 15-11 Hermosillo and good enough to capture ten playoff points. The Yaquis were just 4-5 after the LMP's unscheduled eleven-day layoff due to the Wuhan virus, but their 17-3 mark before play was halted provided enough padding to make for a soft landing from their fall back to earth. Obregon then opened the second half with a pair of losses to Guasave in Estadio Yaquis, so the road appears to be harder traveling for Sergio Gastelum's squad through the end of the regular season.

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros provided his readers an analysis of the Mex Pac's first round for each team, of which we present a lightly edited version here:

    OBREGÓN YAQUIS (21-8, 10.0 POINTS): They only lost two of their ten series, one against Hermosillo and the other against Mexicali. OF Alonzo Harris was the offensive spark plug with a .337 average (ninth in the LMP) and 20 stolen bases in 22 attempts, leading the circuit. Sebastián Valle arrived to bring order to the pitching staff as their catcher (LMP leaders in ERA at 3.97), even when they traded their best starter, Octavio Acosta.

    HERMOSILLO NARANJEROS (15-11, 9.0 POINTS): Unimpressive like last year, the multi-champions did enough to take over the runner-up and 9 points. Special mention of OF Norberto Obeso (LMP batting sub-leader at .371), OF Yadiel Hernandez (.341) and 3B Luis Alfonso Cruz (4HR, 19 RBI) as well as starting pitcher Juan Pablo Oramas (4-2 and 3.38) and closer Fernando Salas (7 saves, 0.93 ERA).

    MONTERREY SULTANES (14-12, 8.0 POINTS): With 2B-OF Alejo López as the only one in the league's top ten batting (sixth at .348), the Sultanes surprised in the first half. Dustin Peterson contributed 6 homers and 21 RBIs in his first 23 games while in pitching, Édgar González stands out with a 3-2 record and 4.32 of ERA, ninth in the Mex Pac.

    CULIACAN TOMATEROS (15-13, 7.0 POINTS): If it weren't for OF Sebastián Elizalde, they could've possibly finished in the bottom three. Elizalde has 9 homers and 32 RBIs, leading the LMP in both departments, although he slumped in recent games. 3B Joey Meneses is hitting .275 with 4 HR and 15 RBIs. Without OF Rico Noel and C Alí Solís, Culiacan's goal was one of the first four positions and they succeeded.

    GUASAVE ALGODONEROS (14-13, 6.0 POINTS): They closed the first half with seven wins in their last eight games to reach 6 points. Cuban P Yoenis Yera (3-0, 2.37) arrived to reinforce the starting rotation. Closer Gene Encina has 8 saves while on offense, OF Yadir Drake (.343/6HR/20RBI) and SS Arisbel Arruebarruena (.373/7HR/12RBI) stand out, despite the latter missing 14 games.

    JALISCO CHARROS(15-14, 5.5 POINTS): They have again had serious problems with their pitching, not only releasing Cuban P Elián Leyva (a former Triple Crown winner) but allowing 25 runs in their last three games against Navojoa. 1B Henry Urrutia has stood out for the defending champions with .355/5HR/21RBI numbers while DH Japhet Amador has turned in .342/6/28 numbers over 29 games.

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros

    MAZATLÁN VENADOS (14-14, 5.0 POINTS): The arrival of Pablo Ortega at the helm rescued them from falling into the basement. The Venados closed with seven consecutive wins and are going to improve a lot in the second half with the arrival of P Mitch Lively and other players. Detroit Tigers IF Isaac Paredes has responded with a .390 average, one home run and 12 RBIs in 12 games.

    MEXICALI AGUILAS(13-16, 4.5 POINTS): After starting 0-8, the team closed with a 13-8 mark under the command of Bronswell Patrick. 1B Balbino Fuenmayor (.273) went home to Venezuela and it's striking that none of Patrick's players hit .300. Even Cuban OF Rusney Castillo has been a disappointment with a .212 average no homers and one RBI in 9 games. P Eduardo Vera is the LMP sub-leader with a 2.64 ERA.

    NAVOJOA MAYOS (10-19, 4.0 POINTS): The Mayos have had a season full of ups and downs. The highlight was their 4-for-1 trade with the Yaquis, although Tirso Ornelas will miss the rest of the season with injury. Individually, C Omar Renteria leads the LMP batting race at .397 and P Felix Dubrount was 3-2 with a 2.32 ERA before (like Fuenmayor) returning to play in his native Venezuela, where the season is just now getting underway.

    LOS MOCHIS CANEROS (9-20, 3.5 POINTS): Their pitching has been a disaster and they continue to suffer from the absence of OF Jonathan Jones, 2B Ramón Urías and, of course, Cuban starter Yoanys Quiala, who last winter fought for the Triple Crown of Pitching. SS Isaac Rodriguez is batting .366 while OF Leander Castro has 8 HR. The panorama in Los Mochis is very difficult, but the postseason is not impossible.

MANSUR SAYS TECOS ARE "VERY HAPPY" PLAYING IN LAREDO

Will Tecos remain at Laredo Ballpark?

    A Mexican baseball website reports rumors the Dos Laredos Tecolotes may be seeking greener pastures, although owner Jose Antonio Mansur gave assurances that the Tecos' current dispute with the City of Laredo, Texas will not result in the Mexican League team moving out of the border region.

    Beisbol Puro says the dispute between the Tecos and City of Laredo centers on control over concessions at Laredo Ballpark, a facility completed in 2012 with naming rights paid for by a local shipping company.* Presently, the Tecos operate concessions at Laredo Ballpark for eight months a year while another company is allowed to organize events and handle concessions over the remaining four months. Mansur wants a year-round concessions contract, something the City has yet to agree to.

    The standoff has led to speculation that Mansur might move the team (which arrived from Veracruz following the 2017 LMB season) out of both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo altogether. “We have some differences in the way in which the renewal of the concession contract for the stadium in Laredo, Texas is being considered,” Mansur told Beisbol Puro in a phone interview, “but that is something that we hope can be resolved. We are very happy and very comfortable playing both in Laredo and in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.”

    The Tecos split their home schedule between the two cities that are separated by the Rio Grande, with games south of the border played at aging Parque la Junta, a 6,000-seater built in 1947 that has housed five LMB pennant-winners since, including a powerhouse Tecolotes squad that played in six Serie del Reys between 1985 and 1993, winning two titles. The current Tecos franchise initially played their Mexican home games at 12,000-seat Estadio Nuevo Laredo in 2018. 

    Despite being a newer (opened in 2008) better facility than Parque la Junta and was one of three LMB ballparks with artificial turf at the time, Estadio Nuevo Laredo sits outside Nuevo Laredo in an area considered unsafe by many fans, leading to poor attendance. The Tecos moved their Mexican home games to the older ballpark in 2019 but while crowds did increase, it is not considered an optimal Mexican League venue moving ahead.

Dos Laredos owner Jose Antonio Mansur

    Laredo Ballpark, which was built for $18 million, has 3,940 permanents seats and can accommodate up to 6,000 spectators for baseball when picnic areas and grass berms are factored in. While it's one of the smallest ballparks in the LMB, it's also one of the more modern ones and affords the Tecos the unique status of being the world's only pro baseball team that considers two nations “home.” Mansur says that while he would prefer to keep things where they are, he's prepared play all home games in Mexico, if not necessarily in Nuevo Laredo.

    “We're not leaving here,” he told Beisbol Puro. “What could happen if we don't reach an agreement is that we don't play in Laredo, Texas but our home would continue to be Nuevo Laredo.” He added that farming some games to other cities might be considered. "It really would be an extreme case, but we could look to play some games in Reynosa, or even play in McAllen, Texas to continue with the idea of being a two-country team, but for now those are only options that we have as a possibility.”

*Like all media outlets, Baseball Mexico is not obligated to recognize naming rights deals that generate no revenue for BBM.

LOOKING FORWARD: MENESES, BANUELOS, VILLANUEVA

Joey Meneses with Red Sox

   With the 2020 baseball season in the rear-view mirror and winterball in full swing, three veteran Mexican players are weighing their options for the 2021 campaign. While one of them has been invited to a Major League Baseball training camp and another appears likely to be returning to Taiwan, one former MLBer among the trio finds himself at loose ends.

    Culiacan infielder Joey Meneses, who is playing third base for the first time this winter to allow Tomateros manager Benji Gil to put Efren Navarro and his .303 average at first base while slugger Japhet Amador is the designated hitter. Meneses has struggled at times on defense, but he's hit .292 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 30 games.

    The Boston Red Sox, who invited the 2018 International League MVP to their training camp last spring, have announced they'll bring the 6'3” 220-pounder back for another look-see as a free agent in February. The 28-year-old Culiacan native struggled with Japan's Orix Buffaloes in 2019, batting just .206 with four homers in 29 games before being suspended by NPB after testing positive for steroids, but the BoSox were intrigued by his breakout performance with the Phillies' AAA affiliate in Lehigh Valley two years and want to see whether his right-handed power can translate to success with Fenway Park's Green Monster.

    Left-handed pitcher Manny Banuelos has already endured a sometimes-bizarre 2019 during which he began the year pitching for Culiacan in the Mexican Pacific League playoffs in January, followed by a start in February as a reinforcement for Jalisco at the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico and a stint in Arizona as a free agent hurler in the Seattle Mariners spring camp in March before the Wuhan virus shut down baseball north of the border that month. Ranked as high as 13th among all prospects by MLB.com as a Yankees farmhand in 2011, Banuelos was subsequently released by Seattle but eventually signed with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

    Once he reached Taiwan and cleared quarantine, Banuelos pitched well for the Guardians, going 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts and striking out 62 batters in 52 innings for a team that went 54-69 for the year. It's almost a given that the 29-year-old Durango product will be offered a contract by the Taipei-based team for the 2021 season.

Fubon Guardians lefty Manny Banuelos

    The player looking over his options (and perhaps licking his wounds after two tough seasons in Japan) is former San Diego third baseman Christian Villanueva. The 29-year-old from Guadalajara made his MLB debut in September, batting .344 with four homers in 12 games for the Padres. He had a hot start for San Diego in 2018, earning National League Rookie of the Month honors in April after hitting .321 with eight roundtrippers in 23 games. Villanueva hit less than .200 over the next three months before rebounding with a .356 average in 12 August games before suffering a season-ending injury.

    Despite finishing with 20 homers to augment his .236 season average, his contract was sold the following offseason to the NPB Yomiuri Giants. Villanueva struggled with injuries both years, hitting .223 with eight homers for the Giants in 2019 while spending time on their farm team before being let go. He was picked up by the Nippon Ham Fighters for 2020 but moving from the Central to Pacific League had no effect as he hit just .220 with four longballs for the Fighters, spent time with THEIR farm team and was released on November 18. Villanueva began playing for the hometown Jalisco Charros last week, homering in one of his first five games, but he's essentially playing for a spring training invitation at this point. His Mexican League rights were acquired by the Monterrey Sultanes from Yucatan late last year.

GUASAVE PLAYER HITS 3 HOMERS IN SINGLE GAME

Guasave outfielder Leo German

    After a self-imposed shutdown of eleven days due to increasing cases of the Wuhan virus among players and coaches, the Mexican Pacific League swung back into action last Tuesday night with four games. A fifth scheduled contest, in which Los Mochis was to play in Guasave, was moved to Monday, November 23 in Los Mochis due to logistical issues, according to an Algodoneros press release.

    The extra day off didn't do anything to throw off Guasave outfielder Leo German's timing. The 5'9” veteran had never hit more than three home runs in a season (summer or winter) until he launched 10 longballs for Dos Laredos in a 2019 Mexican League campaign that saw numbers inflated by a very lively Franklin ball that was discarded after one year. Even so, it was the 27-year-old German who became the 39th player in Mex Pac history to hit three homers in a nine-inning game, two of them “panoramic” blasts, according to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, in Guasave's 5-3 win over the Caneros.

    A three-run homer by Felix Perez keyed a four-run top of the seventh inning that lifted Obregon into a 9-8 comeback win at Mexicali Saturday night, completing a Yaquis doubleheader sweep of the Aguilas that helped keep the visitors in first place, although Sunday's closing game was forfeited to Mexicali, 9-0, by the LMP office after three Yaquis tested positive for the Wuhan virus. The forfeit drops Obregon's record to 19-7, two games ahead of Hermosillo in second at 15-7.

 Monterrey first baseman Dustin Peterson had a night to remember in Thursday's 11-4 win in Navojoa. During a ten-run outburst in the top of the seventh in which 13 Sultanes went to the plate, Peterson socked a solo homer off Marco Carrillo and a two-run roundtripper off Francisco Moreno to become only the third batter in LMP history to hit two homers in the same frame. The first was Hermosillo's Altar Greene against Navojoa in 1979 while Roberto Saucedo of Mazatlan did the double in 2001, also against the Mayos. Older brother D.J. Peterson, playing the initial hassock for Navojoa, had earlier launched a longball in the bottom of the third inning as the Petersons set a league record with three homers while playing for opposite teams.

    It was a tough week for the Mayos, who are 9-16 and a half-game ahead of 8-16 basement-dwelling Los Mochis. Navojoa lost 20-year-old Padres outfield prospect Tirso Ornelas for the season with a serious arm injury. Ornelas, one of four players sent by Obregon in exchange for first baseman Victor Mendoza early this month, was batting .286 with a double and two runs scored in five games for his new team.

New Venados manager Pablo Ortega

    Although the trade looked like a potential bonanza for Navojoa at the time, it's not working out that way. Besides Ornelas' injury, then-league ERA leader Octavio Acosta was unenthusiatic about the move and was shelled in his first start against Monterrey for five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings. Likewise, reliever Moreno (already pitching for his third team this winter) has been hit hard in two outings and, like Acosta, has a 27.00 ERA for the Mayos while second baseman Moises Gutierrez is batting just .214 after for games with Navojoa. If there's any consolation for the Mayos, Mendoza is rehabbing a leg injury and has yet to play for the Yaquis.

    It was also a tough week for veteran manager Juan Jose Pacho, who was fired by Mazatlan Thursday after the Venados ended a three-game series in Culiacan with an 8-14 record. Even a 9-7 victory over the Tomateros in the finale wasn't enough to save Pacho, who led Mazatlan to three LMP pennants and a pair of Caribbean Series wins in two previous terms at the helm of the team, from being the second manager canned this season (Mexicali parted ways with Pedro Mere after an 0-8 start and has since gone 11-6 under Bronswell Patrick).

    Pacho has been replaced by pitching coach Pablo Ortega, a longtime star hurler in both Mexican leagues (including a 76-71 record and 3.27 ERA over 18 LMP seasons, 15 with Mazatlan) who had been named manager of Dos Laredos for 2020 but never managed a game for the Tecolotes after the Mexican League canceled the season. He won his managerial debut at home Friday night as the Deer topped Los Mochis, 7-4, and followed that up with a 6-5 Saturday win as Isaac Paredes scored from second in the bottom of the ninth when a Carlos Munoz grounder that Caneros second baseman Esteban Quiroz had to dive to stop drew an errant Quiroz throw to the plate that brought in Paredes with the winning run.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS (as of 11/22/20)
Obregon 19-6, Hermosillo 15-7, Culiacan 14-12, Monterrey 12-10, Guasave 11-12, Jalisco 11-14, Mexicali 11-14, Mazatlan 10-14, Navojoa 10-16, Los Mochis 8-16.

JALISCO TO JOIN VERACRUZ AS LMB EXPANSION TEAMS?

Salvador Quirarte of Guadalajara

    The Mexican League's announcement that an acceptable proposal from Veracruz for an expansion team has been received (and that the port city will likely be given a franchise in the near future) created speculation as to who would be the second new club. It now appears that the Jalisco Charros may become the 18th LMB team, joining the Monterrey Sultanes in operating ballclubs in both the LMB and Mexican Pacific League.

    Guadalajara is Mexico's second-largest city and while previous attempts by operators of Mexican League teams have ended in failure, baseball's profile in a metropolis where soccer is king has risen considerably over the past several years, beginning with the purchase and shifting of the Mexican Pacific League's team in Guasave in 2014 couple with the renamed Jalisco Charros buying Guadalajara's existing Estadio Panamericano ballpark (built for the 2011 Pan-American Games) and renovating it. Since then, the Charros have become one of the best-drawing clubs in the Mex Pac during their six years of existence and won their first LMP championship and Caribbean Series berth last winter.

    On a broader scale, Charros co-owners Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte have been very proactive in bringing outside baseball events into renamed Estadio Charros, which can now seat up to 16,000 spectators, including the World Baseball Classic, Premier12 and Caribbean Series. Now it looks as though Guadalajara is poised to host professional baseball on a year-round basis.

    However, it appears that they may be be doing it without Quirarte in the fold. Jose Carlos Campos, a former LMP media relations director who now oversee the El Rincon Beisbolero website, says that Quirarte is coming up short in an internal struggle within the front office and “was forced by the members to leave the office (and club) for reasons of lack of clarity regarding the basketball club that he also managed.”

Jorge y Bernardo Pasquel

    Campos speculates that the two new LMB teams would not be the product of expansion to 18 teams, but rather a “recomposition” involving two current Liga members, adding that “growing in numbers in times of severe crisis is not exactly a good idea.” There had been rumors that the Aguascalientes Rieleros would be sold and moved to Veracruz in 2021, but the LMB office quashed them.

    A familiar name is apparently heading the effort to bring a Mexican League team back to Veracruz. According to Jose Antonio Otero of El Fildeo, local businessman Bernardo Pasquel is son of former Veracruz Azules co-owner Bernardo Senior and nephew of former LMB president Jorge Pasquel, whose strong will and deep pockets turned the circuit into a threat to Major League Baseball's hegemony over the game in the 1940's. After bringing a number of top Negro League players to Mexico, the elder Pasquel turned his attention and resources to MLB players. 

    Stan Musial and Ted Williams both turned down his offers, but he was able to get Vern Stephens, Max Lanier, Sal Maglie and Danny Gardella to agree to play south of the border, resulting in baseball commissioner Happy Chandler slapping a lifetime ban on players who stayed in Mexico (it was later reduced to a five-year ban after Gardella's antitrust lawsuit was allowed by a federal appeals court to move forward). The Pasquels eventually left the game in 1952 and Jorge died in a plane crash three years later.

AMEZCUA, MAZON ELECTED TO CARIBBEAN SERIES HALL OF FAME

Former Culiacan catcher Adan Amezcua

    Longtime Culiacan catcher Adan Amezcua and Hermosillo Naranjeros team president Enrique Mazon have been selected as new members of the Caribbean Series Hall of Fame. The two are scheduled to be be inducted during a ceremony held at the 2021 Serie del Caribe in Mazatlan.

    Amezcua, who played 21 consecutive seasons with the Tomateros in the Mexican Pacific League, was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2002 CS in Caracas after batting .455 with three homers as Culiacan became the first team in Mexico to win two championships in that event. The man nicknamed “El General” had already been a champion with the Tomateros in Santo Domingo in 1996 and later obtained a third in Mazatlan 2005 as a reinforcement for the Venados in their first Caribbean Series crown, earning kudos for his work with a pitching staff that included Francisco Campos, Pablo Ortega and Jorge Campillo.

    Now 46, the 6'3” 200-pounder had an LMP career batting average of .267 with 68 homers and 299 RBIs in 794 games when he retired in 2014. After spending time playing in the Astros, Orioles and Padres systems between 1993 and 2002, Amezcua played the final 13 summers of his pro career in the Mexican League and played on pennant winners with Monterrey in 2007 and Quintana Roo in 2013 and 2015. He had unofficial LMB career totals of 60 homers and 409 RBIs to augment a .293 average in 872 contests.

Hermosillo president Enrique Mazon

    Amezcua, who is an analyst on a podcast for Puro Beisbol, will have a special motivation because the tribute will be in his hometown of Mazatlan. He'll be adding another achievement to his brilliant career after the Tomateros retired his number 31 in December 2017.

    Mazon has been with the Hermosillo organization since 1987 and a fundamental piece in the Naranjeros' past success as part of eight of the sixteen titles that the Hermosillo team has won in the Mex Pac: 1989-1990, 1991-1992, 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 2000-2001, 2006-2007, 2009-2010 and 2013-2014. Under Mazon, the Orangemen also were champions in the 2014 Caribbean Series in Margarita, Venezuela while organizing the Caribbean classic's 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2013 in Hermosillo.

    Mazon also helped oversee the construction of Estadio Sonora, a 16,000-seat ballpark that opened in February 2013 to replace Estadio Hector Espino (the Naranjeros' longtime home) and is considered by many to be the nicest baseball facility in Mexico. Hermosillo annually ranks among the LMP's attendance leaders with well over 10,000 seats filled nighty. Last winter, the team finished second in the loop with an average of 14,324 per opening in the regular season. This winter, he's celebrating 33 years as the Naranjeros team president.

2021 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE RELEASED

    The schedule for the 2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlan was released last Tuesday. Six nations will be represented at the event, in which 18 games will be played in a seven-day period beginning Sunday, January 31 and concluding with the championship game on Saturday, February 6. 

    All games will be played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, home of the Venados. The first stage will be a round-robin series of tripleheaders for the first five days (Sunday through Thursday), followed by a semifinal doubleheader on Friday, February 4 and the title contest one day later. Tripleheaders are slated to begin with 12:00PM games and followed by contests at 4:00PM and 8:00PM, the semifinal twinbill will commence at 4:00PM and the championship game is set for 8:00PM (local time).

    Joining the Mexican Pacific League champions will be pennant-winners from traditional Serie del Caribe countries Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic along with relative newcomers Panama and Colombia, which replaced Cuba in the lineup last winter after the Cuban National Series champion Matanzas Cocodrilos pulled out weeks before the tournament, citing visa problems prevented them from entering Serie del Caribe site San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

    Colombia had never been represented in the Caribbean Series before, but even though the fill-in Monteria Vaqueros lost all five of their games in San Juan, they played credibly as a first-time LCBP entrant and when Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Jose Francisco Puello announced earlier this year that Cuba would not play in the 2021 CS, the Colombians were invited to send their champions a second time. 

    This will mark the third consecutive season Panama has played in the event after a 48-year absence. The country was pressed into host duties in 2019 after turmoil in Venezuela (the planned site) forced the tournament to be moved from Barquisimeto to Panama City shortly before it was to convene. The Panamanian League champion Herrera Toros were awarded a sixth berth and shocked observers by going 3-1 in group play and beating Cuban champion Las Tunas, 3-1, to take the title.

    Ironically, the only winter league in the Western Hemispere that's been playing is the one whose champion will have to stay home. The Cuban National Series got their schedule underway on September 12, have had no Wuhan virus interruptions to date and will pass the 50-game mark this week.

    Things haven't run so smoothly for the other six circuits. As mentioned, the Mex Pac is in the midst of an 11-day shutdown due to the virus after opening on October 15 as planned. The LMP has reduced the regular season from 68 to 59 games prior to commencing their eight-team playoffs in January. All other CS leagues have delayed their season openers: The Dominican Winter League was scheduled to open their season yesterday (November 15), the Colombian League begins play November 28 and both the Venezuelan League and Puerto Rico's Roberto Clemente League start December 1. No word on if/when the Panamanian League will play. 

    It may be worth keeping an eye on the Nicaraguan National League, which was scheduled to open its season last Friday. Nicaragua is currently 15th in the WBSC baseball rankings (Panama is 12th and Colombia is 14th), and LPBN organizers have wanted to take part in a Caribbean Series for a few years. In case of emergency in this virus-altered season, they may have their chance in January.

WHAT SHUTDOWN? LMP TEAMS TRAINING AND TRADING

Charros coach Fernando Elizondo tosses BP

    Although the Mexican Pacific League is ostensibly wrapping up a self-imposed, 11-day shutdown that took effect Friday, November 7 after the Wuhan virus forced the cancellation of a number of games (including two entire series), things have been anything but inactive on the playing fields or in the front offices among the loop's franchises.

    By early last week, all ten teams were holding workouts in their respective home ballparks in preparation for resumption of play even though more than half had players and coaches who'd tested positive for the virus. One of those, Jalisco infield coach Fernando Elizondo (who'd tested positive on October 23), was back tossing batting practice pitches at Estadio Charros last Tuesday. On that same day, members of the Culiacan Tomateros took part in a seven-inning intrasquad game while Los Mochis manager Victor Bojorquez was overseeing workouts. Bojorquez was quoted in El Jonronero as saying, "We're going to continue working with the boys and by the weekend, we'll have intrasquad games."

    In a podcast for Puro Beisbol, longtime former catcher Adan Amezcua criticized the Mex Pac for not enforcing the shutdown. "Continuing to train will not help them much," Amezcua told Puro Beisbol's Ricardo Gonzalez.  "They will not have collective immunity because this (the virus) continues to spread and will continue to spread. The league has to reach out and impose very strong sanctions for those who break the rules."

    LMP general managers were getting workouts on the phone as well, with several deals taking place during the game stoppage. The Monterrey Sultanes were involved in two transactions, including receiving former MLB outfielder Paulo Orlando on loan from Obregon to complete an earlier arrangement in which they similarly loaned holdout outfielder Felix Perez to the Yaquis. Orlando played with Kansas City between 2015 and 2018, batting .263 with 14 homers over 278 games for the Royals. the 35-year-old Brazilian was a latecomer to baseball at age 12 when a physician his mother worked for recommended he give the game a try. Orlando played soccer and was on Brazil's Junior National track team before focusing baseball. He was a member of Kansas City's 2015 World Series title team. He's due to play in the Mexican League for Dos Laredos next year.

Paulo Orlando is heading to Monterrey

    The Sultanes also shipped veteran reliever Jesus Pirela to Mazatlan. The 31-year-old Venezuelan, who replaces outfielder Chris Roberson on the Venados roster, is considered one of the top setup men in Mexican baseball, leading the Mexican League in holds in 2019 while also being selected to the All-Star Game. Pirela also has experience as a closer in both leagues south of the border, going 20-for-20 in save opportunities for Veracruz of the LMB in 2014 and saving 18 games for Navojoa in 2018-19. He may replace current Mazatlan closer Ryan Newell who is third in the Mex Pac with three saves but has a 10.13 ERA, which won't cut it with a team as historically reliant on pitching as the Deer. The former Phillies and Rangers farmhand was unscored upon in four appearances for Monterrey this season.

    Another struggling hurler was let go by the Jalisco Charros two years after becoming only the fifth Pitching Triple Crown winner in league history. Cuban righty Elian Leyva, who was 6-2 with a 2.02 ERA and 67 strikeouts for Jalisco in 2018-19 and was named the LMP Pitcher of the Year. Leyva, who'd been a middleman in seven Cuban National Series seasons and in 2018 as a Brave minor leaguer, struggled a bit last season and went 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA in seven starts for the Charros. He pitched a pair of games in Italy last summer before returning to Guadalajara this season but the magic failed to reappear, as Leyva was 0-3 and 13.06 at the time of his release. He's being replaced on the Jalisco roster by reliever Brennan Bernardino, an Indians minor leaguer who pitched for the Charros last winter.

    Finally, Hermosillo GM Juan Aguirre confirmed to Puro Beisbol that first baseman Roberto Ramos will join the Naranjeros the first week of December. Ramos, a native son of the Sonora state capital, has returned from South Korea after an eye-opening debut season in Asia after several years in the Colorado Rockies system. Ramos, who turns 26 on December 28, hit .278 for the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization and finishing second in the KBO with 38 homers over 117 games as the Busan team finished second in the regular season with a 79-59 record. Aguirre said that Ramos, who hit two more roundtrippers during the playoffs, will likely be invited to return to Korea in 2021 after playing under a one-year contract for the Twins that paid up to $500,000.

CANTU SWINGS HOT BAT IN COPA JUNTOS; URIAS, OSUNA TO PLAY?

Jorge Cantu is playing in Copa Juntos

   The Copa Juntos por Mexico  ("Together for Mexico Cup"), a month-long tournament featuring young players from both the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros of the Mexican League, got underway last Thursday at Mexico City's Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. The teams will play through December 12. While the tourney is primarily a showcase for some of the top prospects from a baseball academy in Oaxaca (some of whom have already signed with Major League Baseball organizations), it's also been a chance for the up-and-comers to play with or against former MLB third baseman Jorge Cantu. Baltimore infielder Rmaon Urias and free agent pitcher Roberto Osuna have also said they'll make appearance at the Copa Juntos.

    The 38-year-old Cantu showed little rust after 19 months since his last Mexican League game. Playing for the Diablos Rojos' Jose Luis Sandoval team, he stroked an RBI double in the top of the first inning of last Tuesday's opening game to plate the first run of the tournament in a 6-2 loss to Team Daniel Fernandez. After his sacrifice fly in the top of the first drove in another veteran, Sergio Gastelum, for the first run of Friday's 9-3 loss to Team Nelson Barrera, Cantu socked a solo homer over the centerfield wall to cap a 3-for-5 game with two ribbies in Team Sandoval's 10-8 triumph over Team Barrera. Gastelum played last weekend during a break from his managerial duties with league-leading Obregon during the Mexican Pacific League's shutdown.

    Born in McAllen, Texas, Cantu grew up across the border in Reynosa before signing with Tampa Bay in 1999 at age 17. He broke in with the Rays during the 2004 season and went on to hit .271 with 104 homers in 873 MLB games for five teams. He hit 28 homers with 117 RBIs for Tampa Bay in 2005 and over a two-year stretch with the Marlins between 2008-09, he belted 45 longballs and drove in 195 runs. Since arriving in the LMB, Cantu has hit .291 with 99 homers in 535 games while playing for two pennant winners with the Tigres and one with Tijuana. The 38-year-old "El Bronco" signed with Mexico City in 2019 and batted .283 and 12 homers in 74 games that year.

Ramon Urias coming back to Mexico City

    Playing in Mexico City represents a homecoming of sorts for Urias, who spent five seasons at shortstop and second base for the Diablos and batting .323 with 35 homers in 352 games before signing a minor league contract with St. Louis following the 2017 seasons. After spending two years in the Cardinals system, mostly in Class AAA Memphis, the 26-year-old Sonoran was claimed on waivers by the Orioles in February and went on to bounce back and forth between Baltimore and the team's alternate training site during the truncated 2020 season. Urias did hit .360 in his first ten MLB games and cracked his first big league homer off Toronto's Shun Yamaguchi on September 25 in Buffalo. He'll reportedly play 11 or 12 games in the nation's capital.

    On November 4, Osuna said on Twitter that he'd pitch for a short time in Mexico City before reporting back to the Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros on November 20. A Guadalajara native whose younger brothers are also in the Charros organization (outfielder Alex tested positive for the Wuhan virus earlier this month), Osuna had been working out with the team after declaring himself a free agent when it became apparent that Houston was not going to pick up the team option on his contract. The 25-year-old righthander saved 154 games and appeared in an All-Star Game and a World Series for Toronto and the Astros between 2015 and 2019, but went down with an elbow injury four games into the 2020 season and was done for the year. Tommy John surgery was feared but eventually ruled out. Osuna hopes his stint with Jalisco leads to contract offers from MLB teams.

LMP SHUTS DOWN FOR 11 DAYS TO BATTLE VIRUS SURGE

Los Mochis outfielder Leandro Castro

  Following an uptick of Wuhan virus cases that led to series delays and postponements or cancellations of games (including two entire series), the Mexican Pacific League held an emergency Assembly of Presidents meeting late last week, where it was decided to close the season down for eleven days, beginning Friday, November 6. Games are slated to resume on Tuesday, November 17.

    Things began to unravel Tuesday, October 27, when a scheduled series opener in Hermosillo between the Naranjeros and visiting Culiacan was delayed one day "in order to maintain the logistical protocols," according to a press release from the LMP office. The series instead started Wednesday, October 28 with two seven-inning games, the adjusted format for doubleheaders this winter.

    It was determined Monday of last week that two Los Mochis players, pitcher Santiago Gutierrez and outfielder Leandro Castro, were shown to have the virus in a second round of testing after general tests had indicated six "suspicious" results among Caneros players and coaches. Sports manager Carlos Soto said both Gutierrez and Castro had been sequestered in Mexicali hotel rooms and were to be transferred back to Los Mochis while the team awaited further results. 

    A third Caneros player, infielder Isaac Rodriguez, also initially tested positive and was being quarantined in his hotel room until secondary test results on the defending Mex Pac batting champion were received. Rodriguez was eventually cleared and back in the lineup Wednesday night as the Caneros continued playing.

LMP games to return on November 17

    The pandemic trickle then became a river, with the league office cancelling a midweek series between Hermosillo and Monterrey. The floodgates opened with the cancellation last Thursday of a weekend series between the Sultanes and Venados in Mazatlan while the LMP also postponed the third game of a midweek set that night between Mazatlan and Guasave until mid-November with the entire weekend triad of games between Hermosillo and Guasave called off.

    At that point, Mex Pac president Omar Canizales convened the emergency Assembly meeting on Friday, which led to the cessation of all games for eleven days, starting that evening. A press release from the LMP office in Guadalajara states the stoppage, the first in the loop's 76-year history, will be used to intensify testing of all players, coaching staffs and "collaborators" who have contact with them. All team members will need to present negative virus tests before they'll be allowed on the field when play resumes November 17. 

    Lost games will not be made up while the first half will be extended until Thursday, November 26, four days after its original conclusion on Sunday, November 22. The adjusted schedule will mean a reduction of nine games, with a first half of 29 games followed by a second half with a 30-game calendar.

YAQUIS STILL ON TOP, SWING 4-FOR-1 TRADE WITH MAYOS

Victor Mendoza sent to Yaquis for 4 players

    Amid an ongoing flurry of player movement, the Obregon Yaquis continued their red-hot play into the unscheduled work stoppage, maintaining first place in the Mexican Pacific League standings when the league office halted games for eleven days. Culiacan thwarted the Yaquis' attempt to complete a road sweep by topping Obregon, 14-4, Thursday night as Sebastian Elizalde's seventh inning grand slam capped a six-RBI night for the Tomateros rightfielder, but the loss only dropped the Yaquis' record to 17-3 for the season, good enough for a three-and-a-half-game lead over second-place Hermosillo (12-5). The win lifted fourth-place Culiacan to 11-9, a game-and-a-half behind idle Monterrey (11-6).

    Earlier in the week, Obregon completed a blockbuster trade with last-place Navojoa (6-14) by trading four players to the Mayos for first baseman Victor Mendoza, who was in his fifth winterball seasons in Navojoa but was also a two-time playoff reinforcement for the Yaquis. A hometown boy who turns 30 later this month, the Yaquis had sought to get Mendoza from Navojoa for some time, but the price they paid for the 6'2" 205-pounder raised eyebrows among observers throughout the Mex Pac.

    To acquire Mendoza, who was batting .209 with no homers and eight RBIs in 13 games, Obregon gave the Mayos starting pitcher Octavio Acosta (3-0 with a league-leading 2.12 ERA), outfielder Tirso Ornelas (a highly-regarded 20-year-old San Diego Padres prospect batting .267 in part-time duty), infielder Moises Gutierrez (a .250 hitter in his fourth LMP season) and veteran pitcher Francisco Moreno, who had yet to pitch for Obregon after being acquired from Mazatlan in yet another trade. The lefty-batting Mendoza had not suited up for the Yaquis before play was halted but manager Sergio Gastelum will count on him to augment his 19 career homers in 226 games over seven winters when he returns while sports manager Manuel Velez may have even more riding on Mendoza's success.

Navojoa brings in 3B D.J. Peterson

    Navojoa also helped themselves last week by adding a former Major league Baseball first-round draft pick to their roster. D.J. Peterson was selected out of the Unversity of New Mexico by Seattle with the 12th pick of the 2013 draft and went on to play in the Mariners system until the White Sox picked him up on waivers in 2017. He also spent time in the Cincinnati organization before playing the last two summers with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in the Houston area. Able to play third and first base, Peterson hit .264 with 108 homers in 673 games over seven minor league campaigns before batting .293 with 12 homers over 63 games the past two years. He hit .236 with two roundtrippers for Mexicali last winter and was due to play for Quintana Roo this year before the Mexican League canceled its season, returning to Sugar Land instead.

    Speaking of Mexicali, the Aguilas removed the "interim" part of Bronswell Patrick's title as manager of the team. Patrick replaced Pedro Mere on October 23 after the Eagles started the season by losing their first eight games. Since then Patrick led Mexicali to six wins in his first ten games at the helm, including a 4-0 triumph over Los Mochis last Wednesday in which starter David Reyes, a Los Mochis native, tossed both his first complete game and shutout in nine Mex Pac seasons. The Aguilas told Patrick the dugout boss job was his after that game and Mexicali topped the Caneros, 5-4, the next night before the season was halted. It's worth remembering that while the interim status was taken away from Patrick, this is Mexican baseball, where all managers work on an interim basis, one way or another.

CHRIS ROBERSON STEPS DOWN AFTER 16 YEARS OF WINTERBALL

Chris Roberson batting for Mazatlan

    One of the most popular ballplayers south of the border and a fixture in the Mexican Pacific League for years may be calling it good after 16 years of winterball. Outfielder Chris Roberson, who broke into the Mex Pac with Hermosillo in 2005-06 and also performed with Mexicali for nine years before being loaned by the Aguilas to Mazatlan last season, parted company with the Venados last Friday. After 15 games, the California product was batting .170 with one double and eight RBIs and had expressed his desire to leave the club for personal reasons. The LMP's pandemic-driven work stoppage created an opening and Roberson was granted a release last Friday and went home.

    Born in Oakland in 1979, Roberson was picked from Feather River College north of Sacramento on the ninth round of the 2001 draft by Philadelphia. He spent seven years in the Phillies system, earning AA Eastern League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 on the heels of a .311 season at the plate with 15 homers and 34 steals for Reading. After making his LMP debut with Hermosillo later that year, Roberson played his first MLB game on May 12, 2006 during an 8-4 Philadelphia win in Cincinnati. He went on to appear in 85 big league games, mostly as a defensive replacement, and hit .232 in 72 plate appearances. The Phils sold Roberson to the Orioles in 2008 and he spend that season with Norfolk of the AAA International League before signing as a free agent with the Diamondbacks and playing for Reno in the AAA Pacific Coast League in 2009.

    Roberson spent his fifth winter in Hermosillo in 2009-10 and appeared in his first Caribbean Series, then made his move to Mexico permanent by signing with Monterrey of the Mexican League for the 2010 campaign. He's patrolled the Sultanes outfield ever since, batting .333 (topping .300 nine of ten seasons) with 112 homers and 160 steals while scoring 657 runs from his customary leadoff spot in the batting order while performing in six All-Star Games and playing for the Fall 2018 champions.

    While his .285 average with 68 homers, 168 steals and 548 runs in 16 seasons of winterball mostly don't match his Mexican League marks, Roberson has been a distinctive Mex Pac performer over the years. He played in seven Caribbean Series between 2011 and 2018 and was named MVP of the 2014 Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball after leading Hermosillo to the title while leading all batters with ten hits (including the event's lone triple), six runs, two steals and 19 stolen bases over six games.

Roberson signs cap during 2017 WBC

    Whether Roberson, who turned 41 in August, has retired is partly his choice. While he's now a free agent in the LMP, he's still on Monterrey's Mexican League roster and the Sultanes fan favorite did hit .338 with eight homers and five steals in 72 games for manager Roberto Kelly in 2019. If he decides he's done with Mexican baseball, he's certainly not done with Mexico. Married to Monterrey native Yaneth and father to two daughters, Roberson became a Mexican citizen in 2016 and played for Mexico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic under skipper Edgar Gonzalez.

    Although Chris Roberson may have been born and raised in California, his heart and soul now appear to be firmly planted in Mexico.

YAQUIS RECORD AT 15-2, SWING A PAIR OF DEALS

Felix Perez now plays for Obregon

    Recent arrival Felix Perez socked a pair of homers, including a two-run bomb, while Moises Gutierrez added a solo blast as the Obregon Yaquis outlasted the Navojoa Mayos, 4-3, Sunday in Mexican Pacific League action before empty seats at Estadio Yaquis in Obregon. The Yaquis are one of three LMP teams (along with Hermosillo and Navojoa) ordered by Sonora's Secretary of Health Enrique Clausen to disallow fans in the stands after pandemic-related health protocols were ignored in several ballparks on opening weekend.

    The win extended Obregon's record to 15-2 for the first half as the Yaquis stayed three-and-a-half games ahead of second-place Hermosillo (11-5) and third-place Monterrey (11-6), who both won their games on Sunday. Obregon features a strong pitching staff paced by starter Octavio Acosta (3-0 with a LMP-best 2.12 ERA) and closer Miguel Aguilar (7-of-7 in saves and a 2.35 ERA). While the Yaquis batting order won't remind anyone of the 1927 Yankees, they're hitting well enough to win while catcher Sebastian Valle (.339, 4 homers) and outfielder Roberto Lopez (.306/3/12) have been the timeliest hitters.

    Defending LMP home run and RBI champion Dariel Alvarez is off to a hot start for Jalisco, as the Cuban outfielder leads the circuit with a .400 average. Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde, who hit .308 with 10 homers and 21 steals last winter, leads the Mex Pac with seven homers and 22 ribbies after 17 games while Alonzo Harris has been Obregon's (and the loop's) best base stealer with 10 swipes in 12 tries. Besides the Yaquis' Acosta and Aguilar, the early pitching leaders include Hermosillo starter Juan Pablo Oramas with four wins and 23 strikeouts plus Oramas' Naranjeros moundmate Heriberto Ruelas, who has five holds in nine appearances and has yet to allow a run in 7.2 innings pitched.

    With the season only two weeks old, teams are already making deals to strengthen their rosters. One of the most noteworthy saw Monterrey loaning holdout outfielder Felix Perez to Obregon. A Cuba native who played three winters for his hometown Isla de la Juventud Toronjeros before spending five years in the Cincinnati Reds system, the 35-year-old also played in Japan and has put in five summers in the Mexican League with both the Sultanes and Aguascalientes.

    Perez was a member of Monterrey's first Mex Pac team last winter and one of the club's top hitters, leading the team with a .270 average, 48 RBIs and 36 runs scored while finishing second with 10 homers. However, Perez decided to sit out this LMP season after failing to come to terms with the Sultanes. He decided to report to Obregon and is already making an impact, belting a pair of homers and driving in three runs Sunday in their 4-3 win over Navojoa.

    Not content to coast on their league lead, Obregon also traded veteran utilityman Maxwell Leon to Mazatlan for journeyman infielder Issmael Salas. Son of former MLB reliever Maximino Leon, the younger Leon played five years (2006-10) in the Detroit system before embarking on a nine-year run in the Mexican League with Minatitlan in 2011. This will be his 15th winter in the LMP, where the 36-year-old has played every position but catcher and pitcher while batting .280 over 532 games. He had yet to appear for the Yaquis.

    Salas primarily plays third base but is proficient at all four infield positions. A former Cubs farmhand who has played solely in Mexico since 2009, the Tijuana-born 38-year-old made his LMP debut with Guasave in 2005-06. Obregon will be his eighth team in the loop. Salas has a career .267 winterball average and was batting .400 after six games with the Venados prior to the trade.

    And in Guadalajara, the likelihood of Roberto Osuna finally pitching in a game for the Jalisco Charros increased dramatically after the 25-year-old closer was waived by the Houston Astros last week. Osuna appeared in just four games for the defending American League champions before an elbow injury shelved him for the rest of the shortened 2020 season. There had been concerns that he'd require Tommy John surgery but instead has chosen to rehab in the MLB offseason. After clearing waivers, the righty is now a free agent who will likely need to pitch in the Mex Pac to demonstrate his recovery to potential big league employers. Osuna is reportedly due to begin pitching for the Charros on November 20.

TIGRES, VALENZUELAS TO REMAIN IN CANCUN FOR 2021

Fernando Valenzuela: Now and Then

  After weeks of speculation that the Quintana Roo Tigres were on their way out of Cancun (with the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora thought to be the legacy franchise's destination), the Mexican League announced over the weekend that the 12-time champions will stay put in Cancun.

    An announcement from the LMB office in Mexico City says that Liga president Horacio de la Vega met last week with “the directors of the Tigres de Quintana Roo, the Government of the State of Quintana Roo and the Municipality of Benito Juárez to ensure the team stays in Cancun.” Jose Alfredo Otero of El Fildeo writes that both de la Vega and team owner Fernando Valenzuela verified at an Assembly of Presidents meeting last Friday that the Tigres will stay put in the resort city for the 2021 season.

    Ever since buying the Tigres from Carlos Peralta in February 2017, Valenzuela and his wife, Linda Burgos, have seemingly been beset by one issue after another while struggling to keep the franchise viable on the field and at the gate as well as with the banks. Three rocky years were followed by 2020's canceled season, which seemed to tip the scales toward the Valenzuelas seeking to relocate the team in greener pastures.

    There have long been calls to return the Tigres to their original home of Mexico City, where their longstanding rivalry with the Diablos Rojos would be revived in closer quarters, and there were rumors that there was interest in Veracruz as a possible landing spot. Instead, San Luis Rio Colorado emerged seemingly out of the blue as the team's destination. The city of 200,000 sitting on the Arizona border would be one of the Mexican League's smallest markets while never having hosted a team in either the LMB or the winter Mexican Pacific League.

    On the other hand, San Luis is a baseball hotbed in which the city's ballpark has undergone a refurbishing that more than doubled its capacity to 7,000 spectators. Local and state governments pledged their support for the team moving there, San Luis' closer proximity than Cancun to the Valenzuelas' home in Los Angeles was seen as a positive, as was a natural travel partner for the Tijuana Toros, the Liga's most geographically-remote franchise. As recently as Friday, Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros wrote that the Valenzuelas were working to move the Tigres to San Luis, although nothing was official.

Estadio Beto Avila, Cancun

   Instead, it appears that Cancun will have another chance to better support Class AAA baseball after being a tepid host over the previous 14 years. The Tigres moved to the resort city from Puebla in 2007. While there's nothing to indicate that local interest will increase enough for the club to break even financially at the gate, state subsidies expected to disappear in 2021 may have been revived during talks involving de la Vega and the Valenzuelas with government officials. Money talks, whatever the source.

    It was a momentous week for the former National League Cy Young Award-winner. Besides deciding the fate of his ballclub, Valenzuela (who celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday) was given a National Sports Award for his contributions to Mexican baseball, both inside and outside the country. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will make a formal presentation on November 20 as part of events commemorating the Mexican Revolution, in which hostilities officially ceased on November 20, 1920.

LMB: RIELEROS TO STAY PUT, EXPANSION TEAM TO VERACRUZ

Veracruz won LMB title in 2012

    Another team that will be staying put is the Aguascalientes Rieleros. After word came out that the Tigres were hoping to move to San Luis Rio Colorado, rumors heated up that the Railroaders would be making a one-way trip to Veracruz for the 2021 season. An LMB team first appeared in Aguascalientes in 1975, when (ironically) the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila moved west from the port city. While it took just three years to win a Liga pennant, that remains the only title the city has ever won and the current franchise is the third incarnation of the Rieleros after the first two versions moved to Puebla in 1999 and Nuevo Laredo in 2008.

    The current iteration dates to 2012 (when the Tecolotes returned to the city of 800,000) but none of the three Rieleros teams have had much money to work with and crowds at 6,500-seat Parque Alberto Romo Chavez were never large enough to create enough revenues to build a contending team there since the earliest days. The cancellation of the 2020 Mexican League season meant no revenues coming in for a team already swimming in a sea of red ink, making them a target for potential buyers.

    Veracruz has seen its own share of Liga teams come and go since the circuit started in 1925, although the city and state could be considered Mexico's version of Florida in that baseball players are historically more plentiful than baseball fans. Still, business owners there have wanted to bring a team back to the Gulf Coast city ever since owner Jose Antonio Mansur moved the latest version of the Eagle Reds to Nuevo Laredo in 2018. The league office announcement that no team will move anywhere prior to the 2021 season put an end to a Veracruz pursuit of the Rieleros or any other vulnerable LMB franchise (and there are several).

Estadio Beto Avila, Veracruz

    However, a surprising announcement from the LMB put Veracruz at the front of the line in the future. De la Vega's office said that a letter of intent has been “successfully submitted” by a group of Veracruz investors seeking an expansion team. While no timetable has been given for such a move, that would increase the number of Liga teams from the current 16, the announcement said the LMB is “enthusiastic about the possible new addition of the Veracruz Aguilas as an expansion team in such an important and historic city for Mexican baseball.” The original Rojo del Aguilas were formed in 1903 and teams using that name have won six LMB pennants over the years, with Hall of Famer Martin Dihigo hitting and pitching Veracruz to back-to-back titles in 1937 and 1938.

    The statement concludes, “The Mexican Baseball League expects Veracruz fans can soon return to the iconic Parque Deportivo Universitario Beto Avila.”