LAGUNA SKIPPER OMAR MALAVE, 58, COMMITS SUICIDE

    A family member has confirmed that Union Laguna Algodoneros manager Omar Malave is dead of suicide at age 58. Daughter Omarling Malave took to Twitter to verify that her father had taken his own life last Monday at his Dunedin, Florida home: “For everyone who wants to know what happened. He killed himself. This is the truth that I will not hold back because mental health is very important. It can happen to anyone! Even someone like Omar Malavé. Never in a million years would I think my dad would do this, but he did.”

    The daughter of the Venezuela-born manager deeply regretted that her children, Omar’s grandchildren, will not be able to enjoy those baseball anecdotes that he was able to tell, this due to his great career as a professional. “Mental health is still such a taboo subject,” Omarling tweeted, “Especially in men. They are taught to ignore their feelings and be strong, but the reality is that men have feelings and emotions too. Suicide comes in all ages, sexes and sizes.“

    In his first season as skipper of the Torreon club, Malave led the Cottoneers to an unexpected Mexican League playoff berth this summer with a 31-33 record after the team had been predicted by many to finish last in the nine-team North Division. He played nine seasons in the Toronto minor league system and managed Blue Jays farm teams after retiring as a player. Dunedin is the Jays’ longtime spring training home.

    The Algodoneros team website had no mention of Malave’s passing one week after his suicide and still listed him as their manager. Two other Mexican League franchises announced managerial changes last week.

    The Dos Laredos Tecolotes named Mark Weidemaier as manager for 2022. Weidemaier will assume the helm from interim pilot Rafael Rijo, who took over the Owls after first-year manager Pablo Ortega was fired during a 2021 campaign which saw the club finish 30-36 for an eighth-place finish in the LMB North.

    A baseball lifer who served as an assistant coach at Ohio State University while still a student at the University of North Carolina, Weidemaier served under manager Matt Williams in Washington between 2014 and 2015 and also worked for Williams in Korea this year as bench coach for the KIA Tigers. Weidemaier has twice managed in the LMB. He was bench boss for Union Laguna in 1988 and for Veracruz in 2016, laboring for Dos Laredos owner Jose Antonio Mansur in the port city before the team was moved to the border cities.

    Weidemaier joins the Tecos at a time when the team is once again embroiled in controversy over their status in Laredo, Texas. The Tecos are doing battle with STX Venue Management owner Danny Lopez over control of the ballpark during the team’s home games, stating that Lopez “has created an environment in which the team can’t operate properly or efficiently,” according to the Laredo Morning Times. The Tecos ended up splitting home games between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo last season after similar concerns led them to consider farming home games out to other Texas border cities.

Finally, the Durango Generales have named former major league infielder Alvaro Espinoza as their new manager. Espinoza appeared in 12 MLB seasons and was a starting shortstop for the Yankees between 1989 and 1991 as well as the Cleveland Indians in 1993. He replaces another former big league shortstop, longtime LMB skipper Felix Fermin, in Durango after the Generales finished last in the LMB North with a 20-45 record to tie Oaxaca for the worst record in the Liga’s truncated 2021 season.

This will be Espinoza’s first time managing a Mexican team but the Valencia, Venezuela native has led the Anzoategui Caribes in the Liga Venezolana, where he played winterball for over a decade and batted .368 in three Caribbean Series (he was named to the CS Hall of Fame in 2014). He’s also managed and coached in the Expos, Dodgers, Pirates and Giants organization since 1998 and (like Weidemaier) coached in the Korea Baseball Organization last summer with the Kiwoom Heroes.

CULIACAN P RAMIREZ HOSPITALIZED AFTER LINER BEANING

    J.C. Ramirez had a scary evening last week after the Culiacan pitcher was drilled on the head by a line drive off the bat of Hermosillo’s Addison Russell during a Mexican Pacific League game last Sunday at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo.

    The comebacker beaning occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Tomateros manager Benji Gil sent Ramirez in with two out to pitch to the former Cubs All-Star. Russell, who drove in Luis Alfonso Cruz and ended up at third base with what in effect was an infield triple, was visibly upset and held his own head in his hands as he came into third. The Tomateros eventually won the contest, 4-3.

    Ramirez was taken to a local hospital for observation prior to being released with a clean bill of health last Wednesday. The 33-year-old Nicaraguan righty has been pitching out of the bullpen for Culiacan and it’s been a struggle. After six appearances, Ramirez has an 0-2 record with a 6.35 ERA for the defending champions. He was 4-2 and 1.74 over six starts for the Tomateros last winter before splitting last summer between Taiwan’s Fubon Guardians (4-5 and 3.43 in nine starts for the CPBL club) and the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (2-0 and 3.43 in three starts for the LMB flagship franchise).

    The Mex Pac’s second-half standings are still bunched up after two weeks. Only four games separated the ten teams after 14 contests each. Mexicali has gone 9-5 for new manager Gil Velazquez and is clinging to a one-game lead over Guasave, Mazatlan and first-half champion Navojoa (all 8-6) while Hermosillo and Obregon are tied for fifth at 7-7, two games out of first. Even the moribund Los Mochis Caneros are showing signs of life after sweeping a Saturday doubleheader against Monterrey, 4-1 and 2-0, at home in Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria.

    Behind the strong pitching of Carlos Viera (6 innings, 1 run in the opener) and Fabian Cota (7 shutouts innings in the nightcap), the Caneros raised their second-half record to 5-9, just a half-game behind 5-8 Jalisco. Although Los Mochis is still in last place on the heels of a disastrous first half in which they trailed the other nine teams with a 9-23 record, the Canegrowers are showing enough of a pulse to at least crack the double-digit mark in wins under new manager Luis Carlos Rivera over the second stanza.

    Navojoa’s Tirso Ornelas has taken clear ownership of the Mex Pac batting race with a .383 average, thirty points ahead of teammate Samar Leyva’s .353 mark. Christian Villanueva of Jalisco has a .369 average but the Guadalajara native has spent most of November on the Charros’ reserve list and has appeared in just 24 games. Another Jalisco player, Dariel Alvarez, is batting .412 with three homers in 13 games since returning from Japan.

    Navojoa first baseman Kyle Martin socked his 11th homer last week and leads in that category, ahead of Monterrey’s Anthony Giansanti (8) and five more players with seven longballs each. Jalisco’s Julian Ornelas (Tirso’s brother) leads with 34 RBIs, one more than Charros’ teammate Felix Perez and the 32 of Joey Meneses of Culiacan. Tomateros outfielder Dairon Blanco failed to steal a base last week but his 20 swipes still give him a comfortable lead over Obregon’s Alonzo Harris (14) and Ramon Rios of Mazatlan (13).

    There are now six LMP pitchers with five wins each to tie for the league lead: Elian Leyva (Hermosillo), Carlos De Leon and Raul Carrillo (both Navojoa) plus Hector Velazquez and Demetrio Gutierrez (both Obregon). Leyva continues to top the list of qualifiers for the ERA title at 1.17, ahead of Velazquez (1.94) and another Obregon hurler, Arturo Lopez (2.11). Lopez’ 40 strikeouts are third on the list behind Octavio Acosta of Navojoa (45) and Obregon’s Luis Escobar (43). With such great ERA and K numbers, Lopez deserves a better record than 1-2 after eight starts. Mexicali’s Jake Sanchez picked up a pair of saves last week to raise his season total to 16; Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa and Hermosillo’s Fernando Salas are tied for second with 11 saves each.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #9): Mazatlan, Sinaloa

    The ninth of ten stops on our virtual tour of Mexican Pacific League cities, Mazatlan, Sinaloa is a relatively long 135-mile jaunt south from Culiacan on Highway 150, a driving trip that runs about two-and-a-half hours mostly along the Gulf of California coast.

    Named after a native word for "place of the Deer," Mazatlan is the largest Pacific Coast seaport between Los Angeles and the Panama Canal, in which tourism gradually developed as an adjunct to its success as the "Shrimp Capital of the World." Mazatlan’s thriving seafood industry lessens the need for tourist dollars that are the sole economic driver of other cities on Mexico’s west coast like Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Ixtapa (although it is more tourist-driven than any other LMP franchise site).

    Mazatlan enjoys year-round sunshine and a mostly temperate climate, although it can get hot and humid during the summer. While the other seven LMP cities get frying-pan hot during the summer and even the winter, Mazatlan sits across from the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula, which blocks ocean breezes from reaching places like Obregon, Culiacan and Hermosillo. Mazatlan has miles of Pacific beaches lined by a seawall promenade called the Malecon. Visitors indulge in sports fishing, golf, bicycling, tennis and water sports.

    There’s an area in north Mazatlan called the Zona Dorado, or “Gold Zone,” where Americans and Candians generally congregate. The Zona Dorado bears as much resemblance to the “real” Mexico as Las Vegas bears to the “real” America and if a visitor to Mazatlan doesn’t venture outside the veritable tourist enclave, they'll miss the essence of the city.

    While the downtown core can’t truly be called “Old Mexico” in style because coastal cities were mostly fishing villages until the 20th century, Mazatlan is a lively place with many plazas in which Spanish architecture brackets the goings-on. It’s a lot less expensive than the Zona Dorado, too, and visitors have a much greater opportunity to experience the natural warmth and kindness of the Mexican people. English is spoken in Mazatlan more than any other city in the LMP except perhaps Mexicali on the California border.

    The Mazatlan Venados have historically been one of the strongest franchises in the Mexican Pacific League. The Venados (or "Deer") have won nine pennants in the modern LMP, plus another five flags in the old winter Pacific Coast League in the 1940’s and 50’s, and Caribbean Series titles in 2005 and 2016.

    Venados home games are played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which opened in 1962 and was expanded to 12,000 seats in 2000 before a total renovation resulted in a state-of-the-art facility with 16,000 permanent seats in 2018. It has hosted six Caribbean Series, including the 2005 tournament won by the Venados and the most recent Serie del Caribe last February.

LEANDRO CASTRO NAMED MEXICAN LEAGUE MVP

    Tijuana Toros outfielder Leandro Castro received 65% of the votes en route to winning the Mexican League's 2021 Most Valuable Player award last week. The 32-year-old Dominican easily beat out Henry Urrutia (Saltillo), Niko Vasquez (Guadalajara), Leo Heras (Guadalajara) and Alex Liddi (Yucatan) for top honors.

    Castro missed only one of the Toros' 65 regular season games and led the LMB with 93 hits and 72 runs batted in, finished second with 159 total bases, third with 36 extra-base hits and a .646 slugging percentage, sixth in batting (.378), tenth with a .433 on-base percentage and twelfth with 14 homers.

    Castro has a .311 Mexican League career batting average and has cranked it up a notch since coming to Tijuana from Saltillo in 2019. He batted .361 that summer, which was his Liga best before this year's .378 after the 2020 campaign was called off due to the pandemic.

    The 5'11” 175-pounder has an overall .288 average with 202 homers and 231 stolen bases over 1,612 games after 15 years of summer and winter action. Castro signed with Philadelphia in 2007 as an 18-year-old free agent and spent that summer with the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team, batting .278 with six homers in 59 games. 

    He went on to play eight seasons in the Phils' system, reaching AAA Lehigh Valley in 2013 and 2014, where he hit a combined .257 with 14 homers, 27 steals and 105 RBIs over two years with the IronPigs. Castro played independent ball in the Canadian-American Association and American Association in 2015 and 2016 before signing with Leon of the LMB for the 2017 season.

    Castro bounced between the Bravos, Dos Laredos and Saltillo before coming to Tijuana in the middle of a 2019 season during which he hit .361 with 27 homers for the Saraperos and Toros in 111 total games. He's currently in his sixth winterball season in the Mexican Pacific League, where he played five seasons with Los Mochis before being sent to Obregon last year and traded to Mexicali prior the current schedule (the Aguilas returned him to the Yaquis after three weeks). Castro was consistently a top batter for the Caneros but after 30 games in 2021-22, he was only hitting .193 with one homer and seven RBIs before being placed on the reserve list last week.

    In other Mexican League awards for 2021, Guadalajara's Benji Gil was named Manager of the Year, Mariachis hurler Masaru Nakamura was voted Pitcher of the Year, Fernando Rodney of Tijuana topped balloting for Reliever of the Year, Veracruz outfielder Yasiel Puig won the new Defensive Player of the Year award, Jesse Castillo of Guadalajara was named Comeback Player of the Year and Oaxaca catcher Juan Carlos Camacho won Rookie of the Year honors.

HERMOSILLO WINS 6 OF 9, TAKES LMP SECOND HALF LEAD

    After a tepid first half in which they went 16-16 to finish seventh in the Mexican Pacific League standings, the Hermosillo Naranjeros are off to a fast start in the second half of the regular season schedule. The Orangemen have won six of the their first nine games to take the lead in the LMP standings, one game ahead of five teams who share identical 5-4 records: Mexicali, Monterrey, Mazatlan, Obregon and first-half champion Navojoa.

    The Naranjeros are led by manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama second baseman who defied the odds to reach a second season under impatient Hermosillo owners who've gone through dugout bosses like Elizabeth Taylor went through spouses in search of the team's first pennant since 2013-14. 

    Navarrete has enjoyed having one of the Mex Pac's best pitching staffs this season, including starters Elian Leyva, Wilmer Rios, Ryan Verdugo and Juan Pablo Oramas along with closer Fernando Salas and middleman Heriberto Ruelas. Hermosillo is allowing a league-low 3.60 runs per nine innings (compared to an LMP average of 4.30 R/9 average). Leyva, Rios and Oramas have combined for 12 of Hermosillo's 22 wins on the season.

    Offensively, the Naranjeros have been a middle of the pack team (.266 average with 26 homers and 4.46 runs per game), but they've had some batters who've stood out. Outfielder Nick Torres is sixth in the circuit with a .329 average and is tied for second with seven homers, veteran third baseman Luis Alfonso Cruz is tenth in the batting race at .312 and is tied for sixth in RBIs with 28 and centerfielder Jose Cardona leads the LMP with 34 runs scored amid a well-rounded season during which he's hitting .291 with five homers and nine steals. At this point of the campaign, Navarrete has Hermosillo looking good enough at the plate and on the mound to be a factor in the postseason if they play to their capabilities.

    Leaguewide, Navojoa's Tirso Ornelas (.386) has a clear lead over teammate Samar Leyva (.353) and Yadir Drake of Guasave (.351) in the batting derby. Another Mayos batter, Kyle Martin, isn't hitting homers at the same pace he started out at, but he socked a longball on Sunday to raise his season total to 10 over 29 games, three ahead of four other LMP batsmen. One of those four, Jalisco's Julian Ornelas, leads with 34 RBIs while four competitors are tied for second at 31 ribbies apiece. Dairon Blanco of Culiacan has reached 20 stolen bases after playing 29 games, eight more than Tomateros teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Ramon Rios of Mazatlan.

    Hermosillo's Leyva won his fifth game to tie Carlos De Leon of Hermosillo for the wins lead while ten other hurlers are tied for third with four wins each. Leyva's 1.17 ERA is tops for pitchers, ahead of moundmate Rios at 2.08 and Obregon's Arturo Lopez (2.11). There's a three-way deadlock for the strikeouts lead at 40 apiece between Obregon's Lopez and Luis Escobar along with Octavio Acosta of Navojoa. Mexicali's poor first half didn't appear to affect closer Jake Sanchez, whose 15 saves leads the LMP to augment his 1.93 ERA while Hermosillo's Salas is second with 11 and Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa has 10.

    Attendance is up across the Mex Pac after a disastrous pandemic-fueled season in 2020-21. While the numbers aren't at their usual pre-Covid levels, a total of 1,155,655 fans have clicked the turnstiles through 205 games thus far for an average of 5,637 per opening. That would be enough to lead every minor league north of the border in 2021 but is well below the typical 9-10,000 average in previous LMP seasons. 

    Hermosillo leads the ten-team loop with 187,323 fans over 22 home games for an average of 8,515 per game while Culiacan is right behind at 175,456 over 22 openings, or 7,975 per game. Guasave ranks last at 44,044 in attendance for a 2,318 average while Mazatlan (usually one of the better draws in the Mex Pac) has only had 54,375 visitors at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, an average of 2,862.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #8): Culiacan, Sinaloa

    This week, we pay a visit to Culiacan, the eighth Mexican Pacific League site on our virtual ten-city road trip. Culiacan is a two-hour drive lasting just over 100 miles south from Guasave (our last stop) on Highway 15 and is set a few miles inland from the Gulf of California. While Mazatlan is better-known among North Americans, Culiacan is a thriving city and the state capital of Sinaloa. The name “Culican” is an old native word which means “place where they adore the God Coltzin.”

    A municipality of just over a million residents, Culiacan was a small village when Spanish conquistador Nuno Beltran de Guzman founded the villa of San Miguel de Culiacan on September 29, 1531. From the end of the sixteenth century and throughout much of the 1700’s, San Miguel de Culiacan served as an important staging area for the Spanish conquest of the Mexican West. However, independence from Spain was eventually won for Mexico in the early 1820’s, and Culiacan was granted the status of “city” in 1823. At that time, Sinaloa’s state capital was in Mazatlan, but was eventually shifted to Culiacan in 1873.

    As with most of the Mex Pac cities, Culiacan is an agricultural center, surrounded by some of the most arable land in Mexico of which the major crop is tomatoes. While Culiacan has a reputation as a tough town, it is also, in fact, a thriving and busy place with a fine State university in the city center, a lovely 19th Century cathedral sitting three blocks away from the ubiquitous Mexican mercado, there are beaches on the Gulf a few miles away in Atlata and El Tambor, and Ernesto Millan Escalante Park features gardens, pools, an open-air Hellenic theater and the longest water slide in northern Mexico. The Centro Cultural Genaro Estrada contains two theaters, several museums and a café, and is a centerpiece for the arts.

    Something else worth a try is catching an LMP game at Estadio Tomateros, which cost an estimated 305 million pesos (about US$20.8 million during construction) before opening in time for the 2015-16 season. At 20,000 seats, Estadio Tomateros is one of the largest ballparks in minor league baseball and rates among the best in Mexico. Culiacan has been a baseball hotbed for decades and the Tomateros are annually among the leaders in Mex Pac attendance, drawing 16,000 per game during pre-pandemic seasons. Unlike most baseball stadiums in Mexico, Estadio Tomateros is not owned by the government by by the team itself.

    The Tomateros have given their fans a lot to cheer about over the years, with 13 Mex Pac pennants since their 1965 formation: Six of those under manager Francisco “Paquin” Estrada, who also brought home two Caribbean Series titles, while ex-MLB infielder Benji Gil has managed the Guindas to four more titles since 2014-15, including the last two. Players who've wintered in Culiacan include Salome Barojas, Esteban Loaiza, Aurelio Lopez, Oliver Perez and Vicente Romo (all Major League Baseball pitchers).

MAYOS HOLD OFF GUASAVE FOR LMP FIRST HALF TITLE

    The Navojoa Mayos entered last week's final Mexican Pacific League series of the first half with a slim lead over Guasave. The schedule favored the Algodoneros, who hosted last-place Los Mochis while Navojoa was visiting a tough Obregon squad.

    However, the Mayos clinched first place last Tuesday with a 3-2 win over the Yaquis behind homers by Kyle Martin and Alan Espinoza while Guasave dropped their opener with the Caneros by an identical 3-2 score as Los Mochis overcame a 2-1 deficit in the top of the ninth when Juan Camacho lofted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to plate the tying run and Francisco Cordoba's single pushed the go-ahead run.

    The Mayos lost their last two games in Obregon, 5-4 (Michael Wing hit a bases-clearing triple in the 7th) and 10-4 (Wing had a two-run double and Juan Carlos Gamboa contributed a two-run single for the Yaquis), while Guasave won their last two contests, 14-5 (Jhoan Urena and Yadir Drake combined for seven singles and six RBIs) and 11-4 (Angel Erro went 4-for-4 for the Algonoderos with four RBIs), but Navojoa was able to cling to the top of the standings with a 20-12 record, one game ahead of the 19-13 Cottoneers.

    As a result, manager Matias Carrillo's Mayos pocketed 10.0 points going into the second half last Friday while Guasave was awarded 9.0 points for their runner-up finish. Jalisco and Obregon tied for third place with 18-14 records, but the Charros were awarded 8.0 points due to their winning record for the half against the Yaquis, who earned 7.0 points. Defending champion Culiacan was right behind at 17-15, good for 6.0 points, while Hermosillo finished at an even 16-16 for sixth place and 5.5 points. Rounding out the standings were 15-17 Monterrey (5.0 points), 14-18 Mazatlan (4.5), 14-18 Mexicali (4.0), and 9-23 Los Mochis (3.5). The Venados got the nod in points over Mexicali due to their superior record against the Aguilas in the half.

    Somewhat surprisingly, no managers were fired during the first half of the schedule (skippers have been canned less than two weeks into the season in past years), but a couple teams have made amends for their tardiness. Robinson Cancel was sacked as manager in Los Mochis on the heels of the aforementioned pair of drubbings in Guasave to close out the first half schedule. 

    Cancel went 9-23 with the Caneros after replacing Victor Bojorquez, who led the team to two last-place finishes in 2020-21. Luis Carlos Rivera has been named as Los Mochis' new pilot. Rivera has managed Mexican League teams in Leon, Yucatan and Aguascalientes (who he led to a playoff berth last summer), but this will be his first time as a dugout boss in the Mex Pac.

    Meanwhile in Mexicali, where patience has never been a virtue, Bronswell Patrick was fired after the Aguilas' 14-18 first-half showing. Patrick took the reins of the Eagles last winter on an interim basis after serving the team as pitching coach and posted a 30-20 record the rest of the way, earning a playoff berth and coming in second in voting for Manager of the Year honors. He was hired permanently in late January, "permanent" in this case being less than ten months and 32 games. 

    Gil Velazquez, who was sefired as manager of the Aguilas during the 2016-17 LMP season, is being brought back to run the team, at least for now. Pedro Mere is returning for his third tour of duty in Mexicali, this time as Velazquez' bench coach. Mere managed the Aguilas on two previous occasions. Mexicali has now fired their manager in the middle of the season six years in a row.

    Tirso Ornelas of Navojoa leads the batting race with a .388 average, a comfortable 19 points ahead of Jalisco's Christian Villanueva (.369), while Miguel Guzman of Guasave is third at .358. Kyle Martin's homer for Navojoa against Obregon last Tuesday gave him nine for the season in 21 games, three more than six different batsmen. One of those, Jesse Castillo of Guasave, leads Jalisco's Felix Perez (who also has six roundtrippers) in the RBI derby, 30 to 29, while Maikel Serrano of Navojoa and Hermosillo's Luis Alfonso Cruz are tied for third at 27 ribbies apiece. Dairon Blanco of Culiacan is running away in the stolen bases category with 18 swipes in 22 attempts, well ahead of Obregon's Alfonso Harris (13) and Sebastian Elizalde of Culiacan (12).

    Navojoa's Carlos De Leon lost his first game of the season last week, but his five wins still are most in the Mex Pac, with four pitchers on his heels at four victories each. Orlando Lara (4-0) of Jalisco is tops with a 1.13 ERA, ahead of Hermosillo's Elian Leyva (4-0) at 1.29 and Tiago da Silva (3-1) of Obregon's 1.39 mark. Obregon's Luis Escobar leads with 38 strikeouts, followed by Javier Solano of Jalisco (33) and Escobar's Yaquis teammate, former Red Sox hurler Hector Velazquez (32). Jake Sanchez of Mexicali heads the saves table with 11 while Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante has eight and Roberto Osuna of Jalisco is at six.

MEX PAX ROAD TRIP (Stop #7): Guasave, Sinaloa

    The seventh visit on our 24-city Mexican Pacific League Road Trip is Guasave, Sinaloa (also known as “The Agricultural Heart of Mexico”), which can easily be reached by traveling on Highway 15 for 45 minutes to cover the 36 miles from our last stop, Los Mochis.

    A municipality of about 320,000 residents, Guasave has an agriculture-based economy, like the majority of Mex Pac venues. The major crops in the area are corn, wheat, sorghum, soy, beans and cotton. The land around Guasave is generally rocky and the climate is usually very dry and warm, with an average of about 15 inches of rain a year and an annual temperature of 80 degrees.

    While Guasave is only 22 miles east from the Gulf of California, the major source of the city’s water is the Sinaloa River, which starts in the southwest corner of the state of Chihuahua and flows into the gulf. The river includes Navachiste Bay, which is known for aquatic sports and fishing; and San Ignacio Bay, noted for its clean landscape, calm waters and abundance of flora and fauna. Further towards the gulf from Guasave are The Glorias, a very popular stretch of the river known for its beaches and terrific seafood like shrimp meatballs. Along the river, there are many poplars and willows lining the shores.

    Among the more interesting spots for travelers to visit are the 17th century ruins of Guasave’s Old Town, the Nio ruins (which date back to 1767), and Tamazula, a colonial site featuring a museum and church first built in 1820. Guasave is well known for the raising of thoroughbred horses. Guasave is (again like most LMP cities) not a tourist destination, but it is a slice of authentic northern Mexico with its own enjoyments, and the lifestyle there is considered very traditional.

    Guasave is represented in the Mexican Pacific League by the Algodoneros (or “Cotton Growers”). The team originally entered the MexPac baseball in 1970 and won the LMP pennant in only their second season under manager Vinicio Garcia (going 1-5 in the Caribbean Series that winter) but won no further titles, although they reached three subsequent championship series. The Cottoneers were bought and moved in 2014 to Guadalajara, where they were renamed the Jalisco Charros. A second edition of the Algodoners debuted in 2019-20. No uniform numbers have been retired in Guasave.

    The Algodoneros play their home games at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon, which is owned by the Sinaloa state government and now seats 10,000 spectators after extensive remodeling was performed prior to their 2019 return, mostly paid for by Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu as well as the federal CONADE sports agency.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Andres Mora, OF-1B-DH

    Most North American baseball fans only remember him as a sporadic power hitter who shuttled between Baltimore and Rochester for three years in the late Seventies, but Andres Mora is revered south of the border as one of the all-time great sluggers in Mexican League history on par with Hector Espino and Nelson Barrera. When he retired after the 1997 season, only Espino’s 453 homers topped Mora’s 419 dingers among LMB batters before Barrera passed them both in the early part of this century.

    Andres Mora Ibarra was born May 25, 1955 in Rio Bravo, Coahuila. He broke into pro ball at the tender age of 16 in 1971, splitting his season in Class A ball with Zacatecas and Puerto Penasco. He only played a total of 10 games the next two seasons before settling in with Saltillo in 1974, hitting .311 with 14 homers. 

    Mora hit stride the following year when the 20-year-old led the Liga with 35 homers and 109 RBIs while batting .307 for the Saraperos before being signed by the Orioles, beginning a frustrating three-year period. He spent most of his time playing for Earl Weaver’s O’s, hitting 27 homers and driving in 83 runs in 226 games but only batting in the mid-.220’s and never getting a shot to play consistently.

    Mora found himself back in Saltillo in 1979, and hit .344 with 23 homers and 102 RBIs. With the exception of a nine-game stay with Cleveland in 1980, he played the rest of his career in Mexico, mostly with the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. From 1981 to 1993, Mora topped 20 homers ten times, including a career high 41 in 1985. He drove in 443 runs and belted 142 dingers while hitting nearly .370 in a four-year period between 1984 and 1987 as the linchpin for a Dos Laredos offense that was one of the most-feared of the era.

    Ironically, the year the Tecolotes broke through for a pennant in 1989, Mora was playing in Monterrey for the Industriales. He returned to the binational team in 1990 and spent the rest of his career splitting home games between Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and Laredo, Texas. Mora retired from baseball in 1997, ending his 27-year pro career at the age of 42.

    Besides his 419 career Mexican League homers (he hit a total of 471 as a pro), Mora drove in 1,498 runs on 2,259 hits while batting .314. He had 12 Liga seasons at .300 or better, led the loop four times in homers and was RBI champ three times. He is a member of the Salon de la Fama and remembered as a man who could change a game with one swing of the bat.

SOLANO TRADED, SILVA RETIRING; 1ST HALF END NEARS

    Career changes involving two of the Mexican Pacific League's most notable pitchers over the past decade were in the news last week. Longtime Mexicali starter Javier Solano was sent to Guadalajara after the Aguilas announced a four-player trade with the Jalisco Charros while Mazatlan hurler Walter Silva announced his pending retirement as a player to focus on serving at the Venados pitching coach at a press conference.

    Solano, a 31-year-old righty who's in his 14th winter of LMP action, has pitched 177 games over the seasons (107 as a starter) and has a Mex Pac career record of 48-36 with a 3.44 ERA. The San Luis Colorado native nicknamed “El Terrorista” was the loop's Pitcher of the Year in 2015-16, the ERA champion in 2019-20 and won a Gold Glove last winter. Solano, who made his LMP debut in 2008-09 with Hermosillo, was off to a rough start for Mexicali this season with an 0-4 record and 8.37 ERA in five starts after going 2-6 and 7.12 for Quintana Roo in the Mexican League over the summer.

    The former Dodgers farmhand was sent to the Charros along with fellow right-hander Felipe Arredondo in exchange for pitchers Fredy Quintero and Jesus Cruz. Arredondo is a middleman who has yet to pitch this winter but was 2-0 and 2.75 for the Charros last season before coming to the border city in the offseason. In return, the Aguilas get a veteran reliever in Quintero who was 1-0 and 4.76 for Jalisco this season while Cruz (5-2 and 4.76 in four years for the Charros) is another reliever who pitched one MLB game for St. Louis in 2020.

    Meanwhile, Silva is calling it a career after 20 years on the mound. After signing with Monterrey in 2002 at the relatively advanced age of 25, the Mazatlan product pitched for the LMB Sultanes and his hometown Venados (along with a one-year stint in Taiwan) before inking a free agent deal with San Diego in 2009. The 6'1 righty pitched six times that year for the Padres (0-2, 8.76) as a teammate of brothers Edgar and Adrian Gonzalez, with whom he'd previously played winterball in Mazatlan.

    After returning to Mexico for good, Silva spent ten more years in the Liga (five with Monterrey) and compiled a lifetime record of 97-86 over 16 seasons with a 4.56 ERA. He pitched another ten winters for Mazatlan and two more in Guasave. He was picked up as an emergency pitcher for Panama in the Caribbean Series last February and appeared in two games out of the bullpen. Now 44, Silva will make his first start this season (and last of his career) for the Venados against Jalisco at home on Wednesday night before becoming a full-time pitching coach under Mazatlan manager Eddie Diaz. His number 39 will be retired.

    Surprising Navojoa has created some breathing room at the top of the Mex Pac standings with a 19-10 record, three games ahead of 16-12 Guasave. With three games remaining in the first half, the Mayos are within grasp of clinching first place and the 10 points that come with it. For their part, Nipping the Algodoneros' heels are Jalisco, Obregon and defending champion Culiacan , all with 16-13 ledgers. At the bottom of the standings, hapless Los Mochis (8-20) has clinched last place and 3.5 points.

    Christian Villanueva of Jalisco holds the batting lead over Navojoa's Tirso Ornelas by a slim .386 to .383 margin. Yoelkis Guibert of Culiacan is third at .354. Navojoa's Kyle Martin has taken the home run lead with seven longballs after just 16 games, one more than Mayos teammate Maikel Serrano and Nick Torres of Hermosillo. Guasave's Jesse Castillo are tied for the lead in runs batted in with 25 each and Luis Alfonso Cruz of Hermosillo) is third with 23 ribbies. Culiacan's Dairon Blanco is tops with 12 stolen bases while teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez tied for second with 10 swipes.

    Elian Leyva of Hermosillo finally allowed an earned run during his sixth start Friday when Jalisco's Felix Perez singled in Julian Ornelas during the fourth inning of a 5-1 Naranjeros win, but Leyva's 0.24 ERA over 37 innings still leads all LMP starters. Jalisco's Orlando Lara is right behind at 1.13 and Hector Velazquez of Obregon is third with a 1.64 mark. Navojoa's Carlos De Leon has won all five starts for a 5-0 record to lead in wins, one more than Leyva and Lara. Luis Escobar of Obregon has an LMP-best 34 strikeouts in 35.1 innings, ahead of Obregon's Arturo Lopez (32) and new Jalisco starter Javier Solano (28) on the K table. Mexicali's Jake Sanchez continues to top the saves category with nine in 12 outings as Fernando Salas of Hermosillo trails with eight and Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante is third with seven salvados.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Standings: Navojoa 19-10, Guasave 16-12, Jalisco 16-13, Culiacan 16-13, Obregon 16-13, Hermosillo 15-14, Mazatlan 13-16, Monterrey 13-16, Mexicali 12-17, Los Mochis 8-20.

TWELVE CUBAN PLAYERS DEFECT AFTER U-23 WORLD CUP

    The final day of last month's WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup in Sonora saw the Cuba drop the Bronze medal game to Colombia, 5-3, in Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora. However, the Cubans suffered a greater loss with longer-lasting implications off the field after 12 young players had defected to Mexico by the time the tournament ended.

    Officials with the National Sports Agency in Havana referred to the largest group defection of Cuban athletes in years as “vile abandonments” involving players of “weak morals and ethics.” The remaining players and coaches returned to Cuba on Monday, October 4, two days after the loss to Colombia, during which 11 of 24 rostered players appeared.

    According to the Periodico Cubano website, the 12 players (all members of Cuban National Series teams) who remained behind in Sonora were LHP Dariel Fernandez (Pinar del Rio), LHP Leinel Zayas (Isla de Juventus), RHP Bryan Chi (Industriales), RHP Luis Dany Morales (Sancti Spiritus), RHP Uber Luis Medina (Santiago de Cuba), C Loidel Rodriguez (Sancti Spiritus), IF Miguel Antonio Gonzalez (Granma), IF Dismany Palacios (Sancti Spiritus), IF Yandy Yanes (Camaguey), OF Geisel Cepeda (Sancti Spiritus), OF Loidel Chapelli, Jr. (Camaguey), and OF Reinaldo Lazaga (Pinar del Rio).

    Gonzalez (.385), Yanez (.333) and Chapelli (.320) were Cuba's top three hitters in World Cup competition Chi went 1-2 with a 4.45 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11 innings and Zayas struck out both batters faced in his lone appearance. While 11 of the 12 are technically free agents (Cepeda is under contract with Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League), all will first have to establish residency in Mexico or another country before being allowed to negotiate with any non-Cuban baseball organization.

    Cuban ballplayers have been defecting from the island nation for years since failed pitcher Fidel Castro took over in 1959 and subsequently ruled that baseball would henceforth be an “amateur” sport. Current Tampa Bay infielder Randy Arozarena defected to Mexico in 2016 after two seasons with Pinar del Rio and spent a year playing in the Mexican League for Tijuana and with Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League (leading the loop in homers) after signing with St. Louis for $1.25 million. Arozarena still resides in Merida, Yucatan and has stated his desires for Mexican citizenship and a spot on the Mexican National Team. Several Cubans have made Mexico their permanent baseball home, including Ronnier Mustelier, Henry Urrutia, Daniel Carbonell and Elian Leyva.

    A 2018 deal between Cuban authorities and Major League Baseball allowing some players to sign directly with MLB organizations was canceled by then-president Donald Trump, signaling a return to the flotilla method of players leaving the island under the coak of secrecy hoping for higher pay and a better life elsewhere.

    A December 13, 2013 story in England's Guardian newspaper said Cuban star Yuliesky Gurriel (28 at the time and now playing for Houston) had just been given a “huge” standard salary raise to 13,000 Cuban pesos per month, or about US$414 at the time, to play for Sancti Spiritus of the National Series. In 2016, Gurriel signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the Astros five months after first defecting from Cuba during the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic and then establishing residency in Haiti.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #6): Los Mochis, Sinaloa

    Driving from Navojoa, Sonora 98 miles southbound on Highway 15 for about two hours, our virtual Mexican Pacific League Road Trip takes us into the state of Sinaloa and Los Mochis, our sixth stop and a city with 300,000 metropolitan residents founded in 1893 by Pennsylvanian Benjamin Johnson.

    While it's a wealthy city in a fertile agricultural area, Los Mochis (like most LMP sites) is not geared towards tourism. It's a hub of sorts, connected by ferry to La Paz, Baja California Sur; a busy airport with flights to and from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson; and the western terminus of the legendary Copper Canyon railroad, Mexico’s last major passenger railway featuring one of the most spectacular views in North American train travel.

    Los Mochis sits on the Rio Fuerte, which irrigates an extensive valley region whose main crops are vegetables (e.g., beans and corn) and sugar cane and for which the city is the commercial and financial center, and is 15 miles east of the Gulf of California port of Topolobampo, famous for its shrimp and fishing activity. Among the native animals is the yellow crocodile, which can grow as large as 38.8 feet and weigh over a ton.

    Visitors to town should check out Parque Sinaloa, which contains the most complete collection of palm trees in Mexico, including rare species imported from around the world, and is a great setting for a stroll in the cool of the evening. Parque Sinaloa is set in the old “Colonia Americana” section of Los Mochis, a former residential district for North Americans easily identified by its USA-style architecture featuring brick houses with front porches and yards on all four sides, giving a unique character to Los Mochis rarely seen in Mexico.

    Los Mochis can trace its baseball history to 1947 and the Pericos of the old Pacific coast League, a predecessor to the present-day Mexican Pacific League. The team was renamed Caneros, or “Cane Growers,” in subsequent seasons and after a couple of stops and starts, re-entered winterball for good in 1962. While the Caneros are rarely prime contenders for a title, Mochis has won three LMP pennants: in 1968-69 with manager Ben Valenzuela, 1983-84 under Vinicio Garcia and in 2002-03 for Chico Rodriguez. In two Caribbean Series, the Caneros have gone 4-8.

    The Caneros play home games at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada, which opened in 1947 as Estadio Mochis with a capacity of 4,700 fans. The ballpark has undergone three renovations over the years: One in 1962 included expansion of seating to 6,000 and the addition of lights for night games; another in 1982 after Hurricane Paul devastated the facility nearly doubled the capacity to 11,000 and included a new lighting system; and finally a major 285 million peso upgrade completed in 2018 that raised capacity to 12,000 seats. The ballpark (which was renamed in 1972) has hosted six LMP All-Star Games, ten Mex Pac championship series and the 2015 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup.

CANIZALES TOUTS MONTERREY AS POTENTIAL CS SITE

    Although the next edition of the Caribbean Series is slated to take place next February in the relatively stable Dominican Republic, Septima Entrada writer Tomas Lopez says Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales is touting a Mexican city that has never hosted the event as a possible future site: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

    "It shouldn't be long before Monterrey can have a Serie del Caribe,” Canizales is quoted as saying. “Indeed, there's an agreement between the owners of the teams where there's a rotation to host this tournament.” Canizales added that Monterrey could be an ideal fill-in in case another scheduled country declines to host the event for some reason because the hometown Sultanes are co-owned by the Multimedios media company that can effectively get the word out on short notice. The Sultanes' 21,906-seat Estadio Monterrey is the largest ballpark in Mexico and third-largest in Latin America.

    Canizales alluded to past Caribbean Series that have had to move weeks before the tournament to alternate sites like Panama City and Guadalajara because of politicial and economic miseries occurring in Venezuela, the planned host site. “Let's remember that eventually eventually, our Caribbean brothers in some countries may have some instability and I think Monterrey can be a good 'pinch-hitter' for this event...I believe Monterrey and Multimedios can be tremendous hosts.”

    Mexico is one of four nations included in the CS rotation along with Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela is scheduled to host the Serie del Caribe in 2023 while Mexico, which held the event in Mazatlan last winter, is not slated to come up in the rotation until 2025. Mexicali is seen as the front-runner to serve as host that year.

    Meanwhile, on the playing field, only two games separate the top five teams in the Mex Pac standings after last weekend's games. When the dust settled Sunday night, Navojoa had sole possession of first place with a 15-8 record after the Mayos slipped past Obregon, 3-2, in ten innings. Maikel Serrano's bases-loaded walkoff single to left off reliever Alberto Leyva plated Jorge Sesma with the winning run as Obregon fell to a three-way tie for third with Jalisco and defending champion Culiacan.

    Guasave kept pace with Navojoa and remains a half-game out of first after clobbering Mexicali, 11-2, Sunday at Estadio Aguilas. Yadir Drake crushed a three-run homer for the Algodoneros while Jhoan Urena went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to support starter Jordan Kipper's five shutout inings.

    Jalisco dropped a 5-4 decision Sunday to Los Mochis at home to remain in third a 13-10. Caneros' leadoff hitter Justin Dean and second batter Issac Rodriguez combined for five hits, three RBIs and two runs scored for the winners. Likewise, Culiacan remain tied for third Sunday after losing to Mazatlan, 3-2, at home. The Venados' Ramon Rios stroked a leadoff single, moved to second on a bunt, took third on a Derrick Loop wild pitch and scored the winning run on a Ricky Alvarez sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

    Navojoa outfielder Tirso Ornelas is the LMP's only .400 hitter and leads the loop with a .417 average, ahead of Jalisco's Christian Villanueva (.394) and Nick Torres of Hermosillo (.370). Torres' six homers are tops, followed by the five apiece from Monterrey's Danny Ortiz and Kyle Martin of Navojoa (who's hit his longballs over just ten games). Guasave's Jesse Castillo leads Maikel Serrano of Navojoa in the RBI race, 21 to 20. Culiacan's Dairon Blanco heads the list in stolen bases with eight, one more than three other baserunners: Jose Cardona (Hermosillo), Sebastian Elizalde (Culiacan) and Roel Santos (Navojoa).

    On the mound, 2018-19 LMP Pitcher of the Year Elian Leyva is making the decision of the Jalisco Charros to release him last winter appear ill-considered. Now pitching for Hermosillo, the Cuban-born righty gave up one single over seven innings in Monterrey Saturday to run his string of shutout entradas at the start of the season to 32. Needless to say, Leyva's 0.00 ERA is best in the Mex Pac (Jalisco's Orlando Lara has allowed one earned run over 27 frames), his 4-0 record matches Navojoa's Carlos de Leon for most wins and his 0.63 WHIP is also first in the LMP. Leyva's 25 strikeouts are third on that list behind two Obregon hurlers, Luis Escobar (30) and Hector Velazquez (27). Jake Sanchez' strong work for Mexicali continues, with the Californian's seven saves leading Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante's five while striking out 17 batters in just ten innings to augment his 0.90 ERA.

    Looking forward, a pair of midweek series loom large when Jalisco visits Obregon and Navojoa opens a three-game series in Hermosillo on Tuesday. Next weekend, Navojoa will host Guasave while Hermosillo will be in Guadalajara for a trio of games against the Charros as all five teams seek to break up the relative logjam at the top.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS: Navojoa 15-8, Guasave 14-8, Culiacan 13-10, Jalisco 13-10, Obregon 13-10, Hermosillo 12-11, Mexicali 10-13, Mazatlan 9-14, Monterrey 9-14, Los Mochis 6-16.

LMB PLANS APRIL 2022 OPENER, NINETY-GAME SEASON

    The Mexican League has announced that its Assembly of Presidents recently approved a 90-game regular season for 2022 running from late April until early August, followed by an extended postseason in which 12 of the Liga's 18 teams will qualify for playoff berths.

    The anouncement came from the LMB office in Mexico City, in which league president Horacio de la Vega stated, “I appreciate the encouragement and collaboration of all the presidents to define the key dates for the 2022 season in order to have adequate planning that will benefit us all: fans, television stations and sponsors.”

    The Mexican League regular season is slated to open Thursday, April 21, at Estadio Nacional, home of the defending champion Tijuana Toros. The Bulls' opponent was not mentioned. The rest of the LMB will swing into action one night later on Friday, April 22. The regular season, which will consist of a total of 810 games, will conclude on Sunday, August 7, with the playoffs to commence shortly thereafter. The Liga's All-Star Weekend will take place between June 17 through 19 in Monclova. There was no All-Star Game last summer.

    The playoffs will be similar to this year's format, in which the top six teams from each division will advance to the first round, with the three series winners moving on to the Division Semifinals along with a fourth “wild card” club that fared the best among the three opening round losers. The LMB will use a single-season format and discard the two-half look it's had in past seasons and that the Mexican Pacific League still employs during the winter.

    While the 90-game slate represents a 36 percent increase over this year's pandemic-shortened, 66-game schedule, it also marks a 25 percent reduction from 2019's 120-calendar and will be the circuit's shortest regular season since before it was officially brought into the National Association (now Minor League Baseball) as a Class AA league in 1955. The shaving of 30 games off the last full season is partly meant to limit financial losses for the vast majority of LMB teams who lose money every time they throw the gates open. The Liga will now play only 22 more regular games than the Mex Pac.

    The Mexican League is a member of Minor League Baseball but operates as an independent league devoid of any formal affiliations with Major League organizations. The Liga's classification was raised from AA to AAA in 1967 but the loop received no classification for 2021.

    There was also a 3-for-1 trade in the Mexican League last month that saw Monclova send infielder Jose Vargas plus pitchers Ryan Verdugo and reliever Andrew Morales to Saltillo for outfielder Juan Perez in what appears to be an Acereros payroll deduction. Vargas hit .302 with 8 homers and 28 RBIs in 46 games for Monclova last summer, Verdugo was 1-0 with a 14.49 ERA in 11 appearances (including two starts) while Morales went 1-2 and 4.81 in 23 relief outings. Perez hit .233 for the Saraperos in 2021, adding 10 homers and 26 ribbies in 65 games.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #5): Navojoa, Sonora

    From Obregon, we’ll continue our virtual Mexican Pacific League road trip with a short 43-mile hop south on Highway 15 to the fifth of ten stops: Navojoa, Sonora, home of the Mayos and one of the LMP's smaller markets with a 2020 population of 164,387.

    The word “navojoa” comes from the Mayo Indian dialect root “navo” (or “prickly pear cactus”) and “jova” (or “house”), therefore meaning “the house of prickly pear cactus.” Even before the Spaniards arrived, the Mayo tribe had possession of the land including the Rio Mayo and the Mayo Valley. Although Spanish explorer Diego de Guzman arrived in the area in 1536 and Jesuit missionaries began settling locally in the 17th Century, Navojoa dates back to 1825, when it was part of the old State of the West formed after the Mexican Independence War starting in 1810.

    Due to its geographical location, Navojoa has been considered from the start as the center of productivity of this region, combining with Ciudad Obregon to form the Mayo Valley, one of Mexico’s most productive agricultural regions. The most important businesses are concentrated in Navojoa, with the main northbound and southbound state highways and railroads coming through the city as well as highways going to Alamos and Yavaros.

    Known as “The Pearl of the Mayo”, Navojoa is a city of contrasts. In spite of its modern features, the city has preserved an array of important historical monuments in the area well worth visiting, among them the Municipal Palace, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, sculpted monuments such as one erected in memory of General Alvaro Obregon, a plaza with obelisks in honor of the Talamante brothers.

    The Navojoa Mayos started in the Mexican Pacific League in the 1959-60 season and (after a two-year absence between 1960 and 1962) are playing their 60th consecutive season of winterball. After winning three titles in the old Pacific Coast League, the Mayos copped their first Mex Pac pennant in 1978-79 under manager Chuck Goggin and won their second (and last) flag in 1999-20 for skipper Lorenzo Bundy. They are now managed by Salon de la Fama member Matias Carrillo, who led Navojoa to the LMP finals against Hermosillo in 2013-14, one of ten times the Mayos have played the postseason bridesmaids. The team has retired two numbers: the 12 of Jose “Chico” Bojorquez and the 25 worn by Hector Heredia and

    “The Tribe” plays their home games at Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echevarria, an 11,500-seat ballpark named after a locally-born Salon de la Fama pitcher. The ballpark opened in time for the 1970-71 season and is owned by the Sonora state government. Navojoa is the only LMP city that hasn't built a new stadium or performed major renovations to its existing facility over the past decade.