LIGA ADDS 2 TEAMS, TO PLAY 66-GAME SEASON IN '21

Veracruz, Guadalajara to join LMB in 2021

   At a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City last week, the Mexican League announced the expected addition of two teams for the 2021 season while unveiling plans for a reduced schedule next year with a May 20 opening date. Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led the event, in which it was announced that both Veracruz and Guadalajara will be returning to give the circuit a total of 18 teams.

    The Veracruz Aguilas ownership group is headed by Bernardo Pasquel, grand-nephew of controversial LMB strongman Jorge Pasquel (whose story has been touched upon here and elsewhere). One of the younger Pasquel's investors is former MLB All-Star Adrian Gonzalez, who is expected to be active in bringing ballplayers to the Gulf Coast team, while the sports manager will be Jesus “Chino” Valdez, who has filled that role with the Mazatlan Venados for several years. Veracruz' 7,782-seat Estadio Universitario Beto Avila, which opened in 1992 and underwent renovations in 2006, will receive modifications in anticipation of the LMB's return.

    The Veracruz entry can trace their roots to 1903, when the original Aguilas played their first game, and lay claim to being an ancestor of Mexico's first formal team. Although Veracruz has long been fertile ground for baseball players and the Aguilas have won six Mexican League pennants over the years (most recently in 2012), that hasn't translated to fans in the stands. LMB teams have come and gone over the decades, most recently after the 2017 season when Veracruz' last team moved to Nuevo Laredo and was rechristened the Tecolotes. While the Aguilas can proudly point to their city's history, they'll still have to convince people to buy tickets in 2021.

    Guadalajara hosted three Mexican League franchises between 1949 and 1995, all known as the Jalisco Charros. The second incarnation won pennants in 1967 and 1971 but the city's LMB teams had to play at the substandard Estadio Tecnologico while losing the battle for fans to soccer's Chivas team, arguably the most popular sports team in the country. The Charros were revived in 2014, but this time it was for the Mexican Pacific League, where the team has become popular among locals while winning the 2018-19 LMP pennant and hosting a number of important baseball events in the six years since. 

Mariachis (the other kind) at Estadio Charros

   However, the Mariachis are already encountering difficulties. The team's investors are led by Carlos "Calo" Valenzuela, a contractor whose Dynamica company has built ballparks in Mexico City, Obregon and Hermosillo while refurbishing existing facilities in Mazatlan and Los Mochis. There appear to be no formal ties with their winterball counterparts, although Valenzuela has been a director with the Charros. The Mariachis recently received word that the mayor of Zapopan (where Estadio Charros sits) is not yet willing to allow them to play at the 16,500-seat facility. Pablo Lemus Navarro told the Mural newspaper of Zapopan that he has issues over the Mariachis being named for Guadalajara and not Jalisco or Zapopan while the team gave his government no formal notice until after the presidential announcement. Lemus says the new club will have to go through both City and State governments to modify an agreement that currently allows the Charros (who own the stadium) to host a maximum of 90 games over five months at the formerly state-owned facility. Ironically, it was Valenzuela's own firm that renovated Estadio Charros into a ballpark prior to that team's 2014 move from Guasave.

    Meanwhile, at the same press conference, it was announced that the Mexican League will delay its 2021 season opener to Thursday, May 20 while shortening its regular season schedule to 66 games due to the pandemic before launching into a twelve-team postseason after the season finale on Thursday, August 5. Playoffs will consist of four stages in 2021: a First Round, Division Semifinals, Division Championships and the Serie del Rey. It's assumed the First Round will involve the third through sixth place teams in each division, with the top two teams given a bye to the Division Semis. The Liga will sport two nine-team divisions next year, with Guadalajara entering the North Division and Veracruz joining the LMB South.

VILLANUEVA HEATS UP AS CHARROS CLIMB LMP STANDINGS

Christian Villanueva jogs out a homer

    When Christian Villanueva returned home to Guadalajara last month after a second difficult season, he was hoping to regain his batting eye and batting stroke while playing winterball for the Jalisco Charros. Two recent games for the former Mexican Pacific League MVP indicate that the 29-year-old third baseman is getting his groove back.

    Villanueva went 4-for-9 with a homer in his first two games of December before a dry spell that saw him collect two hits over his next five game as he watched his batting average fall to .233 after nine games. Then Los Mochis arrived at Estadio Charros for a three-game series last Friday and the former Padres starter feasted on the struggling Caneros over the next two nights, going 4-for-6 with three homers to score six runs and drive in nine as his batting average rose 53 points to .286.

    Villanueva's recent resurgence coincided with the activation of relief pitcher Sergio Romo, a three-time World Series winner with San Francisco who is a free agent after pitching for Minnesota this year. Romo made his season debut for the Charros last Thursday, tossing a scoreless tenth inning of a wild 9-8 win at Obregon in which the score was tied at 3-3 heading into the eleventh. Both teams scored four runs that frame, then Jalisco scored twice in the top of the twelfth and held on for the win.

    One night later, Jalisco second baseman Manny Rodriguez homered and doubled twice in a 12-3 thrashing of Los Mochis. Rodriguez moved into third place on the Mex Pac's all-time doubles list with 215 while his 118th career roundtripper places him twelfth in that category. After finishing the first half in sixth place with a desultory 15-14 record, manager Roberto Vizcarra needs top performances from Villanueva, Romo and Rodriguez in the second half to move up in the standings and earn more playoff points.

Mexicali C Xorge Carrillo is hitting .312

    Right now, Jalisco is tied with surprising Guasave for second place with 9-5 records, a game-and-a-half behind 10-3 Mexicali. While Aguilas catcher Xorge Carrillo is their only batter raking among the LMP's Top 20 (he's 19th at .312), Mexicali's pitching has been rock-solid and currently is second to Hermosillo's 3.47 team ERA with a 3.51 mark. Eduardo Vera and Miguel Pena have led manager Bronswell Patrick's mound staff with identical 3-0 records and 2.11 ERAs while vet Javier Solano is also 3-0 record with a 2.53 ERA in nine starts.

    Hermosillo's Yadiel Hernandez continues to lead the league with a .353 batting average. Guasave's Erusbel Arruebarrena is tied with Leandro Castro of Los Mochis and Monterrey's Dustin Peterson with 10 homers apiece. Dariel Alvarez of Jalisco is tops with 36 RBIs and Obregon's Alonzo Harris continues to lead baserunners with 20 steals despite not playing for the Yaquis in nearly three weeks. Harris has been listed on the Obregon roster again, but still nothing about his status on the LMP website.

    Among pitchers, Mexicali's aforementioned Vera and Solano are 1-2 in the LMP with ERAs of 2.11 and 2.53, respectively. Luis Ivan Rodriguez remained at 6-0 after not pitching for Jalisco last week, but Hermosillo's Juan Pablo Oramas moved into a tie for the wins lead by beating Culiacan last week to go to 6-2. The Tomateros' Manny Barreda leads with 46 strikeouts but was placed on the Reserve List last Thursday. In a battle for the saves lead, Fernando Salas of Hermosillo and Guasave's Geno Encino are tied with 12 apiece, one more than Alberto Baldonando of Culiacan.

PITCHING, MACIEL HOMER GIVE BARRERAS COPA JUNTOS TITLE

Action in Copa Juntos title game

    The 2021 Copa Juntos por Mexico tournament is in the books, with fans watching an exciting championship game online as Team Nelson Barrera held off Team Alfredo Ortiz, 3-2, last Saturday behind closed doors at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu in Mexico City. The Ortiz squad had finished first in the four-team first round with a 16-9 record, three games ahead of the 13-12 Barreras, to earn an automatic berth in the title game. On the other hand, the Barreras had to win a 9-3 semifinal contest Friday against third-place Team Daniel Fernandez to advance to Saturday's final tilt.

    The Barreras took a 1-0 lead in the championship game on Jose Maciel's run-scoring sacrifice fly in the top of the second inning, but the Ortizes came back with a pair of counters via three doubles off Barrera starter Oscar Valenzuela in the bottom of the third to go up by a 2-1 count. At the top of the next frame, Jose Macias hit a one-out single off Ortiz starter Esteban Bloch, who then allowed a two-run homer by Maciel that barely cleared the left-field wall to put the Barreras back on top, 3-2. From that point, Valenzuela and relievers Ariel Gracia and Jesus Navarro combine to shut down Ortizistas over the final six innings to seal the win and the Copa Juntos title.

    Valenzuela earned the win after allowing two runs and striking out six batters over five innings while Navarro was awarded the save with a hitless ninth, but the real winners may have been the Oaxaca Guerreros. The tournament was a showcase for prospects from the Guerreros and Mexico City who'd trained at the Alfredo Harp Helu Academy in Oaxaca, but it was the two teams representing the Warriors, who usually play second fiddle to the Diablos (both LMB franchises are owned by billionaire Harp), playing in the championship game.

Team Nelson Barrera celebrates Cup win

    In the event's third-place game, Team Daniel Fernandez topped Team Jose Luis Sandoval, 5-4, as both teams were managed by their Salon de la Fama namesakes. Team Nelson Barrera was managed by Jose “El Toro” Macias, a former MLB infielder whose son Jose Jr. played on his team, while Team Alfrdo Ortiz was led by current Guerreros skipper Erick Rodriguez. The Barreras lost six games in a row and were in last place before a late surge vaulted them into second heading into the semifinal.

    The best all-round batter in the tournament was arguably Omar Zeleny of Team Ortiz, who finished third in batting with a .432 average while leading all hitters with 32 hits, 25 runs scored and nine stolen bases. Team Barrera's Mikell Granberry hit .365 with 31 hits, including 15 doubles and three homers, while driving in 21 runs. Barrera's Gracia had the best ERA at 0.64 while leading in strikeouts with 35 over 28 innings. Bloch of Team Ortiz won three games, finished second with a 1.45 ERA and 31 strikeouts, and was tops in WHIP at 0.84.

GUASAVE PLAYER HITS 3 HOMERS IN SINGLE GAME

Guasave outfielder Leo German

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

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

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

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

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

New Venados manager Pablo Ortega

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

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

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

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

JALISCO TO JOIN VERACRUZ AS LMB EXPANSION TEAMS?

Salvador Quirarte of Guadalajara

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

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

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

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

Jorge y Bernardo Pasquel

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

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

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

AMEZCUA, MAZON ELECTED TO CARIBBEAN SERIES HALL OF FAME

Former Culiacan catcher Adan Amezcua

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

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

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

Hermosillo president Enrique Mazon

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

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

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