OAXACA WINS LMB SOUTH FIRST HALF TITLE

The Oaxaca Guerreros and manager Sergio Gastelum have at least suggested that last Fall's Serie del Rey appearance against eventual Mexican League champion Monterrey was no fluke. Ruddy Acosta allowed one run in five innings as the Guerreros topped Puebla, 7-2, Wednesday night to reach the midway point of the 2019 season with a 37-23 record going into the All-Star Break. Oaxaca thus wins the LMB South first-half title by two games over 32-24 Mexico City, who went into the final day one game out of the lead but lost 8-4 at Leon as Bravos third baseman Carlos Rivero doubled, singled twice and drove in four runs. The Diablos Rojos tied for second with the 34-26 Pericos, who likewise had a chance to tie for the South lead going into their last game at Oaxaca. Leon finished fourth at 27-32 to lead a group of five sub-.500 teams.

Oaxaca pitcher Ruddy Acosta

 Unlike the Guerreros' close-but-clear-cut triumph in the LMB South, things are far from certain in the LMB North.  Tijuana scored three runs in the top of the ninth at Monterrey Wednesday as Logan Watkins contributed a bases-loaded single and the Toros went on to beat the Sultanes, 10-7, pulling into a final-day tie with the Sultanes for the division crown at 40-22 apiece.  The teams played six times in the half (all since June 4), with Monterrey winning two of three games in Tijuana and the Toros returning the favor last week. The Toros outscored the defending champions by an aggregate 29-23 margin in head-to-head competition. Monclova won their last game Wednesday over Dos Laredos, 5-2, at Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo as Rudy Amador had three singles and three RBIs for the winners. The Acereros finished in third (one game behind the co-leaders) at 39-21 while the Tecolotes came in fourth with a 33-27 showing.

Leon outfielder Felix Pie

Felix Pie of Leon continues to dominate the batting race with a .461 average, comfortably ahead (for now) of Tabasco's Ronnier Mustelier, who's hitting a mere .415.  Aguascalientes' Jose Vargas homered against Durango last Monday to bring his season total to 29 (four more than Chris Carter of Monclova and Puebla's Danny Ortiz) before sitting the final two games of the series with the Generales.  Vargas, who also leads Leon's Matt Clark in RBIs (69-68), is batting .372 with an LMB-best .814 slugging percentage. Dos Laredos' Johnny Davis stole two bases in Wednesday's loss to Monclova and now has 40 steals, twice as many as Oaxaca's Alonzo Harris.

Yucatan's Cesar Valdez did not pitch during the Leones' final series against Quintana Roo in Cancun, but his 9-0 record, 2.71 ERA and 1.16 WHIP were enough to lead the Liga in all three categories.  Valdez had 43 strikeouts and just six walks over 69.2 innings over the first half. Like Valdez, Monclova's Josh Lowey (8-0/3.91/1.17 WHIP) sat out his team's last series before the All-Star Break but Monterrey's 8-1 Edgar Gonzalez lost his first decision, 3-2, last Tuesday against Tijuana.  Gonzalez scattered five hits over as many innings, but two of them were solo homers by Carlos Peguero and Junior Lake. Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo, who got tossed in Wednesday's home loss to Tijuana, has otherwise stayed in enough games to save 19 of them, tops by four over Carlos Bustamante of Monclova.  Tijuana's Jesus Pirela leads with 19 holds and was recognized with a berth on the LMB North roster in Sunday's All-Star Game.

When second half action opens this Friday, the most interesting series may be in Monclova, where the Acereros will host Oaxaca for a three-game series.  Another set worth keeping an eye on next weekend should be when Mexico City visits Tijuana for a trio of games.

NORTH DRUBS SOUTH, 11-6, AS CAMPOS MAKES 10TH ALL-STAR START

The Mexican League held its annual All-Star Game on Sunday evening at Mexico City’s Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu and while a living legend started the contest for the home LMB South team, the North racked up an 11-6 win.  Ramiro Pena of Monterrey had three hits for the winners as only two of the North’s 21 hits were sent to the left side of the field. Attendance for the four-hour game was 13,514 at Mexico’s newest ballpark.

The North took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Chris Carter singled in Victor Mendoza but the South knotted the score in the bottom of the frame on Japhet Amador's single to plate Danny Ortiz.  The North regained the lead in the top of the second after Yamaico Navarro scored on an Amadeo Zazueta double to left. The score stood until the top of the fourth, when Junior Lake's two-run homer to left off Casey Harman to make it a 4-1 contest.  The South fought back with a counter in the bottom of the fourth as David Vidal scored on a Carlos Lopez double but back-to-back run-scoring singles by Leandro Castro and Juan Apodaca in the top of the fifth opened the North's lead to 6-2 and things were looking rather grim for the host Southerners.

Still, this WAS an All-Star Game, meaning no lead is truly safe, especially in a league where a new ball has led to an abundance of offense.  Hector Hernandez' two-run single in the bottom of the sixth brought the South to within a pair of tallies and when Marco Jaime scored from third on Felipe Gonzalez' strike-three wild pitch to Emmanuel Avila it became a one-run game.  

Campeche's Francisco Campos

The North bounced back with one run in the seventh on a Ramiro Pena singleton and another score one inning later when Francisco Ferreira crossed the plate on a throwing error by South shortstop Jaime on a Castro grounder to open their lead to 8-5, then really poured gas on the fire with three more runs in the ninth on six consecutive singles (including RBI safeties from Jon Kemmer, Saul Soto and Rudy Amador) to open their lead to 11-5.  The North did push a run across in the bottom of the ninth when Jorge Cantu came in on Sebastian Valle’s single, but Jake Sanchez was able to get Jay Austin to fly out to left to complete the win. Frankie de la Cruz got the victory for the North while Yoanner Negrin absorbed the defeat for the South as a total of 23 pitchers took the mound for the two teams...did we mention this game went four hours?

Longtime Campeche Piratas pitcher Francisco "Pancho Ponches" Campos, who was honored before the contest, started the game for the South and recorded the first two outs before being replaced by Ruddy Acosta.  Now in his 25th season, Campos (a converted catcher) is one win away from becoming the 14th pitcher in the LMB's 95-year history to win 200 games, ranks fourth in career strikeouts with 2,173 and won the Pitching Triple Crown in 2004, the only Liga hurler to do so in the past 50 years.  Sunday marked his tenth All-Star Game start (a record) and 16th appearance overall. Campos, who'll turn 47 on August 12, will retire at the end of the season.

PUEBLA'S ORTIZ WINS HR DERBY; ZAZUETA, PENA KINGS OF DP

Puebla outfielder Danny Ortiz

Puebla's first-year slugger Danny Ortiz won the Mexican League Home Run Derby in Mexico City Saturday as part of the Liga's All-Star Weekend festivities.  A Pittsburgh outfielder in 2017, the Puerto Rico-born Ortiz outlasted seven competitors (four from each division) through three rounds to win the circuit clout crown and the 20,000 pesos that go with it.

Ortiz led all eight batsmen with 12 first-round homers to advance to the semifinals along with Mexico City's Japhet Amador and Aguascalientes' Jose Vargas (11 each) plus Yamaico Navarro of Monterrey (6).  Leon's Felix Pie (5), Oaxaca's Alonzo Harris (4), Aguascalientes' Michael Wing and Monclova's Chris Carter (3 apiece) were eliminated. Ortiz, Vargas and Navarro all hit five homers in the semis but Navarro was knocked out along with Amador (4) because Ortiz and Vargas had more total homers over two rounds.  That left Ortiz to fend off Vargas, 10-9, in the final round for the title and paycheck. The former Twins fourth-rounder deposited a total of 27 homers over three rounds while Vargas went deep 25 times. Yucatan powerhouse Luis Juarez won last year's Home Run Derby in Merida.

Monterrey's Amadeo Zazueta and Ramiro Pena

Earlier Saturday, the Monterrey Sultanes' keystone combo of shortstop Amadeo Zazueta and second baseman Ramiro Pena beat out four similar duos win the Double Play Derby.  In its second year (Yucatan's Everth Cabrera and Diego Madero won in last year's debut), this event includes middle infielders facing a preset number of line drives or grounders hit in certain situations with a countdown clock running while judges evaluate the fielding using various criteria.  Other twosomes at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu Saturday included second-place finishers Marco Jaime and Luis Medina (Leon), Moises Gutierrez and Javier Salazar (Durango), Juan Carlos Gamboa and David Vidal (Mexico City) and Union Laguna's Ciro Morzagaray and Daniel Hinojosa.

Saturday's festivities also included a celebrity softball game, in which a team of actors, singers, comedians, athletes and YouTubers from the South defeated a team of actors, singers, comedians, athletes and YouTubers from the North, 1-0, with the game's lone run scoring on a wild pitch.  Further details are unavailable and/or unnecessary.

JALISCO'S LEYVA NEARS LMP PITCHING TRIPLE CROWN

Jalisco Charros MVP candidate Elian Leyva

With six games to go in the Mexican Pacific League regular season, Jalisco Charros pitcher Elian Leyva has put himself in position to win the LMP's pitching Triple Crown (or even Quadruple Crown, if you want to add WHIP to W, ERA and SO) after turning in a standout performance in Culiacan Saturday night.

The 29-year-old Cuban has been primarily a reliever in a career that dates back to 2007-08 when he was an 18-year-old with La Habana of the Cuban National Series, but Leyva's first regular work as a starter has turned into a breakout performance after he blanked the defending champion Tomateros over 6.1 innings, striking out ten Culiacan batsmen in a 2-0 Charros win.  A Braves farmhand who split last summer between AA Mississippi and AAA Gwinnett, the 6'2" righty allowed just a Joey Terdoslavich double in the third and a walk to Jose Guadalupe Chavez in the bottom of the seventh before being taken out by manager Roberto Vizcarra after tossing 86 pitches.  MLB free agent Sergio Romo contributed a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save as Stephen Cardullo's second-inning groundout scored Henry Urrutia with the only run the Horsemen would need.

Leyva's win gives him a 6-2 record for the season, giving him sole possession of the MexPac lead for victories with ten other pitchers tied at five wins apiece.  By blanking Culiacan, he lowered his ERA to 2.05, well ahead of Culiacan's Manny Barreda (Saturday's losing pitcher) and his 2.63 mark as it'll take a miracle of Biblical proportions for Leyva to NOT win the ERA title.  As well, those ten whiffs bring Leyva's winter total to 66, six ahead of second-place David Reyes of Mexicali.  And, for good measure, Leyva's 1.07 WHIP figure is .08 up on Barreda's 2.15.  He also leads LMP pitchers in starts (13) and is tied with Mexicali vet Javier Solano for tops in innings pitched at 74.2 frames each.  That Leyva has toiled for one of the LMP's less-robust teams makes those numbers more impressive, although in fairness, the Charros are one of five teams three games apart on top the MexPac's second-half standings.  Pitchers don't often enter into MVP talks but when you have someone who could lead his league in six categories, including the Triple Crown, Leyva HAS to be in the conversation.

As mentioned, Jalisco is fighting desperately for a playoff berth after only collecting 3.5 points in the first half.  Hermosillo continues to top the second-half table at 15-8.  The Charros are second at 13-9 while Obregon (12-9) and Los Mochis (13-10) sit two games behind the leaders, one game ahead of fifth-place Culiacan (12-11).  Navojoa (9-14), Mazatlan (9-14) and Mexicali (7-15) round out the standings.  Culiacan and Mazatlan virtually assured themselves of playoff berths by finishing 1-2 in the first half and both Hermosillo and Obregon appear to be on their way to more games in January, leaving the two remaining postseason slots up for grabs among four teams.

Hermosillo infielder Jasson Atondo leads the LMP with a .357 batting average and is a virtual lock for Rookie of the Year.  Second at .351 is Atondo's teammate Francisco Peguero, the LMB's Fall MVP and bound for Japan after recently signing with the Chiba Lotte Marines for 2019.  Navojoa's Jovan Rosa leads the loop with 14 homers, one more than Jalisco's Manny Rodriguez, after going deep in Los Mochis Sunday night.  Rodriguez, another MVP candidate, is hitting .323 and has 50 RBIs, eight more than Rosa's 42.  Navojoa second baseman Alonzo Harris stole three bases in four games last week to go to 25 swipes on the winter and now leads Culiacan's Rico Noel by ten steals.

There IS an LMB pitching leader not named Elian Leyva.  Culiacan's Casey Coleman, grandson of Joe and son of Joe Junior (both former MLB All-Star pitchers), picked up just one save last week to bring his season total to 21, still good enough for a six-save bulge over his nearest competitor, Mexicali's Jake Sanchez.  Navojoa hometown boy Jose Isidro Marquez, son of longtime reliever Isidro Marquez, leads in the oft-forgotten category of holds with 13 despite getting lit up for two runs in a third of an inning Saturday in Los Mochis.  The younger Marquez' ERA is still a solid 2.08 because he'd only given up three earned runs over his previous 27 outings for the Mayos.


ACAYUCAN WINS LIV REGULAR SEASON CROWN, PLAYOFFS BEGIN

Past LIV bat champ Rigoberto Armenta

The Acayucan Tobis won 18 of their 21 regular season games to finish first in the reborn Veracruz Winter League's regular season, earning the top berth in the LIV's four-team playoff.  The 18-3 Tobis came in three-and-a-half games ahead of 14-6 Cordoba.  The Xalapa Chileros finished 13-7 to place one game behind the Cafeteleros in third place while the 8-12 Jaltex Astros outlasted the 8-13 Veracruz Rojos for the fourth and final postseason berth.  Bringing up the rear of the six-team LIV, considered a Class AA winter circuit within Mexico's baseball framework, were the hapless Ursula Galvan Caneros, who lost all 20 of their games after batting .191 as a team in support of a pitching staff that turned in a collective 7.12 ERA.  The Caneros were outscored 175 runs to 41 for the season, or an average score of 8.75-2.05 per contest.

The Tobis were champions last winter of the Veracruz State Baseball League and represented Mexico at the Latin American Series in Managua, Nicaragua, falling to the host Chinandega Tigres in the title game.  After the original LIV suspended operations following the 2015-16 season, ex-Brewers pitcher Narciso Elvira formed the LBEV to fill the void by stocking its teams with young prospects from within Veracruz playing weekends (10 games the first season, 12 games last season).  The LBEV struggled through two winters before giving way to the newly-reconstituted LIV this season.  Many Mexican League veterans (including ex-Pirates prospect Rogelio Noris, Yancarlo Angulo and Marco Quevedo) are presently wintering in Veracruz, where the weekend-only schedule was carried over, but youngsters still dominate the rosters.

Cordoba's Jose Luis Felix had a standout year at the plate, batting .478 over 19 games to easily win the batting title while Acayucan's Rigoberto Armenta was tops with eight homers and 21 RBIs.  The Obregon-born Armenta was the LIV's 2014-15 batting champion with the Santa Rosa Gallos.  Angel Araiza of Acayucan led all pitchers with six wins and Tobis moundmate Ivan Zavala was given the LIV's ERA title with a flawless 0.00 ERA despite starting once and pitching 17 innings over Acayucan's 21 games.  Xalapa hurler Eduard Reyes' 32 strikeouts in 29.2 innings led the circuit.  One interesting player is outfielder Yusuke Inoguchi, who hit .333 over eight games for luckless Ursula Galvan before being traded to Veracruz (.417 in six contests for the Rojos) and finally landing in Acayucan (.333 in six games) for a season average of .365 to finish fourth in the LIV.  The 33-year-old Inoguchi, who's played ten years of independent ball in Japan and two more the USA with the American Association's Sioux Falls Canaries in 2012 and 2013 (batting .287 and .281), has said he'd consider playing next year in the Mexican League if offered a contract.

Acayucan team president Regina Vazquez Saut began the current season as league president before stepping down and being replaced at the helm by older sister Fabiola Vazquez Saut.  Both are prominent politicians with the Industrial Revolution Party (or PRI) who have represented Veracruz in the Mexican Congress.  The best-of-three LIV semifinals were slated to open last weekend as Acayucan was matched up against Jaltex and Cordoba took on Xalapa.  The winners will meet January 5 for the first game of a best-of-five championship series.  The Latin American Series is set for Parque "Beto" Avila in Veracruz, beginning January 26.  Champions from the four traditional LAS winterball pennant-winners from Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama are being joined by Curacao Winter League champions Santa Maria Piratas and Argentine Baseball League title-winners Cordoba Condores.


MONTERREY COPS ACADEMY ROOKIE LEAGUE PENNANT

Monterrey's Academy Rookie League champs

A team of Monterrey Sultanes prospects won the Academy Rookie League championships this fall at the Mexican League Baseball Academy in El Carmen, Nuevo Leon, a suburb of Monterrey.  The Sultanes were one of six teams in the circuit and the only member to not have players provided by two LMB clubs.  Statistics were only provided through games of November 27, when the Sultanes were 19-2-9 (ties are declared after nine innings) to stand two-and-a-half games in front of second-place Yucatan-Laguna, who were 17-13-1 at the time.

According to the LMB Academy's website, Monterrey clinched the title on December 3 after topping Yucatan-Laguna, 3-1, as Alejandro Delgado tripled and later scored on a Jimmy Chavez sacrifice fly to break a 1-all tie in the sixth inning. Delgado stroked another triple and went on to score the game's final run on a Kevin Herrera single late in the match.  After an on-field celebration, Sultanes manager Ruben Estrada credited his first-year players with turning their season around after losing the first five games of the season.

The Sultanes rookies had marked another landmark event the previous week when starting pitcher Luis Martinez and four relievers combined on a 1-0 no-hit win over Mexico City-Oaxaca on November 28 in a contest during which Hector Delgado's fourth-inning solo homer provided the only score all afternoon.

The academy was the brainchild of the late former Mexico City Tigres owner and Salon de la Fama member Alejo Peralta and was officially opened March 25, 1996.  Since then, the facility has served as both home and training ground for thousands of young Mexican ballplayers seeking to play Major League Baseball or in the LMB.  Among the future big leaguers to cut their teeth at the Academia are Houston closer Roberto Osuna, Oakland reliever Joakim Soria, former Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena.  Longtime Sultanes shortstop Heber Gomez (retired from the LMB but sixth in the Veracruz Winter League this winter with a .338 batting average for Acayucan) was a member of the first group of players gathered in El Carmen while star slugger Japhet Amador started his pro career as a teen at the Academia.

LMB wrestles with internal issues (again) at Winter Meetings

You have to hand it to Javier Salinas.  His transition to Mexican League president has gone smoothly enough that little appears to have changed with the circuit since former LMB leader Plinio Escalante stepped down at the conclusion of the 2017 season.  Evidence?  One year after Escalante and the Assembly of Presidents were dealing with a myriad of issues within the league at the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings, Salinas and his employers have gathered in Orlando this week for the current winter meetings with yet another myriad of problems sitting on their plates, many of them new but one polarizing item last year may be broached again this time.  This is what Salinas & Co. may or may not deal with in Florida this week:

*A wrestling match between the LMB and the Durango Generales franchise, a basket case under owner Virgilio Ruiz this year after the team relocated from Carmen last winter.  The LMB first announced that the Generales would take 2018 off to get their financial house in order, then reversed their position to state Durango WOULD play after all while new owners would be sought and now Ruiz has stated in no uncertain terms that the league does not have the right to revoke his franchise and that HE will operate the Generales next year.

*Quintana Roo Tigres owners Fernando Valenzuela and his wife Linda have reportedly been told by Salinas that their protest over five Tigres prospects on a master roster they were given before buying the Cancun team, only to have those prospects mysteriously pop up in the employ of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos after the February sale was completed.  Two of those prospects were sold last summer to the Texas Rangers for a combined US$2.7 million, money the cash-strapped Valenzuelas say should be theirs.  Unwilling to anger the league's richest owner, Alfredo Harp Helu, Salinas has in effect closed whatever investigation he conducted and told the Valenzuelas to move on, which they say they will: straight to Minor League Baseball president Pat O’Connor and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

*The Diablos are on the receiving end of another complaint, this time a lawsuit brought by former bullpen coach Braulio Neri, who was injured last spring in Leon when a light tower in hastily-readied Estadio Domingo Santana collapsed during the Bravos delayed home opener and caused Neri a knee injury.  A ten-year Diablos coach, Neri was fired by Mexico City GM Francisco Minjarez (who appears to be very involved with the Tigres-Diablos imbroglio) a month after his knee was operated on.

*Another lawsuit, this one from pitcher Sergio Mora, was filed against the Oaxaca Guerreros, who (like the Diablos) are owned by the billionaire Harp.  This grievance centers on payment for treatment Mora received after suffering an injury while playing for the Guerreros.  In what appears to be typical fashion, the team has not responded to past entreaties from Mora to pay bills incurred on their watch.  

*Finally, Monterrey Sultanes co-owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz, who sold half the team to the Grupo Multimedios corporation at the same time the Tigres sale went through last winter, is rattling sabers about bringing up the use of Mexican-American players in the LMB again.  Maiz carried his snit over losing the 2016 Northern Division championship series to a Tijuana team loaded with such players to the winter meetings last year and the issue threatened to split the league in two or cause the cancellation of the 2017 season altogether before O'Connor convened an emergency meeting in Houston and essentially read the owners the riot act, ruling that there would be no limit on the number of Mexican-American players, partly because a limit would violate Mexican labor laws.  Maiz, who runs Mexico's Little League organization and was a member of Monterrey's 1957 LL World Series title team, remained under wrap during the season but appears to be spoiling to pick his fight up where he left off.

Other than that, it should be business as usual for the LMB in Orlando, including the announcement of 2018's two schedules.  Then again, it may be "business as usual" that has caused these problems in the first place. Ojeda fired in Obregon, replaced by Juan Navarrete

With 15 games remaining in the Mexican Pacific League's regular season, former major league catcher Miguel Ojeda became the fourth manager in the eight-team loop to lose his job since play opened in mid-October.  Ojeda, who was hired last month to manage the Mexican League's Monterrey Sultanes next year, had managed Obregon to a last-place finish in the first half with a 13-22 record.  He had the Yaquis in fifth place with a second-half record of 6-8 when he was let go last Wednesday following a 4-2 loss to Mazatlan.

It's been an interesting past few months for Ojeda, who was hired by Obregon last January after the Yaquis missed the playoffs.  Since the conclusion of the Mexican League regular season, when his Mexico City Diablos Rojos missed THAT league's postseason after his team was riddled by injuries while other longtime veterans showed their age and failed to deliver as expected, the Sonora native (who led the Red Devils to the 2014 pennant) was not re-hired for the 2018 season.  He then began his first year in Obregon with a roster that many Mexican baseball columnists say was poorly-assembled by the Yaquis front office during the offseason.  Entering this week's play, Obregon's offense is last in the LMP in batting (.243) and runs per game (3.25) while the pitching staff has been mediocre despite the strong work of starter David Reyes, who is 5-0 with a 1.92 ERA in ten starts.

Former star second baseman Juan Navarrete has replaced Ojeda in the Yaquis dugout.  A product of Gomez Palacio and former Expos farmhand, Navarrete hit .327 over 16 LMB seasons, collecting 2,396 hits and scoring 1,005 runs in 1,607 games (mostly for Saltillo) before retiring as a player following the 1990 season.  Navarrete was selected to the Salon de la Fama in 1998.  Since his playing days ended, Navarrete has spent the past 20 years working for the Oakland Athletics, for whom he is currently their minor league coordinator.  As a manager, he led Tabasco to their lone Mexican League pennant in 1993 and was named the MexPac's Manager of the Year in 2014-15 while piloting the Jalisco Charros during their first winter in Guadalajara after moving east from Guasave.

Things have been going a little better in Mexicali, where new manager Pedro Mere (who replaced Roberto Vizcarra, who replaced Tony Tarasco in Jalisco) has the defending champion Aguilas in the lead with a 13-5 record, but Navojoa has won four in a row and nine of their past ten games to pull within one game of the leaders at 12-6.   The Mayos have been led by utilityman Randy Arozarena, a Cuban-born Cardinals minor leaguer who's hitting .299 with an LMP-best 12 homers while scoring 40 runs (also a league high) while Mexican League MVP 1B Jesse Castillo (.302/8/34) and 3B Jovan Rosa (.293/9/25) have also been prime contributors, but it's the Mayos' pitching staff that has really shone for combustible manager Willie Romero.  Navojoa leads the MexPac with a 2.96 team ERA, with knuckleballing vet Eddie Gamboa (5-0/2.72) leading a staff that should get an expected boost later this month from Red Sox hurler Hector Velazquez, last winter's Pitcher of the Year.

Speaking of the aforementioned Vizcarra, he hasn't had any more luck getting wins out of the Jalisco Charros than Tarasco did.  The front office is almost desperate to win the pennant so their team will represent Mexico in February's Caribbean Series (which the Charros will host), but Jalisco had lost seven of eight games before beating Los Mochis twice over the weekend to pull into a seventh-place tie with the Caneros at 6-12.  The Charros axed former MLB catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia last week after he hit just .189 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 27 games, going 1-for-14 over his final four games.  You can't blame second sacker Manny Rodriguez for Jalisco's poor showing, though.  The 35-year-old is hitting .340 with 9 homers and 47 ribbies, the latter ranking tops in the LMP.  Rodriguez has an outside shot at a Triple Crown and appears to be in the lead among potential MVP candidates.

LMP STANDINGS (as of 12/11/17)

Mexicali 13-5 (4.0), Navojoa 12-6 (4.5), Mazatlan 10-8 (6.0), Culiacan 9-9 (7.0), Hermosillo 8-10 (8.0), Obregon 8-10 (3.0), Los Mochis 6-12 (3.5), Jalisco 6-12 (5.0).

LMP HITTING LEADERS

Batting-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) .369, Runs-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 40, Homers-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 12, RBIs-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 47, Stolen Bases-Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 27.

LMP PITCHING LEADERS

Wins-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 8, ERA-Rolando Valdez (MXI) 1.75, Strikeouts-Sergio Mitre (MXI) 52, Saves-Manny Acosta (OBR) 15, Holds-Carlos Bustamante (NAV) and Edgar Gomez (MXI) 13, WHIP-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 0.90.

Tijuana wins Academy Rookie League title

The Tijuana Toros claimed their second pennant of 2017 when their Academy Rookie League squad posted a 22-11-2 record to finish three games ahead of Veracruz-Leon, who came in second at 20-15 in the six-team circuit.  There will be no playoffs.

Under manager Jorge Luis Loredo (who is Monclova's helmsman during the LMB season), the Toros broke a two-year grip on the Academy League crown that Mexico City-Oaxaca had held, with the Diablos-Guerreros coming in fourth at 17-16-2, one game behind third-place Yucatan-Laguna, who went 18-15-2 (games are allowed to end in ties).  Quintana Roo's rookie team ended up in fifth with a 14-18-3 mark while Monterrey brought up the rear at 9-25-1.

Tijuana was led by the 1-2 pitching punch of youngsters.  Fernando Gallegos went 5-2 and struck out 37 batters while walking 6, somehow losing twice despite a 1.38 ERA.  Fernando Olguin was a perfect 6-0 with a not-as-otherworldly 2.87 ERA.  The Toros had four .300+ batters in their everyday lineup: Martin Gonzalez (.333), Victor Navarro (.331), Alejandro Gutierrez (.330) and Oscar Romero (.324).

However, it was Tigres rookie Efren Nieves who was selected Most Valuable Player.  Nieves batted .354 with four homers and 25 RBIs in 35 game with a .468 OBP aided by 26 walks in 158 plate appearances.

Venados win 2 of 3 in Jalisco, four-way tie for MexPac lead

Mazatlan Venados outfielder Garin Cecchini

The Mazatlan Venados posted two wins in an important early-season road series at Guadalajara to pull into a four-way tie for the Mexican Pacific League lead with the host Jalisco Charros, Hermosillo and Culiacan.  All have identical 10-7 first-half records.

Mazatlan won Friday’s opener, 9-8, as Carlos Munoz’ two-run homer keyed a four-run seventh in the comeback effort. The Charros came back Saturday night with a 6-1 triumph behind Manny Rodriguez’ third-inning grand slam and Manuel Al Flores’ 4.2 innings of two-hit shutout pitching.  The Venados copped Sunday’s rubber match, 12-8, behind Garin Cecchini’s three-run homer.  Cecchini, who hit .268 last summer for the Royals’ AAA Omaha affiliate, finished a double away from hitting for the cycle.  Jalisco was coming off a sweep of defending champion Mexicali in a midweek home series.

Culiacan likewise won a three-game home set with Navojoa to take their place in the logjam on top.  Lefty Danny Rodriguez registered a brilliant 8.1 innings, allowing one hit in the Tomateros’ 1-0 win.  Culiacan earned a similar 1-0 victory Saturday behind Aldo Montes’ six goose-egg frames.  The Mayos offense finally woke up in Sunday’s 5-0 conquest.  This time it was Navojoa starter Tyler Kane who contributed six shutout innings while Alan Sanchez cracked a two-run homer for the visitors.  The trifecta of games was well-attended, with more than 46,000 fans in the Estadio Tomateros stands.

Hermosillo lost two of three in Los Mochis to fall into a tie for the lead.  The Naranjeros took Friday’s opener, 8-5, with Domonic Brown’s three-run homer highlighting a four-run top of the ninth.  The Caneros won the next two: Leandro Castro’s three-run walkoff homer ended Saturday’s 6-3 game in the thirteenth while Noel Cuevas’ three-run blast in the fourth was Sunday’s difference-maker in a 6-4 Mochis series-clincher.

The four upcoming MexPac midweek series will include matchups of the four co-leaders: Hermosillo will host Culiacan Tuesday through Thursday while Culiacan visits Mazatlan for three games.  Next weekend’s biggest encounter looks to be in Hermosillo, where the Naranjeros will host Mexicali from Friday through Sunday.  The Aguilas sit one game behind the leaders and hope to gain some ground at home against Los Mochis before heading south to Hermosillo.  An interesting note is that Mexicali has a total of two stolen bases as a team through their first 17 games.  In comparison, eleven individual players have three or more steals, led by the six apiece of Mazatlan’s Jeremias Pineda and Billy Burns of Jalisco.  Pineda’s six swipes have come in just nine games after going 25-of-26 on steal attempts over 25 games for Veracruz in the Mexican League last summer.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Standings (as of October 30, 2017)

Culiacan 10-7, Hermosillo 10-7, Mazatlan 10-7, Jalisco 10-7, Mexicali 9-8, Navojoa 7-10, Los Mochis 7-10, Obregon 5-12.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Batting Leaders

Batting-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) .400, Runs-Jose Aguilar (MAZ) and Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 15, Homers-Bruce Brentz (HMO) 5, RBIs-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 20, Stolen Bases-Billy Burns (JAL) and Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 6.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Pitching Leaders

Wins-Thirteen pitchers tied at 2 each, ERA-Danny Rodriguez (CUL) 0.89, Strikeouts-Cesar Vargas (HMO) 25, Saves-Ryan Kussmaul (MXI) 7, WHIP-Danny Rodriguez (CUL) 0.64.

Japhet Amador returns to Jalisco, season debut Friday vs. Mayos

Rakuten Golden Eagles DH Japhet Amador

Slugging first baseman-designated Japhet Amador will return from Japan to Guadalajara this week and is expected to be in Jalisco’s lineup Friday when the Charros open a home series against Navojoa.

The 6’4” and 330-pound “Mulege Giant” had a largely successful second Nippon Professional Baseball season, where he hit .237 with 23 homers and 65 RBI’s for the Pacific League’s Rakuten Golden Eagles.  The 23 roundtrippers eclipsed the old single season record for a Mexican player of 21, set by Orix’ Karim Garcia in 2005.  Garcia became the only player in NPB history to belt three homers in two consecutive games, turning the trick August 10-11, 2005 (somewhat ironically against Rakuten, an expansion team that year).

Amador has played professionally since 2007, breaking into the Mexican League with Minatitlan as a 20-year-old.  After playing sparingly for the Petroleros for two years, Amador got off to a hot start in 2009 prior to a midseason trade to Veracruz (finishing with 21 homers and 74 RBIs that year), but it was when he debuted with Mexico City in 2010 that the hulking right-handed batter would really hit stride, batting .366 with 14 homers and 63 ribbies in 79 games for the Diablos Rojos.  In nine LMB seasons, Amador has batted .330 with 167 homers and 599 RBIs over 693 games.

He’s also done well in the Mexican Pacific League over the years, starting in 2009-10 when he hit .270 with eight homers in 44 contests for Gusave, a franchise that shifted to Guadalajara in 2014.  In eight winterball seasons for the Algodoneros and Charros, Amador has a respectable .271 average with 83 homers in 426 games.  He cracked a combined 55 longballs for the Diablos and Charros in 2015-16 before signing with Rakuten that winter.

Amador’s injury-plagued first year in Japan ended with a disappointing nine homers in 39 games in 2016 before turning in better totals during a healthier 2017.  Amador, who makes Boog Powell look like Mark Belanger, even stole his first base since 2013, leading to questions of the third base coach’s sanity in sending him while scientists scrambled to gather Richter readings.

The first-place Charros were already a power-laden outfit even before Amador’s arrival, with sluggers like Matt Clark, Manny Rodriguez, Adan Munoz and former MLBer Chris Colabello on the roster, but first-year manager Tony Tarasco will no doubt find a place for the Mulege Giant in the lineup; he’s a hard one to ignore.

Academy Rookie League 2017-18 season underway

The Mexican League Academy’s Rookie winter league has begun its 2017-18 season at the complex near Monterrey. The academy was the brainchild of former Mexico City Tigres owner Alejo Peralta and opened in 1996 under the auspices of the LMB.  New Liga president Javier Salinas is the nominal president of the Liga Academia, but the campus and the dozens of teen prospects are overseen by director Raul Martinez Salazar.  Two separate leagues are operated at the facility: A Rookie league during the winter months and a class A circuit during the spring and summer.  All six Academy Rookie teams are operated by LMB clubs, with Tijuana, Monterrey and Quintana Roo each supplying one squad and each of the other three Rookie teams shared by two Liga teams apiece.

The rookieball season began Tuesday, September 26 with three games played simultaneously on three diamonds.  As of games through Sunday, Tijuana had an 11-2-2 record (ties count) after 15 games, good for a four-game lead over 8-7 Veracruz/Leon.  Toros prospect Alejandro Gutierrez is hitting an even .500, going 21-of-42 with ten walks in 53 plate appearances. Another intriguing batsman is Mexico City/Oaxaca’s Roberto Mendez (.327), who has five doubles and three homers among his 18 hits in 55 at-bats, with just six strikeouts.  Among pitchers, Tijuana relievers Fernando Gallegos (0.00) and Fernando Olguin (3.57) are both 3-0, as is Monterrey’s Jorge Ramos (3.68).  Luciano Reynoso (2-2, 1.73) of Veracruz/Leon has 30 strikeouts in 20 innings, walking just six.

The Academy Rookie League season will run through Sunday, December 10.

Monclova leads LMB North by 3 Games

Josh Lowey turned in six dominant innings to lead the Monclova Acereros to a 7-1 win over the Tijuana Toros Sunday as 14,120 watched at Tijuana's Estadio Gasmart.  Lowey allowed no runs on two hits with nine strikeouts to register his fifth win in six starts.  Denis Phipps doubled and tripled to drive in five runs for Monclova, who now lead the Mexican League's North Division by three games over Monterrey with a 19-7 record, best in the Liga.

Also on Sunday, Willy Taveras hit a bases-loaded triple to key Puebla's 5-4 win over Yucatan while Esteban Quiroz went 3 for 4 with three ribbies to pace Quintana Roo to a 7-1 victory against Oaxaca to create a three-way tie for the LMB South lead between the Pericos, Leones and Tigres (each with 16-10 records).  For their part, Oaxaca parted ways with manager Enrique "Che" Reyes last week after the Guerreros stumbled to an 0-11 record out the gate.  The team's performance has leveled off since then, but their awful start had apparently sealed Reyes' fate.

Monterrey shortstop Walter Ibarra leads the LMB with a .430 batting average, forty points ahead of Diory Hernandez of Aguascalientes.  Hernandez had a strong week and now leads the circuit with 9 homers and 33 RBI's.  Monclova's Jose Amador, Alex Liddi of Quintana Roo and Campeche's Dave Sappelt are tied for second in homers with 7 apiece; Mario Lisson of Saltillo trails Hernandez in RBI's with 29.  Monclova's Lowey tops LMB pitchers with 5 wins and 48 strikeouts with Hector Ambriz heading the ERA table at 0.80.

Monclova will host Monterrey in a three-game series starting Tuesday, while Tabasco is at Puebla, Quintana Roo visits Carmen and Yucatan takes on Campeche in Villahermosa.

BBM Winterball 2015-16 Review, Part 2

Mexico’s “second” winter circuit, the Veracruz Winter League, played a short regular season that involved the LIV’s six teams playing 30-game schedules in December before embarking on January’s playoffs.  The Paso de Ovejas Campesino won the season title with a 19-10-1 record, two games up on the Acayucan Tobis at 15-10-1.  The Tobis went on to win the pennant by beating Xalapa in five games in the championship series, breaking the Los Tuxtlas Brujos’ string of four consecutive flags.

After winning their first title in ten LIV winters, Acayucan represented Mexico at the Latin American Series in Managua against champions from Panama, Colombia and host Nicaragua.  The Tobis posted a strong 9-3 opening day win over Colombia’s Barranquilla Caimanes on January 26 before dropping their final two round-robin stages games and losing a 1-0 semifinal play-in game against Barranquilla despite tournament rules clearly stating than in the event of a tie, the nod would go to whoever had won their first-round matchup.  

Veteran baseballist Cristhian Presichi, a longtime Mexican Leaguer, led the loop’s batters with a .407 average for Paso de Ovejas, Tuxtla Gutierrez’ Carlos Rodriguez was tops with 7 homers and 32 ribbies.  Campesinos hurler Angel Araiza and the Tobis' Juan Grijalva topped the loop with 4 wins each, Los Tuxtlas' Joel Payamps turned in an 0.82 ERA and Raul Carrillo of Palenque posted 39 strikeouts.

There are two other winter pro leagues in Mexico.  While the Mexican Pacific League may be considered AAA in quality and the Veracruz Winter League regarded a AA circuit, the Mexican Winter League is the country’s Class A vernal loop while the Mexican League-operated Academy League goes from being an A league in summer to a Rookie league for the winter.

The Mexican Winter League, or LIM, rose from the ashes of the now-defunct Northwest Baseball League, a Nayarit-based confederation that folded last year after eight seasons.  The LIM, also overseen by the Liga (as is every play-for-pay league in Mexico outside the LMP), moved its six-team operation eastward toward Mexico CIty, mainly in the central Mexican states of Guanajuato and Aguascalientes.

The first winter of LIM competition saw the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (augmented by players contracted to the Oaxaca Guerreros) defeat the Salamanca Petroleros, 4 games to 3, in the playoff final.  Former Diablos outfielder VIctor Bojorquez managed Mexico City to a 40-22 record and a first-place finish during the regular season before longtime Red Devils shortstop Jose Luis Sandoval piloted the squad through the playoffs, culminating in Mexico City’s 9-5 Game Seven win over the Petroleros on January 20 in front of 4,669 at Estadio Fray Nano in the nation’s capital.

Guanajuato’s Manuel Cruz led the LIM with a .414 and 12 homers while Mexico City’s Jose Martinez drove in 47 runs.  Diablos hurlers Filiberto Baez and Jesus Anguamea tied for the league lead with 7 wins apiece, teammate Ariel Gracia was tops with 67 strikeouts and a 2.85 ERA.

Finally, there’s the Academy Rookie League, consisting of Mexican League prospects housed together at the LMB’s training facility near Monterrey.  The Academy League runs a more ambitious “Class A” schedule from late March through July, but the LIA, which consists of four shared teams and one solely stocked with youngsters under contract with Saltillo, runs a shorter eight-week slate of doubleheaders between October and December, with teams playing about 27 games each.  As in the LIM, a team shared by the Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca won the LIA crown by going 21-4-2.

Now that the dust has settled on a full plate of winter leagues and games, we can all allow ourselves a breath, but only a short one because spring training is getting underway and Mexico’s five summer pro leagues will be warming up before you know it.  That’s one of the beauties of Mexican baseball:  There is no such thing as an offseason.

MEXICAN PRO BASEBALL LEAGUES: A Primer

While doing early research for an upcoming post about what's happening in the Veracruz Winter League, I started looking into just how many professional baseball leagues Mexico has.  I'd known of the existence of most of them but when I wrote out a list and came up with three summer leagues, three winter leagues and one that plays both seasons, I was a little surprised.  Given that I started writing about Mexican baseball ten years ago, I should've already known that a nation of 123 million people where baseball has been played since the late 19th century is likely going to have a decent infrastructure in place in 2015.

Since I've never done an overview of all the pro leagues in Mexico, this seems to be a good time for a few capsule observations from an extranero fanatico.  I'll be giving designations from AAA on down, but those will mostly be how I think they're perceived within the Mexican system, which is largely overseen by the Mexican League. I'll split this into two sections: Summer and Winter Leagues.

SUMMER LEAGUES

MEXICAN LEAGUE (AAA)
Definitely the straw that stirs the drink in Mexican baseball.  The LMB has been around since 1925 and is the unquestioned "national" league.  Also the only league outside the USA that is a member of Minor League Baseball, where it's classified as AAA and is the only independent league officially recognized by MiLB.  The LMB consists of 16 teams from Tijuana to Cancun, run its 110-game regular season from April through mid-July, with three-tier playoffs lasting into September. Except for the Mexican Pacific League, All pro baseball in Mexico flows from this league.

NORTHERN MEXICAN LEAGUE (A)
The LNM's eight franchises are located in Mexico's northwest corner, with franchises in Baja California and Sonora mostly on a line with the American border, including winter league cities Mexicali and Hermosillo.  Teams in the Liga Norte play 84-game schedules between April and mid-July with a six-team playoff similar to the Mexican Pacific League's stretching into September.  Teams are are LMB affiliates shared by two teams as their collective "Class A" feeder squad.

There was a similar AA loop, the Nothern Sonora League, that operated for 60 years before closing after the 2014 season due to financial problems. A Champion of Champions Series between the two pennant winners was held that final year, with LNS kingpin Hermosillo defeating LNM titlist San Luis Rio Colorado in six games.

ACADEMY LEAGUE (A)
Opening in 1995, the Mexican Baseball Academy near Monterrey is something that has no counterpart in the USA, a complex for players as young as 14 or 15 to live in dormitories while honing their ballplaying skills full-time. Prospects are housed, fed, schooled and coached under the auspices the Mexican League. Umpires also attend the academy before being assigned to an outside league.  Eight teams shared by two LMB franchises each play daily schedules from the end of March to late July.  The Academia website calls this a "AA" league but other sources classify it as an "A" league and that may be closer to reality.

NORTHERN COAHUILA LEAGUE (I)
This is perhaps the most "entry-level" circuit in Mexican pro ball.  The LNC is an instructional loop consisting of eight teams in the state of Coahuila near the Texas border.  Teams in the LNC play a Sunday-only, double round-robin schedule of 14 doubleheaders between March and June with no postseason.  Although not officially tied with the Mexican League, the Monclova Acereros and Puebla Pericos each own two teams and the Saltillo Saraperos own one. The LNC can trace its roots to the 1940's.

WINTER LEAGUES

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE (AAA)
Kings of winterball in Mexico since forming in the late 1940's, the MexPac (or LMP) has been the preferred winter home for both top domestic players and prospects sent by MLB organizations to Latin America for extra seasoning between October and January.  The league's eight unaffiliated teams stretch in the Mexican west from Mexicali on the California border south to Mazatlan.   The stream of minor leaguers from the north has slowed in recent years, but fans have responded with the largest attendance of any non-MLB in the northern hemisphere.  The LMP champion represents Mexico in the Caribbean Series against teams from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  Not officially AAA, but generally regarded as playing at that level.

VERACRUZ WINTER LEAGUE (AA)
Unlike the MexPac, the Veracruz Winter League consists of six teams (four in the state of Veracruz and two more in Chiapas) that are affiliated with Mexican League clubs.  Since many LIV players perform in the LMB during the summer, the quality of play is comparable to the LMP, although the crowds don't come close to their western counterparts.  The LIV regular season runs just 30 games compared with the LMP's 70-game schedule.  Their playoff champion takes part in the Latin American Series against flag-winners from Colombia, Panama and Nicaragua.  The "AA" designation is purely personal on my part but all things considered, it seems accurate.

MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE (A)
The LIM was created three months ago in the wake of the collapse of the Nayarit-based Northwest Baseball League (LBN) following its season last winter.  Six teams in the Central Mexican states of Aguascalientes and Guanajuato as well as Mexico City embarked on 62-game schedules October 17 with January playoffs scheduled.  The league is considered "developmental," with most players on the LMB-affiliated teams ranging from their mid-teen to early-20's, worthy of a Class A designation in Mexican ball. The Mexico City Diablos Rojos' farm team, managed by ex-Diablos star Victor Bojorquez, currently top the standings by three games with two weeks left in the regular season.

ACADEMY LEAGUE (R)
"Wait a minute," you're saying, "Isn't there already a Class A Academy League?"  Well, yes, there is...in the spring and summer.  During the fall, a separate Academy League playing with the "Rookie" designation plays a shorter season running from mid-October to mid-December.  This year, five teams with shared LMB affiliations (Saltillo fielded a single team) played 27 games each over eight weeks, all on the Academy grounds with daily doubleheaders.  A team co-owned by Mexico City and Oaxaca won the pennant with a 21-4-2 record earlier this month.

Much credit is due to Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu for creating and funding a baseball academy in his native Oaxaca in 2009.  As someone who was intrigued as a kid by the Kansas City Royals Academy that Ewing Kaufmann (a great and visionary owner, IMHO, as is Harp) ran in the early 70's, I'm convinced there is value to them.  Two thumbs up to both Harp and late Quintana Roo Tigres owner Alejo Peralta, founder of the LMB Academy in El Carmen, for taking lead roles in developing academies south of the border.