MEXICO CLINCHES SUPER ROUND AT U-23 WORLD CUP

Mexico pitcher Alemao Hernandez

    The World Baseball Softball Confederation's U-23 Baseball World Cup started last Thursday in Mexico. Twelve national teams comprised of players aged 24 or under (special dispensation for players who were 23 when last year's BWC was postponed) are taking part in tripleheaders at Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora and Estadio Yaquis in Obregon. The two six-team groups are competing in seven-inning, round-robin first stage games through Monday night, plus last Thursday's rained-out group A contest between Cuba and the Dominican Republic rescheduled for this Tuesday. Host Mexico won three consecutive games after dropping their opener to clinch a berth in the Super Round.

    Mexico got off to a bad Group A start with a 5-1 upset loss to the Czech Republic last Thursday in Obregon despite holding the Czechs to two hits. One of those was a bases-loaded double by Marek Chlup off Mexican starter Saul Castellanos in the top of the third that drove in three runs. Fabricio Macias singled and later scored from third on a Brandon Valenzuela groundout in the sixth for the lone Mexican score with 2,233 watching at Estadio Yaquis.

    Mexico came back Friday night with a 5-0 shutout over Cuba as 1,651 looked on in Obregon. Alemao Hernandez picked up the win by tossing 5.1 innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts during the combined whitewash. It was a 2-0 until Macias belted the first pitch in the top of the seventh for a homer while Reivaj Garcia's two-run single capped the scoring for the night. Cuba starter Bryan Chi was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in 5.2 innings.

    The Mexicans won Saturday's game against the Dominican Republic, 8-2, thanks to a six-run sixth inning that broke open a 2-2 contest. Kevin Zamudio sliced a two-run double while Valenzuela chipped in with a two-run single in breaking the game open. A gathering a 2,714 watched as Keven Lamas hit an early homer in support of starter Alejandro Chavez, who tossed five innings of two-hit, two run ball against the Dominicans.

Mexico outfielder Fabricio Macias

    Mexico then punched its ticket to the Super Round with a 3-0 win over Taiwan on Sunday. Javier Salazar scored from third on a first-inning wild pitch after singling earlier in the frame. Macias made it a 2-0 lead in the fourth by doubling to deep left, to bring in Lamas from second and Valenzuela completed the scoring in the fifth by singling and then motoring around to score on an Agustin Ruiz double to left center. Juan Tellez scattered three hits over four innings for the win as 2,177 took in the contest at Estadio Yaquis.

    The top three finishers in each group will advance to the Super Round in Hermosillo while the bottom three converge in Obregon for the Consolation Round starting on Wednesday. Each team will carry their first-round record into the next stage, where they'll play games against the three teams arriving from the opposite group. The tournament concludes on Saturday in Hermosillo when the third and fourth place Super Round finishers meet in the Bronze Medal game at 1:00PM local time, followed by a Gold Medal game between the top two Super Round finishers at 7:30PM.

WBSC U-23 BASEBALL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE/RESULTS

Thursday, September 23
Taiwan 7, Germany 0 (Zhuang-Chen Zhong-Ao 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 9 strikeouts)
Colombia 7, Panama 1 (Elkin Alcala allowed 1 run on 4 hits in 7-inning complete game)
Cuba vs. Dominican Republic in Obregon rained out, rescheduled for September 28
Nicaragua 6, South Korea 4 (Luis Montealto doubled, homered and had 5 RBIs)
Czech Republic 5, Mexico 1 (Marek Chlup had 2 hits, including 3-run 2B in top of 3rd)
Venezuela 9, Netherlands 4 (Roberto Perez belted a 3-run homer in win)

Friday, September 24
Dominican Republic 8, Germany 4 (Francis Florentino, Fabian Sandro both hit 2-run Hrs)
Panama 13, Nicaragua 6 (Panama 7 runs in top of 8th, Abraham Rodriguez 2-run HR)
Taiwan 4, Czech Republic 1 (Chen Sheng-Ping's 2-run double keyed 4-run top of 1st)
South Korea 8, Netherlands 7 (Jung Min-Kyu walkoff run from 3rd on error in bottom of 8^th)
Mexico 5, Cuba 0 (Alemao Hernandez 5.1 shutout innings on 2 hits with 4 strikeouts)
Venezuela 3, Colombia 2 (Roberto Perez singled, doubled and scored 2 runs)

Saturday, September 25
Germany 6, Czech Republic 4 (David Grimes had two-run double in top of 3^rd)
Panama 5, South Korea 2 (Adrian Montero went 3-for-4, scored 2 runs and had an RBI)
Cuba 2, Taiwan 1 (Yuddiel Gonzalez' 2-run homer in bottom of 7th was enough for win)
Colombia 10, Netherlands 0 (Luis Moreno allowed 3 hits, had 7 K's in 6-inning shutout)
Mexico 8, Dominican Republic 2 (Kevin Zamudio's 2-run double aided 6-run 6th)
Venezuela 6, Nicaragua 3 (Juan Fernandez' 2-run HR keyed 3-run top of 3^rd)

Sunday, September 26
Cuba 10, Germany 3 (Marlon Vega allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 5 innings pitched, struck out 8)
Netherlands 4, Panama 1 (Tyriq Kemp hit 2-run homer during 4-run 4th for Dutchmen)
Dominican Republic 2, Czech Republic 0 (Jordan Sandoval hit 2-run HR in mercy rule win)
Colombia 10, Nicaragua 0 (Jordan Diaz socked 2-run HR, added RBI double in shutout)
Mexico 3, Taiwan 0 (Juan Tellez and two relievers combined on a three-hit shutout)
Venezuela 3, South Korea 0 (Roberto Perez' 2-run double aided 4 pitchers in 2-hit shutout)

Monday, September 27
Game 25: Cuba vs. Czech Republic (Group A) in Obregon
Game 26: Nicaragua vs. Netherlands (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game 27: Dominican Republic vs. Taiwan (Group A) in Obregon
Game 28: Panama vs. Venezuela (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game 29: Germany vs. Mexico (Group A) in Obregon
Game 30: Colombia vs. South Korea (Group B) in Hermosillo

Tuesday, September 28
Game 3: Cuba vs. Dominican Republic (rescheduled group A) in Obregon

STANDINGS (through Sunday, September 26)
GROUP A: Mexico 3-1, Cuba 2-1, Dominican Republic 2-1, Taiwan 2-2, Czech Republic 1-3, Germany 1-3.
GROUP B: Venezuela 4-0, Colombia 3-1, Panama 2-2, South Korea 1-3, Nicaragua 1-3, Netherlands 1-3.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE ROAD TRIP: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

    For the next ten weeks, BASEBALL MEXICO will be taking an updated virtual road trip to all ten Mexican Pacific League cities. We'll start in Monterrey, then cut across to Mexicali and head south through Mazatlan before wrapping up our online journey in Guadalajara.
    The Mexican Baseball Road Trip (which touched down in all 24 cities in both the LMP and Mexican League) was first carried in the old VIVA BEISBOL column and repeated during BBM's first year in 2009. Each stop on our Mex Pac tour will include some revised text:

Downtown Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

    Our Mex Pac Road Trip begins in Monterrey, home of the Sultanes (who also field a summer team in the Mexican League), capital of the state of Nuevo Leon, the leading city in northern Mexico and the industrial center of the nation. Monterrey sits in the Sierra Madre Oriental foothills and was founded in 1596 by Diego de Montemayor, but it wasn’t until after the War of Independence in the 1820’s that it started blossoming as an important business center.

    Present-day Monterrey is home to over five million metropolitan residents and is Mexico’s second-largest city behind Mexico City. Although daytime high temperatures regularly hit the 90's during summer, winters are actually quite pleasant, with daytime highs usually in the low 70's between November and February.

    Visitors will not be impressed by the factories, traffic and smog they’ll encounter here, but Monterrey’s city center is actually quite pleasant, with a combination of colonial elegance and modern architecture and statues. The heart of Monterrey, many say, lies in the Plaza Zaragosa (also known as the “Macroplaza”), which was created by the demolition of six complete city blocks in downtown Monterrey. The crown jewel of the Macroplaza is the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, or MARCO, a museum that is considered a “don’t-miss” experience for art lovers visiting Monterrey. While not as beautiful on an overall basis as some of the more colonial cities in Mexico’s south, Monterrey has much to offer those willing to look past the industrial congestion that creates the city’s wealth.

    Home to three past Little League World Series champions, Monterrey is also in some aspects the center of Mexican baseball. It is home of the Salon de la Fama, the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, which was originally opened in 1971 at the Cuauhtemoc Brewery grounds. After its 2012 closure at the behest of the brewery, Mexico City billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu provided over US$18 million in funding for a beautiful new facility that opened in 2019. Over 200 immortals from Mexican baseball are enshrined there.

Estadio Monterrey, home of the Sultanes

    In nearby El Carmen sits the Mexican Baseball Academy, where all 16 LMB teams share funding for the 100 young domestic athletes hoping to develop into pro ballplayers. The complex consists of 56 dormitory rooms, four baseball fields, four batting cages, a computer room, weight room, cafeteria, infirmary and a plaza where players can congregate. In the past, the Academia has operated an eight-team rookie league during the winter.

    The Monterrey Sultanes are one of the Mexican League’s flagship franchises and have won ten LMB championships since their founding in 1939. The Sultanes added a Mexican Pacific League team in the 2019 expansion, which has yet to reach the playoffs in two seasons. Both teams play home games in Mexico’s largest ballpark, the 22,000-seat Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey. It was the first venue in the country to have hosted Major League Baseball regular season games in 1996.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Ramon Arano, Pitcher

Ramon Arano at his peak with Diablos

    Ramon Arano is one of only two men to have pitched in six different decades in professional baseball history (the other is Hub Kittle), and is the only man to have won 300 or more games in one minor league. While Arano never reached 20 wins in a season, the workhorse hurler won 10+ games 18 times and holds LMB career record with 334 wins, 57 shutouts, 297 complete games and 4,773 innings pitched.

    The diminutive Arano made his Liga debut for Poza Rica in 1959, going 8-9 with the Petroleros with a 4.47 ERA. He spent the next three seasons with Veracruz, including a disastrous 1960 campaign in which he was mainly used out of the bullpen and lost all five of his decisions with a sky-high 6.53 ERA. Arano turned things around in 1961, turning in an 11-3 record to lead the LMB in winning percentage for the pennant-winning Aguilas. He then reeled off 46 wins over the next three campaigns and made his only journey to play pro ball north of the border at the end of the 1962 campaign with Oklahoma City of the American Association, going 1-1 with a 9.82 ERA in three appearances.

    Following a mediocre 9-8 season with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1965, Arano went on another three-year skein of effective pitching between 1966 and 1968, showing a 48-32 record with 400 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA each season. An injury-shortened 1969 saw him go 5-7 before yet another three-year run of double-digit victories despite pitching for three teams (the Diablos, Saltillo and Cordoba) in that span. After another shortened year with the Cafeteros in 1973, Arano went on an eight-year tear of solid pitching.

    Between 1974 and 1981, Arano won between 12 and 19 games every season while consistently registering sub-3.00 ERAs, winning 19 games in both 1978 and 1979. He spent the strike-split 1980 season with Reynosa and won 14 games for the Broncos and turned in a 14-5 mark for the Diablos Rojos in 1981.

Pitching for Veracruz at age 62

   Arano bounced around a bit after that, although he did go 11-9 for Veracruz as a 44-year-old in 1984. He retired in 1986 before coming back in 1995 with the Aguilas, throwing one game in 1998 with Cordoba, and finally made one three-inning appearance in 2001 as a 62-year-old pitching coach for Veracruz.

    In all, Arano played in a total of 32 seasons (a Mexican League record) with eight teams. He also played winterball in the Mexican Pacific League for 15 seasons, compiling a decent 89-84 record with a solid 2.81 ERA and a no-hitter. Among his career highlights, Arano shut out Cleveland 4-0 in a 1967 exhibition game, but he saved the best for the following year. In a game in Mexico City, Arano beat Jim Bouton and the New York Yankees, 5-3, striking out Mickey Mantle twice.

    Arano, a Veracruz native who passed away in 2012 at age 72, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. His nickname as a player was "Don Pantalones" (loosely translated, "The Man Who Wears the Big Pants"), a good name for the winningest pitcher in Mexican baseball history.

TOROS WIN SERIE DEL REY GAME 7, LMB PENNANT

     The Tijuana Toros completed their improbable comeback in the Mexican League championship series by winning the last two games of the best-of-seven set, including a 3-0 Game Seven victory last Wednesday night as the Toros became only the second team in the Liga's 95-year history to overcome a 3-game-to-0 deficit and win the LMB finals with four consecutive triumph (the Jalisco Charros were the first in 1971).

    The following is a wrap of the final two games of the 2021 Mexican League season:

GAME 6 (Tuesday, September 14): TIJUANA 10, Yucatan 3

Toros CF Junior Lake's game-saving catch

    The Toros continued their comeback effort last Tuesday night with a 10-3 trouncing of Yucatan in Game Six at home. Efren Navarro was the man of the match after driving in six runs on four hits (including a three-run double) between the fourth and seventh innings as 16,998 aficionados at Estadio Nacional watched the action.

    The Leones took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third when Yadier Drake doubled to right scored Norberto Obeso and then scored on a Luis Juarez single. A Navarro single to right in the bottom of the fourth plated Daniel Castro and Junior Lake to tie the game but it was Luis Alfonso Cruz' three-run, line-drive homer to left that capped the Toros' five-run outburst and put TJ ahead for good. Jorge Flores came in on a Drake sacrifice fly to bring Yucatan with 5-3 in the top of the fifth, but Navarro's bases-loaded double brought the Bulls' lead up to 8-3 and run-scoring hits from Castro (a double) and Navarro in the seventh ended the scoring for the night.

    6'7” reliever Michael Tonkin was awarded the win for Tijuana with a perfect 1.2 innings out of the bullpen while Leones starter Yoanner Negrin suffered the loss after being tagged for eight runs in 4.1 frames. Both Castros (Daniel and Leandro) had three hits each for the Toros while Obeso and Flores had two hits apiece for the visitors from Merida.

GAME 7 (Wednesday, September 15): TIJUANA 3, Yucatan 0

Tijuana P Teddy Stankiewicz

    Peter O'Brien broke a scoreless tie by socking an opposite-field solo homer to right off Yucatan starter Jake Thompson in the bottom of the third inning, and that turned out to be enough for Tijuana pitcher Teddy Stankiewicz and three relievers to combine on a three-hitter during the Toros' 3-0 shutout over the Leones, completing the border city's unlikely comeback in front of 17,687 at Estadio Nacional.

    Tijuana added insurance runs in the fifth inning (on Leandro Castro's RBI single) and seventh frame (when Isaac Rodriguez drew a walk and came all the way to score on a throwing error by Yucatan third baseman Alex Liddi), but the story of the game was the Toros' pitching. Stankiewicz retired the first nine batters he faced and went on to scatter three hits over six innings with a half-dozen strikeouts to earn the win. Former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning during which he threw 10 strikes on 13 pitches, the last one getting Art Charles swinging for the save and the final out of the season.

    Junior Lake led the champions with three hits while Gabriel Gutierrez added a pair of singles but the big blow belonged to O'Brien as the Toros outhit the visitors by a 10-to-3 margin (as Yucatan got one-baggers from Norberto Obeso, Luis Juarez and Juan Jose Aguilar). Thompson absorbed the loss for the Leones after allowing two runs on five hits over 4.2 innings. Tijuana first baseman Efren Navarro was announced as the Serie del Rey MVP due to his .308 batting average over the seven games, including four hits and six RBIs in Game Six.

MAZATLAN TO HOST MEXICAN LEAGUE TEAM IN 2022?

Yucatan owners Erick and Juan Jose Arellano

   As columnist David Braverman noted in a recent Out 27 column in Puro Beisbol, the Mayor of Mazatlán, Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres, confirmed that a group of businessmen are in very advanced talks to finalize a franchise of the Mexican Baseball League in the port city.

    Braverman announced that the brothers Jose Juan and Erick Arellano brothers (owners of the Yucatán Leones), have been negotiating to purchase and move the Aguascalientes Rieleros to Mazatlán, their hometown. Benítez denied the Arellanos' involvement, claiming that there are other businessmen involved.

    Sources assured Puro Beisbol that the other club with a possible move to the port are the Durango Generales, who were recently purchased by Venezuelan Carlos Lazo, an entrepreneur who's lived in Guadalajara for 15 years. Juan Carlos Martinez, who sold the team to Lazo after owning it less than two years, told Durango's El Siglio newspaper that Lazo would not move the team out of town. 

    However, the Generales have struggled on the field and in the box office since 2017, their first season in the western Mexico city after being moved there from the Gulf of Mexico resort city of Carmen, and it would not be out of the question for Lazo to cast an eye upon Mazatlan (a smaller city than Durango but with a nicer ballpark and great support for the Mexican Pacific League's Venados).

    Mazatlan mayor Benitez has reportedly held talks with Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega as well as the Arellano brothers and sounded like a man who expects summer baseball to be played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal once arrangements are finalized. "The issue of the stadium is being legally addressed," Benítez was quoted as saying in Puro Beisbol.

    "Many levels of government have intervened because summer baseball is coming. Summer baseball is not going to be handled by the company that has winter baseball (Jose Antonio Toledo and family)...others are going to handle it," he added, without specifying who.

    If the move is made, Mazatlán would be the third city in the country with professional baseball all year with LMP and LMB teams, along with with Guadalajara and Monterrey.

    The Arellano brothers have sought to bring baseball to Mazatlán after joining the LMB acquiring the Lions in 2013, when the idea for the Marineros emerged.

 "Many levels of government have intervened because summer baseball is coming. Summer baseball is not going to be handled by the company that has winter baseball (Jose Antonio Toledo and family)...others are going to handle it," he added, without specifying who. If the move is made, Mazatlán would be the third city in the country with professional baseball all year with LMP and LMB teams, along with with Guadalajara and Monterrey.

Year-round baseball coming to Mazatlan?

    The Arellano brothers have sought to bring baseball to Mazatlán since joining the LMB in 2013 when they acquired the Lions, and then the idea for the Mariners emerged. However, when questioned about their potential ownership of a Mazatlan Mexican League franchise, Benitez replied, "This group is not going to handle summer baseball at all. They are with the Yucatán Leones.”

    The Arellano brothers bought the financially-ailing Laguna Vaqueros a few years after purchasing the team in Merida, with the idea of moving the Vaqueros to Mazatlan and renaming them the Marineros (a moniker they would reportedly use if the Rieleros are bought and relocated to the Pacific coast). However, after owning the Torreon team for a year and experiencing questions about their finances, the Arellanos sold the Vaqueros to local interests, who renamed the club the Union Laguna Algodoneros.

    Some assume that the Toledo family will continue to controls concessions at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, but the mayor clarified that the park belongs to the Mazatlán City Council. "They are already working on that. As soon as they specify it they will make it known. There will be no problem with the stadium, since the property does not belong to any businessman, it belongs to the City Council."

    The Toledos have been embroiled with the City of Mazatlan in a myriad of issues almost since the ballpark reopened in 2018 after extensive renovations were completed. At one point early last year, the Venados were physically removed from their on-site offices after claims that they did not live up to a signed agreement allowing them to operate the facility. Although the dispute was put on hold long enough for the Venados to play home games and host the Caribbean Series last winter, nothing has actually been resolved between the two warring sides.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Hector Espino

    During BBM's Viva Beisbol days between 2005-07, we ran a series of profiles on top players with ties to Mexican baseball titled Maestros of Mexico. The Maestros will be resurrected for the rest of 2021 as space permits but unlike the original series (which included players who were born outside or never played inside Mexico), this installment will feature only Mexican-born players who spent time in the Mexican or Mexican Pacific Leagues. We'll lead off with the legendary “Superman of Chihuahua,” Hector Espino:

    The consensus pick among fans as the greatest player in Mexican baseball history, Hector Espino was known as "The Babe Ruth of Mexico" during his 24-year career. Playing in the Mexican League primarily for Monterrey or Tampico between 1962 and 1984, the right-handed Espino retired as minor league baseball's all-time home run king with 484 (453 in the LMB). He led the LMB in homers four times, including a career-high 46 for the Sultanes in 1964. The 5'10" 192-pounder from Chihuahua also drove in 1,573 runs in his LMB career and hung up his spikes with a cool .335 batting mark. He hit better than .300 every year but one in the Liga between 1962 through 1980, winning three straight batting titles between 1966 and 1968 and four overall.

    As a 20-year-old outfielder, Espino broke into pro ball in 1960 with San Luis Potosi in the Class A Mexican Center League and pounded pitchers for a .363 batting average with 20 homers and 60 RBI’s in 63 games that year. After an abbreviated season with SLP in 1961, he broke into the Mexican League with Monterrey in 1962. Espino blasted his way to a .358 average with 23 homers and led the Liga with 106 runs and 105 RBI’s. Although he missed a chunk of the following season, playing just 99 games, he still belted 24 homers and drove in 80 runs en route to a .346 average for the Sultanes in 1963.

    He shifted from the outfield to first base in 1964 for what proved to be his greatest season, just missing the LMB Triple Crown with a Liga-best .371 average, a career high 46 homers (also tops in Mexico) and 117 RBI’s, drawing interest from major league teams. St. Louis finally won the bidding war for his contract from Monterrey.

    Espino played briefly for the Cardinals' AAA farm team in Jacksonville at the end of the 1964 season. He hit well (batting .300 with three homers in 32 games), but his time in the International League was not pleasant. Playing during the Civil Rights era with home games in Florida and road trips to such Southern cities as Richmond and Atlanta, the proud Espino was reportedly so offended by the racism he encountered while playing in the IL that he went home to Mexico during season and never returned to play in the United States again despite several offers over the years.

    His return to Mexico in 1965 was abbreviated (.335/17/48 in 67 games), but he reeled off the first of four consecutive standout seasons in Monterrey in 1966, winning one of three straight batting crowns (.369) and clubbing 31 homers. He then led the Liga with a career-best .379 (including 34 homers) in 1967, then hit .365 and led the LMB with 27 roundtrippers for 1968. Espino fell to .304 in 1969 but led the Liga again with 37 homers. After a subpar (for him) 1970, he was dealt to the Tampico Alijadores in 1971.

    Over eight seasons in Tampico (with short stops at Mexico City and Tabasco in 1975), Espino batted .335 with 159 homers and 600 RBIs. Starting in 1979, he embarked on a an odyssey, playing for six different teams in three seasons before returning to Monterrey as a part-timer in 1982. After hitting .220 with one homer in 20 games in 1984, the 45-year-old Espino retired in July of that season.

    Espino's record in winter ball was also impressive. In 24 Mexican Pacific League seasons (all with Hermosillo), he won an amazing 13 batting titles and six home run crowns en route to a career average of .329 with 299 homers and 1,029 RBIs while leading the Naranjeros to Mexico's first Caribbean Series win in 1976 and playing in six tournaments overall. A six-time LMP MVP, Hermosillo's ballpark was renamed after him while he was still an active player. Espino was inducted as a member of the Salon de Fama in 1988 and is also enshrined in the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. In all, he blasted a combined 4,576 hits with 752 homers with 2,602 playing year-round in both the Liga and Mex Pac.

    Hector Espino (who passed away at 58 in 1997) was beloved by fans across Mexico because he combined his great skills in baseball with a pride and loyalty to his country to become the face of Mexican baseball for two decades. He was a true national hero and his number 21 has been retired by all Mexican professional teams.

TOROS AVOID SWEEP, SERIE DEL REY GOES BACK TO TJ

    After losing the first three games of the 2021 Serie del Rey, things were looking grim late last week for the Tijuana Toros, who had to beat the Yucatan Leones twice in Merida to stay alive and send the series back home to Estadio Nacional, let alone avoid an embarrassing sweep.

    As things turned out, that's exactly what happened and now both teams will be flying to Baja California Norte for Game Six of the Mexican League's championship series on Tuesday night. The following is a wrap of each of the first five games of the series:

GAME 1 (Monday, September 6): Yucatan 7, TIJUANA 3

Yucatan OF Yadir Drake

    The Leones drew first blood by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to blow open a 3-2 game en route to a four-run win over the Toros in front of 14,297 fans at Tijuana's Estadio Nacional. Sebastian Valle's three-run homer off TJ reliever Brennan Bernardino with two out was the key blow. At that point, Jesus Pirela relieved Bernardino and recorded the third out but the damage was done and the Liones never looked back.

    Valle combined with Walter Ibarra and Humberto Sosa for six hits and six RBIs to lead Yucatan while starter Rhadames Liz allowed two runs on five hits over five innings for the win. Although Bernardino suffered a nightmarish seventh, the loss went to Toros starter Michael Devine, who was charged for three runs on four hits and four walks after exiting with two out in the fifth.

GAME 2 (Tuesday, September 7): Yucatan 7, TIJUANA 1

    The Leones made it 2-for-TJ with another big inning to break a close game open. The Toros took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Junior Lake scored on Gabriel Gutierrez' groundout to second. Tijuana starter Carlos Hernandez tossed four shutout innings before Humberto Sosa, Sebastian Valle and Jose Juan Aguilar led off the fifth with consecutive singles to load the bases. Hernandez walked Jorge Flores on a 3-and-2 count to push Sosa across with the tying run. With two outs, Yadir Drake stepped up and crushed a grand slam to straightaway center, giving the visitors a 5-1 advantage they'd never relinquish.

    After giving up that one first-inning run, Yucatan starter Yoanner Negrin didn't allow another score through seven frames to earn the win. Sosa, Aguilar and Alex Liddi each had two of the Leones' ten hits, but it was Drake's homer that made all the difference in sending 14,989 onlookers at Estadio Nacional home disappointed.

GAME 3 (Thursday, September 9): YUCATAN 2, Tijuana 0

    After going 1-for-7 over the first two games, Luis Juarez broke his relative silence with a two-run homer (his tenth of the postseason) in the first inning and that was all Yucatan starter Jake Thompson and four relievers would need in posting a combined 2-0 shutout as 6,420 aficionados watched in Merida's “sold out” Parque Kukulkan, which was limited to 40 percent capacity due to the pandemic. Yadir Drake had drawn a two-out walk before Juarez stepped up and slammed Joe Van Meter's first pitch over the left field wall.

    Thompson, who had to wait through a pregame rain delay lasting over two hours, scattered five hits over five innings for the win and Josh Lueke earned the save for Yucatan with a 1-2-3 ninth. Van Meter settled down to pitch scoreless ball until two outs in the fifth inning, but that one pitch to Juarez proved to be his undoing. Tijuana's Gabriel Gutierrez was the lone batter with more than one hit, collecting two singles off Thompson.

GAME 4 (Saturday, September 11): Tijuana 6, YUCATAN 2

Tijuana 1B Efren Navarro

    After Thursday's rain delay held up Game 3, Friday's Game 4 was postponed until Saturday by more rain. Yadier Drake singled in one run and scored another on Alex Liddi's sacrifice fly to give Yucatan a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Toros stretched their scoreless streak to 19 innings before Isaac Rodriguez tallied on Junior Lake's sacrifice fly in the top of the third. Tijuana would then score at least one more run in the third, fourth and fifth innings as Efren Navarro belted a two-run homer in the fourth and Gabriel Gutierrez singled in two more in the fifth, putting the game out of reach.

    Teddy Stankiewicz replaced Michael Devine in the third with the Toros trailing 2-1, then pitched 3.1 innings of one-hit ball and was the beneficiary of TJ's mid-game offensive awakening, earning the win. Leones starter Casey Harman dished up Navarro's homer and was tagged for the loss as the visitors outhit Yucatan by a 14-to-5 margin as another “sellout” crowd of 6,420 watched the contest.

GAME 5 (Sunday, September 12): Tijuana 4, YUCATAN 3

    Junior Lake singled and Leandro Castro lofted a homer off Yucatan starter Rhadames Liz over the left field wall to give Tijuana a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Toros scored again in the top of the second when Luis Alfonso Cruz launched Liz' first pitch of the frame for a homer to left. A Cruz throwing error from third base in the bottom of the second allowed Jose Juan Aguilar to score from first with the Leones' first run. The teams traded zeros into the bottom of the fifth, when Yadir Drake sliced a two-out, opposite-field double and later motored home from second on an Alex Liddi single up the middle to narrow the Bulls' lead to 3-2.

    That's where the score stayed until the bottom of the ninth, when Fernando Rodney gave up a double to Alex Liddi that scored Yadir Drake from second and ultimately sent the game into extra innings. The game remained tied until Xavier Carrillo's bloop single in the top of the eleventh plated Gabriel Gutierrez, giving the Toros a 4-3 lead. The Leones had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the eleventh, but Junior Lake made a diving catch of Luis Juarez' sinking liner to center for one out, then threw to second to double up Walter Ibarra for the last out of the game, which drew another 6,420 onlookers.

    Rodney tossed the final three innings on 47 pitches to earn the win while Yucatan reliever Manuel Chavez, who gave up Carrillo's RBI single was tagged with the loss.

MANNY BARREDA CALLED UP BY ORIOLES FOR MLB DEBUT

RHP Manny Barreda finally reaches MLB

    There's an old adage that life is about the journey than the destination, but pitcher Manny Barreda may be forgiven if he thinks, “Forget that noise...give me the destination!”

    After 15 years of pitching for four Major League Baseball organizations, the 5'11” righthander finally made his big league debut last Wednesday (one month shy of his 33rd birthday) when Barreda entered a game for Baltimore in the eighth inning trailing Kansas City, 5-0, at Camden Yards. Barreda not only retired the Royals in order (striking out the Royals' Michael Taylor looking to end the top of the eighth), he was awarded the win after the Orioles scored NINE runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on to beat Kansas City, 9-8, as a gathering of 4,965 watched the hapless O's bring their record up to an MLB-worst 45-93.

    Not that Barreda minded the sparse attendance nor the lost season his new team was in when he first joined them after his September 7 call-up. For the native of Sahuarita, Arizona, it was the culmination of a long apprenticeship that began in 2007 when he was taken by the Yankees in the 12th round of that year's draft.

    After going 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA in eleven outings (including three starts) for the Yanks' Gulf Coast League team, Barreda spent eight summers in their system before being released in 2014, after which he signed with Milwaukee. He spent two years in the Brewers' minors before signing with Tijuana of the Mexican League in late 2015 as a middle reliever, a role he'd held his entire career except for six starts with Class A Charleston in 2011. Barreda continued as a middleman for the Toros in 2016, going 2-1 with a .350 ERA in 25 outings that summer.

Barreda threw no-hitter for Los Mochis

    Then a funny thing happened in Los Mochis, where he spent the 2016-17 Mexican Pacific League winterball season: The Caneros made Barreda a starter and he was 4-3, leading the LMP with a 2.20 ERA and finishing third with 66 strikeouts. He threw a no-hitter against Hermosillo that season, requiring 138 pitches to subdue the Naranjeros, 2-0. Weeks later, Barreda signed a free agent contract with Atlanta.

    The Braves shipped him back to Tijuana for the 2017 season, and he rewarded the Toros with his second no-hitter in eight months, beating Tabasco, 4-0, that July on 145 pitches. He was eventually brought up to Atlanta's AAA Gwinnett affiliate and rewarded them by turning in a 3-1 record and 1.83 ERA in seven starts, earning the International League's Pitcher of the Week award on September 4. Even with those credentials, Barreda not only didn't get called up to the big leagues, he was sent back to Tijuana for 2018 and 2019.

    After missing the 2020 season due to the pandemic, Barreda had a strong LMP season for pennant-winning Culiacan and earned the Tomateros' lone win at the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan, after which he was signed by Baltimore. The Sahaurita, Arizona native pitched one inning in relief at AA Bowie and was promoted to AAA Norfolk in June, where he was 1-2 with two saves and a 4.19 ERA before last week's call to Baltimore.

    Although he's been rocked a bit in subsequent relief appearances for the Orioles against Kansas City and Toronto (his ERA as of Saturday night was 13.50 and he'd given up homers to the Royals' Hunter Dozier and Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays), Manny Barreda has to be ecstatic to finally be getting his first chance to pitch at the major league level after years of waiting. It's been a long, long journey he hopes is finally over.

FIFTY YEARS SINCE LONE TEAM WON LMB FINALS AFTER 0-3 START

    The Tijuana Toros got off to a rocky start in the this season's Serie del Rey, losing the first three games to Yucatan in an attempt to win the border city's second Mexican League pennant. They aren't the only team to face similar long odds for a comeback, of course, but just one team overcame an 0-3 deficit to capture the flag fifty years ago this week.

    Carlos Meza of Septima Entrada took a look back in time last week to recall when that team roared back with four straight wins to stun the Saltillo Saraperos for the championship. Here's an edited Google translation of his column:

Max Leon was 14-7 for Jalisco in 1971

    Fifty years ago, an unprecedented event occurred in the Mexican Baseball League: For the first and only time in a championship series, a team recovered from a 0-3 deficit to win the title. The protagonist of that story? The Jalisco Charros.

    And there can't be a great story without drama. In that season, the Charros made the playoffs on the last day of the regular season as the Mexico City Diablos Rojos fell in Veracruz, so Jalisco remained with the leadership of the LMB South and would face the leaders of the North, the Saltillo Saraperos.

    But a few days before the Final Series, Charros owner Álvaro Lebrija ran out of patience with pitchers Cecilio Acosta, Enrique Romo and Martín Raygoza and suspended them. "Discipline is more important than the title," they say the owner declared after the decision.

    But Saltillo manager Tomás Herrera's team delivered three almost-fulminating hits: On August 10 and 11, 1971, the Saraperos won games at the Estadio Tecnologico in Guadalajara and on the 13th, they also took a victory in Saltillo.

    Everything was ready for a great party in Coahuila in the fourth game of the series. However, rain canceled the game and the Saltillo board decided to carry out a doubleheader the next day so that local fans could see their club be crowned in Sunday.

    But everything changed. The Charros showed pride and beat Saraperos, 6-3 and 4-2, at Estadio Francisco I. Madero, narrowing the margin to 3-games-to-2 and forcing the Final Series to return to Guadalajara.

    “The God Tlaloc helped them with the rest day and the series returned to Guadalajara,” recalls current Charros Mexican Pacific League co-owner Armando Navarro, who as a fan experienced those finals in a packed Estadio Tecnologico. “They couldn't stop them anymore.”

    In the sixth game, reliever Manuel Lugo had to start the game and although the plan was for him to pitch four innings, he ended up pitching all nine. The Saraperos led, 2-0, on the scoreboard but the Charros rallied with run-scoring singles by Bill Parlier and Clemente Rosas to win the game, 3-2, and equalize the grand finale.

Charros skipper Cananea Reyes showered

    Then on Wednesday, August 18, the decisive game was played. Pablo Torrealba opened for Jalisco and Andrés Ayón for Saltillo, and the latter had a bad night.

    Jalisco scored in the first inning and Torrealba hung up six zeros. At the end of the sixth, Parlier hit a home run to make it 3-0 and sent Tech Stadium boiling. Singles by Francisco Campos and Francisco Menchaca would add two more scores for the five runs the Charros would score that day. The visitors responded with a home run by Jungla Salinas in the ninth inning, but everything was already written with a 5-1 on the board.

    That 1971 Jalisco team (the second and last one to win an LMB pennant) was under the command of young manager Benjamin “Cananea” Reyes. The Guadalajara nine had heroes like pitchers Máximino León, Pablo Torrealba, Ernesto Córdoba and Manuel Lugo as well as players like Jaime Corella, Clemente Rosas, Francisco Campos, Roberto Mendez, Lauro Villalobos and Roberto Castellón.

YUCATAN, TIJUANA TO MEET IN 2021 SERIE DEL REY

    The Yucatan Leones and Tijuana Toros closed out their respective Mexican League Division Championship Series last week and will clash in Game One of the Serie del Rey Monday night in Tijuana. The Leones defeated Mexico City in five games the LMB South title while the Toros required six games to dispatch Guadalajara in the LMB North finals. Both the Diablos Rojos and Mariachis finished first in their respective divisions during the regular season.

    The following is a recap of last week's Liga playoff games:

YUCATAN DEFEATED MEXICO CITY, 4 GAMES TO 1

Leones celebrate LMB South title

    After the Leones won the first two games of the LMB South Championship Series in Mexico City, both teams moved to Merida for the next three contests, starting with last Monday's 5-3 Yucatan win over the Diablos. Mexico City drew initial blood in the top of the first inning when Jesus Fabela scored from third on Japhet Amador's bases-loaded, 6-4-3 double play grounder. Yucatan answered in the bottom of the frame with Yadir Drake launching a two-run homer to put the hosts up 2-1. Another longball by Leones outfielder Jose Juan Aguilar in the bottom of the second made it a 3-1 contest and Yucatan maintained their advatange the rest of the night. Drake ended the game batting 3-for-4 in support of starter Jake Thompson, who let in two runs on three hits over six innings. Diablos opener Luis Rodiguez took the loss after allowing four runs in five innings.

    Mexico City won their only game of the series, 6-4, last Tuesday. The Leones held a 3-2 lead after six innings before the Diablos posted two runs in the top of the seventh, including a Fabela RBI single, and two more tallies in the eighth when Yucatan reliever Rafael Ordaz came in for Enrique Burgos with the bases loaded and promptly plunked Fabela to push across one run and walked Juan Carlos Gamboa to score another, ending Ordaz' night. Luis Juarez slammed a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth but the Leones drew no closer. Yangervis Solarte belted a pair of roundtrippers for the winners (both off Yucatan starter Casey Harman) while Sebastian Valle and Walter Ibarra socked solo homers for the Lions.

    Yucatan ended the series at home last Wednesday with a 9-7 triumph in comeback fashion. The Leones were up 6-4 going into the top of the eighth, when Mexico City took the lead with three runs, including a single by Gamboa that sent Julian Ornelas home. Juarez reversed the Red Devils' 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth by rocking his second homer of the night (and third in two games), a three-run blast over the left-field wall on Roberto Osuna's second pitch of the game. It was left to Burgos to record a 1-2-3 ninth and whiff Eduardo Revilla swinging for the final out to end the contest and the series. Juarez, who hit .550 for the series, went 3-for-3 with three runs and four RBIs for the LMB South champs while Gamboa was 3-for-5 with a pair of ribbies.

TIJUANA DEFEATED GUADALAJARA, 4 GAMES TO 2

TJ's Luis Alfonso Cruz and Ricky Alvarez

   Like Yucatan, Tijuana opened the LMB North Championship Series with two wins but after losing two of three games at home, the Toros had to wait until Friday's Game Six victory in Guadalajara to put the Mariachis away and advance to the Serie del Rey. Guadalajara won last Monday's contest, 4-3, in TJ's Estadio Nacional. The game was tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth before the Mariachis scored the go-ahead run off Toros closer Fernando Rodney without a hit: Issmael Salas's grounder to third was badly mishandled by Luis Alfonso Cruz, with Salas advancing to third on the play and later scoring on a Luis Sardinas sacrifice fly. Fernando Cruz tossed a scoreless ninth for the win. Carlos Mendivil clubbed a two-run homer for Guadalajara and added an RBI single while Gabriel Gutierrez went deep for the Toros.

    Last Tuesday, the Toros topped Guadalajara, 7-3, to come within a game of clinching the series. In the bottom of the first, TJ manufactured an old-school run when Isaac Rodriguez singled, moved to second on a Junior Lake safety, stole third and then scored when Mariachis rightfielder Anthony Garcia couldn't hang on to a Leandro Castro fly ball. However, it was Efren Navarro's three-run double off Guadalajara starter Zack Dodson in the bottom of the third to give Tijuana a 4-0 that proved the decisive blow. Rodriguez went 2-for-5 on the night with a pair of runs while the Mariachis' LMB bat champ Leo Heras was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer. Carlos Hernandez got the win for the Toros by tossing five innings of two-run ball and Rodney earned his third save of the series. Dodson absorbed the loss.

    The Mariachis came back Wednesday to make it two road wins in three games, pounding Tijuana, 12-5. Holding a 4-2 lead at the time, Guadalajara put together an eight-run fifth to chase Toros starter Teddy Stankiewicz. Sardinas clubbed a two-run homer for the visitors while reliever Jose Samayoa's throwing error on a Beau Amaral comebacker on the mound resulted in two more Mariachis scores. Sardinas posted a 3-for-5 night with two homers, four RBIs and three runs scored for the winners. Edson Garcia homered for Tijuana, who drew an announced 44,719 for their three home games. After losing the series opener in Guadalajara, LMB wins champion Masaru Nakamura got the win with six innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.

    After the series moved back to Guadalajara for Game Six, Tijuana eliminated the Mariachis on Friday by a 5-4 count. Heras' three-run homer off Toros starter Joe Van Meter in the bottom of the fourth gave Guadalajara a 3-0 lead, but TJ came back to score four times in the top of the fifth, with Cruz busting a two-run homer and Rodriguez punching a run-scoring single. Ricky Alvarez gave the Toros a 5-3 lead with an RBI singleton in the top of the ninth and while Christian Ibarra's double in the bottom of the ninth off Rodney brought Heras in to bring the Mariachis within a run, but after Rodney walked Mendivil to put runners on first and second, he induced Amaral to hit a grounder to Daniel Castro for a game-ending double play, escaping with his fourth save of the series and Tijuana advancing to the finals.

2021 SERIE DEL REY Schedule
Game 1: Monday, September 6 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana
Game 2: Tuesday, September 7 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana
Game 3: Thursday, September 9 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan
Game 4: Friday, September 10 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan
Game 5: Saturday, September 11 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan*
Game 6: Monday, September 13 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana*
Game 7: Tuesday, September 14 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana*
*-If necessary

MEX PAC CAMPS OPEN, FIVE IMPORTS ALLOWED PER TEAM

Hermosillo infielder nabs grounder

    As the Mexican League season enters its final days, training camps for Mexican Pacific League teams have begun opening. Sessions for players and coaches began last Thursday in Los Mochis, Hermosillo, Navojoa and Culiacan. All ten Mex Pac teams should have their camps running at full speed by the end of the week in preparation for the 2021-22 regular season, which opens with three games on Tuesday, October 5 when Mazatlan plays at Culiacan, Mexicali visits Hermosillo and Monterrey travels to Guadalajara to take on the Jalisco Charros (who may be under new ownership by then)

    This season, the LMP's ten clubs will be allowed to carry five foreigners on their active rosters after teams were limited to just three imports each as the pandemic made travel across the border a near impossibility. After an Assembly of Presidents meeting this summer, the league office issued a statement that read in part, “By a majority of votes, the number of imported players was made official. Each team may have up to five foreigners on its active roster, maintaining the inactive periods of 5 days for position players and 10 days for pitchers.” During the 2018-19 campaign, teams were allowed twelve imports in the first half and eight imports for the second half.

Culiacan coach instructing players

    One of those imports will be infielder Addison Russell, a former National League All-Star who was a member of the Chicago Cubs' 2016 World Series championship team. After spending part of the 2020 season with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, where he hit .254 with two homers and 31 RBIs over 65 games, Russell spent this summer in the Mexican League with the Monclova Acereros. Playing primarily at third base for the defending champions, the Florida native hit .318 with eight longballs and 47 RBIs in 66 games, leading the Steelers in batting and ribbies and finishing tied for second in homers. It's not known where Hermosillo manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama second baseman, will place Russell in the Naranjeros infield.

    Another import with big league due to make his LMP debut is hulking designated hitter Kennys Vargas, a Puerto Rico native who'll toil for the Los Mochis Caneros this winter. The 6'5” 290-pound Vargas spent parts of four seasons with the Minnesota Twins between 2014 and 2017, hitting an aggregate .251 with 3 homers and 116 RBIs over 116 games. After belting 21 homers for the Twins' AAA Rochester affiliate in 2018, Vargas spent 2019 in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines and batted .179 with a homer and six RBIs in 35 NPB games while also hitting .267 for the Marines' Eastern League farm team. This summer, Vargas played his first season in the Mexican League for Saltillo and had a solid campaign for the Saraperos with a .318 average, finishing third in homers with 18 while playing all 66 regular season games. There is concern that Vargas will only play the first month of the LMP season with the Caneros before heading home to Puerto Rico, where he's played winterball for Mayaguez. The Roberto Clemente League starts its schedule later than the Mex Pac.

U-23 WORLD CUP, CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULES RELEASED

    The full schedules have been released for both the 2021 WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup and the 2022 Caribbean Series tournaments.

    The 12-team U-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico will open Thursday, September 23 with tripleheaders in both Obregon and Hermosillo and conclude with the Gold and Bronze medal games on Saturday, October 2 in Hermosillo.

    Group A nations in the opening round at Estadio Yaquis in Obregon include Cuba, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Taiwan and host Mexico. Group B teams in Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora are Colombia, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, South Korea and Venezuela. The top three finishers in each Group will advance to the Super Round in Hermosillo while the bottom three seeds will be relegated to Obregon for the Consolation Round, both beginning on Wednesday, September 29.

    Tripleheaders will be played throughout the World Cup except for the final day. Games at both venues are scheduled for 10:30AM, 3:00PM and 7:30PM local time from September 23 through October 1 (with a rest day set for September 28). The Bronze Medal game on October 2 in Hermosillo begins at 1:00PM with a 7:30PM start for the Gold Medal game.

    The WBSC previously ruled to expand the age category for the U-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico to include players up to the age of 24. Previous tourneys have included young professional players from the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Major League Baseball (MLB), Minor League Baseball (MiLB), Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League (LNBP), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and other leagues around the world. 

   Meanwhile, the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation has released the schedule for the 2022 Caribbean Series to be played in the Dominican Republic at Santo Domingo's Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal. Built in 1955 and renovated in 2007, the 14,469-seat ballpark serves as home for both the Licey Tigres and Escogido Leones of the Liga Dominicana and will be hosting its ninth Serie del Caribe since 1972.

    As with the U-23 Baseball World Cup in Sonora, the Caribbean Series will feature tripleheaders throughout the five-day opening round-robin portion of the tournament between January 28 and February 1, with games scheduled for 10:30AM, 3:00PM and 8:00PM (as per tradition, the host LiDom champions will play in every nightcap). A doubleheader with games at 3:00PM and 8:00PM is set for the February 2 semifinals while first pitch for the February 3 championship game will take place at 7:00PM. All times are local.

    The same six nations represented in 2020 (San Juan) and 2021 (Mazatlan) will be sending their heavily-reinforced national champions to Santo Domingo: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The host Dominicans are seeking their 22nd Serie del Caribe title, Puerto Rico is looking for number 17 and the Mexican Pacific League will be hoping for a tenth title. Venezuela has seven championships, Panama has won the event twice and Colombia's pennant-winner will try to win that country's first game.