YAQUIS SWEEP BOTH HALVES, TOP LMP PLAYOFF SEED

When Obregon's Nathanael Santiago tossed eight pitches (seven for strikes) in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out a 4-0 Yaquis road shutout over Hermosillo on December 30 in front of 16,604 fans at a packed Estadio Sonora, it culminated a standout regular season for manager Sergio Gastelum's team in which they won both halves en route to a 44-22 record and a maximum 20 playoff points heading into

Obregon players celebrate new LMP wins record

January's postseason.  Centerfielder Aneury Tavarez went 4-for-5 with an RBI double and shortstop Isaac Paredes singled twice, doubled and scored two runs to give starter Alex Delgado and four relievers who combined on a three-hitter all the offensive support they'd need.  Obregon's 44 wins set a new record for single-season victories.

Despite being blanked by the Yaquis, Hermosillo (38-27) finished in a three-way tie with Jalisco and Culiacan for second in cumulative points with 15 apiece.  The Charros ended their schedule with an overall record of 39-28 after losing to the 37-29 Tomateros, 7-2, in Estadio Culiacan (attendance 19.357).  Joey Meneses clubbed a two-run homer off Jalisco starter Octavio Acosta in the bottom of the second to help stake the Tomateros to an early 5-0 lead that was never threatened.

Elsewhere on closing night in the Mex Pac, Mexicali (34-33) held off Navojoa (25-41) by a 3-2 score as Alex Valdez singled and homered for the Aguilas to finish all alone with 13 points and the fifth playoff seed while the Mayos came in tied with expansion Guasave for last in points with 8.5 each as both will miss the postseason.  The Algodoneros (27-39) ended their first season on a high note with a 3-2 win over fellow expansionists Monterrey (26-41) when Moises Gutierrez' walkoff single off Sultanes reliever Salvador Valdez with two out in the bottom of the ninth drove in Bryant Aragon.

Finally, Los Mochis' Josuan Hernandez came in from third base on a wild pitch by Mazatlan's Ryan Newell in the top of the 16th inning followed by a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame from reliever Irving Machuca as the Caneros (32-36) snuck past the 31-37 Venados, 3-2, in a game that lasted 5 hours, 18 minutes.  Los Mochis was their own worst enemy as the Caneros only batted 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position while leaving 19 men stranded on base.

The first round of playoffs will feature an eight-team field instead of six and no "lucky loser" format this year, a result of the LMP expansion to ten teams this season. As usual, each series will be a best-of-7 set with the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 2 with the lower seed hosting Games 3, 4 and 5 before returning to the higher seed's home park for games 6 and 7, if needed. Here are the matchups for the quarterfinals:

#1 Obregon Yaquis vs. #8 Monterrey Sultanes
#2 Hermosillo Naranjeros vs. #7 Mazatlan Venados
#3 Jalisco Charros vs. #6 Los Mochis Caneros
#4 Culiacan Tomateros vs. #5 Mexicali Aguilas


ALVAREZ, QUIALA HIGHLIGHT MEX PAC STATS LEADER LISTS

Caneros' Yoanys Quiala led LMP in wins, ERA

Los Mochis second baseman Isaac Rodriguez won the batting title with a .340 average, four points ahead of Hermosillo's Yadiel Hernandez at .336.  Hernandez drew 50 walks in 60 games to lead the loop with a .462 on-base percentage.  Jalisco outfielder Dariel Alvarez homered twice over his final ten games to finish with an LMP-best 16 homers, ahead of the 12 each by Los Mochis' Leandro Castro and Michael Choice of Monterrey.  Alvarez' 55 RBIs were also most in the circuit, outdistancing the 47 of Monterrey's Felix Perez.  Alvarez also had an LMP-leading .527 slugging percentage as the Cuban (who spent five seasons playing for Camaguey before defecting to Mexico in 2012 and subsequently signing with Baltimore, is a potential Most Valuable Player choice for 2019-20.  Rico Noel led in stolen bases for weeks and the Culiacan outfielder finished with 30 to easily beat the 21 from teammate Sebastian Elizalde while also edging Obregon's Taiki Sekine in runs scored, 47 to 46.  Sekine, a popular 24-year-old outfielder who has returned to Japan's Yokohama BayStars and will miss the Mex Pac postseason, hit .293 and led the league with five triples while stealing 20 bases in 55 games.  Jalisco veteran second baseman Manny Rodriguez was tops with 19 doubles.

If the MVP award goes to a pitcher, the odds-on favorite among that group has to be Los Mochis' Yoanys Quiala.  The 6'3" Cuban righthander led the LMP in wins with a 9-2 record, his 2.57 ERA was second only to Mexicali veteran Javier Solano's 2.23 mark (somehow Solano won only two of his 13 starts, one of them the LMP's only shutout of the season) and Quiala registered 71 strikeouts to tie with Andre Rienzo of Obregon for second behind the 76 of Hermosillo starter Juan Pablo Oramas.  Quiala was also the top workhorse in the Mex Pac with 87.2 innings pitched over 14 starts (tying Monterrey's Edgar Gonzalez and Luis Payan of Navojoa for first)   There was a three-way tie for the saves title between Brandon Cunniff (Navojoa), Jose Rosario (Guasave) and Mario Meza (Mexicali) with 12 apiece.  Among the trio, Meza's 1.99 ERA was the best.  Veteran lefty middleman Arturo Barradas, who struggled in the summer with Monclova (12.10) and Tijuana (16.20) before hitting stride in Puebla (2.95), led the Mex Pac with 16 holds in 42 appearances for Mazatlan.  Barradas was second in apprearances to Samuel Zazueta's 46 trips from the bullpen for Obregon.


HARRIS, VALDEZ TOP 2019 MEXICAN LEAGUE AWARDS LIST

To the surprise of few, if any, observers, Oaxaca outfielder Alonzo Harris and Yucatan pitcher Cesar Valdez headed the list of award winners for the 2019 Mexican League season announced last month.

Mexican League MVP Alonzo Harris

Harris, who was signed as a free agent by the Guerreros at the beginning of the season after spending 2018 with Quintana Roo prior to a two-week training camp stint with Mexico City, was named the Liga's Most Valuable Player after the 2007 Mets draft pick hit .343 and led the circuit in runs (131) and total bases (324), was second in steals (45), RBIs (117) and slugging percentage (.691), finished third in homers (39) and came in fourth with 161 hits, a 1.122 OPS and 34 doubles (tying with three other players).  A 30-year-old native of McComb, Mississippi, Harris just missed becoming the LMB's first 40-40 Club member but still joined James Steels and Luis Terrero as the only Mexican Leaguers to reach 30 homers and 30 swipes in the same season.  Harris spent all or part of seven seasons in the Mets system before going into independent ball in 2014.  He was the Atlantic League Player of the Year in 2017 after 315 with 23 homers and 73 RBIs for York that season.

LMB Pitcher of the Year Cesar Valdez

Valdez was the easy choice for Pitcher of the Year after the Dominican topped the loop in wins with a 15-2 record and ERA at 2.26.  The Leones righty allowed nearly a full run per nine innings less than teammate Yoanner Negrin, who turned in a 3.22 mark (the 2016 POY, Negrin's 13 wins were also second in the LMB).   Valdez also led the Liga with a 1.06 WHIP and finished fifth in strikeouts with 122 while allowing just 17 walks over 147.2 innings pitched.  The 34-year-old Santo Domingo product began his professional career with Yakima of the Northwest League in 2006 (where he was a teammate of current LMB outfielder Cyle Hankerd) after signing a free agent contract with Arizona and went on to play parts of three MLB seasons with the Diamondbacks, Oakland and Toronto before making his Maxican League debut with Tabasco in the Spring 2018 season.  The Olmecas actually released Valdez in May of that year and he spent three months out of work before Yucatan signed him in early August, after which he was 5-0 with a 2.48 ERA (proving there's a reason the Leones are the Leones and the Olmecas are...well...you know).

Other Mexican League award winners for 2019 included Manager of the Year Roberto Vizcarra, who led Saltillo to a 66-53 record and their first playoff appearance in four years. Reliever of the Year went to Carlos Bustamante, who was third in the LMB with 27 saves and a 2.57 ERA for champions Monclova.  Quintana Roo outfielder Erick Migueles was Rookie of the Year after the 23-year-old Tucson native hit .252 with eight homers for the Tigres.  Veteran Durango outfielder Santiago Gonzalez was named Comeback Player of the Year by batting .306 for the Generales, the seventh time he's topped .300 in his 14-year career, after missing both 2018 LMB seasons.  Executive of the Year went to Monclova owner Gerardo Benavides, who brought (some say "bought") the first Mexican League pennant to his hometown team, which was founded by his grandfather in 1974.


OMAR VIZQUEL NAMED TIJUANA MANAGER FOR 2020

New Tijuana Toros manager Omar Vizquel

Former MLB shortstop great Omar Vizquel has been picked to manage the Tijuana Toros during the 2020 Mexican League season, replacing Oscar Robles.  The Venezuelan was introduced at a press conference during the Baseball Winter Meetings last month across the border in San Diego.

Vizquel earned his playing reputation with his glove over a 24-year career in the majors, earning 11 Gold Gloves (including nine in a row between 1993 and 2001) while making three All-Star Game appearances.  His career .985 fielding percentage ranks highest among shortstops with more than 1,000 MLB games played (leading his league six times in that category) while Vizquel also ranks first all-time among shortstops with 1,734 double plays over 2,709 games (also first), is third in assists with 7,676 and 11th in putouts with 4,102.

What is often overlooked is that the 52-year-old from Caracas also developed from a bottom-of-the-order hitter into a batsman who was pesky enough to do some damage at the plate.  His 2,877 career hits ranks 47th on the all-time list and is first among Venezuelan players, including 2,264 singles (17th).  Vizquel accrued a total of 456 doubles, 404 stolen bases and scored 1,445 runs en route to a career batting average of .272 with an on-base percentage of .336.  The man nicknamed "Little O" during his playing days is on the Hall of Fame ballot for a third time this winter after appearing on 37% of ballots his first year and 42.8% last year.  While he's got ground to cover in reaching the 75% required for election, Vizquel has at least a puncher's chance of entry into Cooperstown.

Omar Vizquel during his glory days in Cleveland

After retiring following the 2012 season, Vizquel was an infield coach with the Los Angeles Angels in 2013, before serving as first-base coach with Detroit between 2014 and 2017 under manager Brad Ausmus.  He interviewed for the Tigers managerial post after Ausmus was fired but passed over for another ex-MLB infielder, Ron Gardenhire.  Vizquel has spent the past two summers managing in the White Sox system, in Class A Winston-Salem in 2018 and Class AA Birmingham in 2019, before the front office in Chicago decided to cut ties with him in November.

Tijuana marks Vizquel's first experience of any kind in Mexican baseball and it comes under the microscope of the Uribe family, one of the LMB's most unforgiving ownerships who cut Robles loose after the former Padres infielder merely led the Toros to the best regular season record in the LMB last season (75-45, tied with Monclova) before falling to the Acereros in seven games for the LMB North title.


MANAGERIAL CHANGES IN MEXICO CITY, OAXACA

Sergio Gastelum is now Diablos Rojos helmsman

After showing he could manage with success in Oaxaca, former Mexican League infield star Sergio Gastelum has been elevated to dugout boss with the Guerreros' "big brother," the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.  In turn, longtime catcher Erick Rodriguez will he handed the reins in Oaxaca with his first managerial post.  Both teams are owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu.

Gastelum had a solid 22-year Mexican League playing career, during which he batted .314 between 1995 and 2016 before retiring and going into coaching.  He took over as Guerreros manager midway through the shortened Fall 2018 LMB schedule and took them to a playoff berth despite a 12-14 regular season record before two playoff series wins catapulted Oaxaca into the Serie del Rey, where they lost to Monterrey.

Gastelum followed that up in winterball by leading his hometown Obregon Yaquis to the best record in the Mexican Pacific League and a playoff berth while earning Manager of the Year honors.  Oaxaca fared much better in 2019 by going 68-51 over both halves (fifth-best in the 16-team circuit), but fell to Yucatan in the first round of the postseason.  This winter, he has led Obregon to first place in both halves of the MexPac season as the Yaquis will enter the playoffs as the LMP's top seed.  That apparently was enough to please Harp, Diablos team president Dr. Othon Diaz, deputy president Miguel Ojeda and general manager Francisco Minjarez, who is apparently immune from his league suspension following his role at both ends of the Rookiegate scandal.

Gastelum will replace Victor Bojorquez at the helm after the former Diablos star outfielder led Mexico City to an LMB South-best 67-49 record last summer but failed to bring a pennant to the capital city.  Bojorquez went 134-92 over two years with the Red Devils after being brought up from their Ensenada affiliate in the Liga Norte and it's impossible to imagine him without a new job in Mexican baseball for long.

Erick Rodriguez takes over in Oaxaca

In turn, Oaxaca team president Guillermo Spindola Morales introduced Rodriguez as manager to fill the dugout void created by Gastelum's departure.  Long regarded more highly for his work behind the plate than while swinging a bat astride it, the Monterrey native (who just turned 40 on November 27) nonetheless has hit a creditable .293 over his 19-year Liga playing career, all with the Guerreros.  In fact, Rodriguez led Oaxaca batters with a .356 average in 2019, adding a career-high 12 homers and 47 RBIs over 87 regular season contests.  For some reason, he attempted to steal a base but was caught, making him 15-for-33 in lifetime stolen base attempts.  Rodriguez faltered during the playoffs, batting just .176 (3-for-17) in the Guerreros' five-game loss to Yucatan in the first round.

Rodriguez will continue catching for the Guerreros in 2020 in an attempt to emulate the late Nelson Barrera, who led Oaxaca to their lone LMB title as a player-manager in The seven-time All-Star (and MVP of the 2015 Juego de Estrellas) is expected to convert his calm demeanor and vast experience as a player into success as a manager, and he'll have the good fortune of making that conversion in an environment where expectations are historically no higher than they used to be in Kansas City six decades ago when the Athletics served as a de facto intramural farm team of the New York Yankees.


AMLO CALLS FOR LMB, LMP TO COMBINE INTO ONE LEAGUE

Mexico president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has never hidden the fact that he is passionate about baseball, often interjecting himself into both Mexican League and Mexican Pacific League affairs since ascending to the nation's highest office in December 2018.  While it's generally going to be a plus when your country's highest-ranking politician gives your sport preferential treatment, AMLO's involvement has often carried with it a two-edged sword.

Although AMLO personally kept four Mexican League franchises from going dark last year while making sure the Mex Pac expanded two more teams this winter, only Puebla appears to be a popular retention among the four saved LMB teams, the jury is still out in Monterrey on hosting year-round pro baseball and there's no assurance that Guasave will be any more successful this time than the Algodoneros were prior to that team's 2014 sale and move to Guadalajara (where the Jalisco Charros have been an unqualified success).

AMLO doesn't limit his of baseball to the stands

Lopez Obrador has now apparently called for the LMB and LMP to merge into one league.  According to Mexico City's Reforma, AMLO requested that the two loops form a single 26-team entity to begin play in 2021.  A December 17 meeting was convened in Mexico City by AMLO and attended by representatives from all existing franchises, who were urged to take part in a letter from Probeis director Edgar Gonzalez, as well as billionaires Carlos Slim and Carlos Bremer along with National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport head Ana Gabriela Guevara. According to the Reforma story, a source said the 16 Mexican League teams approved a merger but only three of the LMP's ten clubs (Jalisco, Guasave and Monterrey) were in favor of the proposal.

Ultimately, the merger was at least put on hold at the meeting while Lopez Obrador has repainted the picture somewhat.  Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra quotes the president as saying, “Now they are in a good moment because there is unity in the leagues, but if there is only one League, that will depend on the owners. That is not resolved by presidential decree. It has to be an agreement and, if it is convenient, if it works, let it be done, but they have to do that." Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros owner Alfredo Harp Helu claimed that a merger was not discussed at all, but rather an agreement was worked out in which the Mexican League would unconditionally make players available to play for the National Team at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.


GENERALES SOLD, WILL REMAIN IN DURANGO

Players modeling new Durango jerseys 

After months of speculation, the Mexican League's Durango Generales have been sold.  Ever since Durango re-entered the LMB when then-owner Virgilio Ruiz moved the Carmen Delfines to the central Mexico city in November 2016, the Generales have been plagued by problems both on and off the field, including renovations to Estadio Francisco Villa that ran so late that the team had to play a month of road games during their inaugural 2017 schedule before they could play their home opener.  From that point, the situation devolved into a proverbial dog's breakfast marked by missed payrolls, players walking off the team until they were traded (usually for cash), low attendance and other maladies that beset problem teams.

Former MLB catcher Miguel Ojeda and local businessman Fernando Espinosa de Campo bought controlling interest in the Generales in January 2018, a move approved by LMB owners, but the sale disintegrated after Ojeda (who was going to run the team) decided to drop out so he could take a front office position with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, for whom he'd once played and managed.  Ultimately, entrepreneur Alfredo Aramburo bought controlling interest in the Generales but felt slighted by the rest of the Liga's executives and owners from the start (El Sol of Durango says the Assembly of Presidents refused to approve him as team president) and the writing was on the wall for Aramburo's exit from the LMB when he emerged to buy the Mexican Pacific League Guasave Algodoneros last July to end a weeks-long search for an owner after Guasave had been awarded an LMP expansion franchise. For what it's worth, Mex Pac owners readily approved Aramburo as the Algodoneros team president.

Estadio Francisco Villa on Opening Day

Puro Beisbol's Fernando Ballesteros reports that Aramburo agreed to sell the Generales to a group of local investors, who agreed to keep the team in Durango for at least the 2020 season.  Although Ballesteros said the picture in Durango had started to improve in 2017 during their first year in the city, that sense of stability more likely didn't begin to take place until last season after Aramburo bought the Generales.  Even so, the Cottoneers play in the league's smallest ballpark, although Estadio Francisco Villa's 4,983 seats were usually more than enough to accomodate the average 3,219 backsides that attended 56 home games last summer, placing Durango 12th in the 16-team attendance derby.  The Generales ranked seventh in their first season by drawing 4,094 per game in 2017.

Durango was one of the four LMB franchises earmarked for shutdown last year before Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador intervened and ordered league president Javier Salinas to reverse the contraction and while they survived 2019, the new owners have a daunting task ahead of them.  While new manager Juan Jose Pacho has had success leading Mex Pac teams in Mazatlan, he'll work with a roster that includes 2019 LMB batting champion Daniel Mayora, Comeback Player of the Year Santiago Gonzalez and third baseman Moises Gutierrez, who responded to his first starting job with 25 homers and 91 RBIs but little else to put on the field along with a pitching staff on which Amilcar Gaxiola (6-5) was the only hurler with more than four wins and no starter had an ERA of lower than 5.00.


FORMER CATCHER, MANAGER PAQUIN ESTRADA DIES AT 71

Francisco Estrada as a Mets player

Former catcher and manager Francisco "Paquin" Estrada, whose Mexican baseball career spanned five decades, passed away December 9 in Obregon after a long illness.  Estrada was 71.

Born on February 12, 1948 in Navojoa, Estrada's playing career began in 1964 when the then 16-year-old receiver debuted with San Luis Potosi of the Class A Mexican Center League.  After two seasons with the Rojos, the stocky (5'8" and 182 pounds) backstop was brought up to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1966.  He spent five years with the Diablos before being sold to the New York Mets prior to the 1971 campaign.  Estrada split that year between AA Memphis and AAA Tidewater before playing his first (and last) major league contest for New York on September 14 against Montreal at Shea Stadium, when he went 1-for-2 after replacing Jerry Grote in the seventh inning.  Suitably impressed with Estrada's .500 batting average, the California Angels traded six-time All-Star shortstop Jim Fregosi for him in the offseason, with the Mets throwing in Leroy Stanton, Don Rose and Nolan Ryan to make Gene Autry feel better about the deal.

From that point, Estrada bounced between the Angels, Orioles and Cubs systems for two years before returning to Mexico for good in 1974 when he joined the Puebla Pericos.  He would continue catching in the LMB for 21 more years (he also played 30 seasons in the Mexican Pacific League) before retiring in 1994 at age 46.  In his 31-year playing career, Estrada set minor league records for most games caught (2,847) while gaining a reputation as a decent, if not great, batter with some pop who was a master at working with pitchers.  However, it was as a manager that he achieved his greatest successes in baseball.

Paquin's last time behind home plate in Culiacan

Starting in 1982 as a player-manager with the Campeche Piratas, Estrada would lead teams to Mexican League pennants in 1983 with Campeche, 1990 with Leon and 2004 with Campeche (again).  In 31 seasons as a manager in the Liga, Estrada was 1,604-1,435 to rank second to Jose "Zacatillo" Guerrero's 1,971 wins on the all-time list.  He also won seven winterball pennants in the Mexican Pacific League (six in Culiacan), copped Caribbean Series championships in 1996 and 2002 with the Tomateros and managed Mexico's first World Baseball Classic team in 2006.  He has been enshrined in the Salon de la Fama since 2000 in a career that can hardly be defined on one plaque.

VALDEZ PITCHES LEONES WITHIN GAME OF LMB FLAG

Cesar Valdez pitching for Oakland in 2017

If there was any doubt remaining as to why Cesar Valdez is the odds-on favorite to be named the Mexican League Pitcher of the Year for 2019, the 34-year-old Dominican right-hander should have dispelled them after he pitched a shutout Sunday to lead the Yucatan Leones to a 3-0 win over the visiting Monclova Acereros in Game Five of the Serie del Rey in front of 14,917 fans at Merida's Parque Kukulkan.  The triumph gives Yucatan a 3-games-to-2 lead in the series.

Valdez threw 112 pitches (77 of them strikes) in holding the potent Steelers to four hits and a walk, striking out eight batters to run his playoff record to 4-0 after a 15-2 regular season in which he led the LMB in wins, ERA (2.26) and WHIP (1.06) in 23 starts.  Art Charles' two-out single in the bottom of the first inning off Monclova starter Adam Quintana drove in Jonathan Jones from third with the first run of the game. It would turn out to be the only tally Valdez would need but (just in case) Jorge Flores opened the third with a triple and scored on a Jones single to make it 2-0 and Alex Liddi's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth added one more insurance run for manager Geronimo Gil's squad.  Jones contributed two singles to the Yucatan offense as seven of the other eight Leones batsmen had one hit. Catcher Sebastian Valle had an 0-fer but called a solid game behind the plate for the winners.

Valdez' outstanding Sunday outing was far removed from his work during last Tuesday's Serie del Rey Game One in Monclova.  Although he was awarded a 5-4 win over the Acereros, the 2008 California League All-Star Game MVP and future major leaguer let in four runs over seven innings and gave up home runs to Jose Amador, Eric Young Jr. (a two-run shot) and Noah Perio to account for all Steeler scoring.  Valdez did strike out 13 of the 27 batters he faced.

Monclova evened the series Wednesday with a 9-3 comeback win over Yoanner Negrin, the 2016 LMB Pitcher of the Year.  Negrin was impressive in earlier playoff wins over Oaxaca and Mexico City and had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when the Acereros loaded the bases after striking out leadoff batter Bruce Maxwell.  At that point, Gil replaced the Cuban righty with Manny Parra, who gave up a two-run Young single up the middle and an RBI safety to Erick Aybar that gave the home team a 4-3 lead. The Acereros scored five more in the eighth, including a Ricky Rodriguez grand slam off Enrique Burgos, to put the game away.  Amador singled twice and doubled for three of ten Acereros hits as another sellout crowd of 8,500 watched at Estadio Monclova.

Art Charles (r) homered for Leones in Game 4

The title set shifted to Merida for Game Three on Friday, when Monclova took a 2-games-to-1 lead with a 6-3 road win.  Francisco Peguero went 3-for-4 with a double, scoring one run and driving in another as the Acereros collected 13 hits off Leones starter Jose Samayoa and five relievers.  Valle socked a solo homer off Monclova closer Carlos Bustamante in the bottom of the ninth but the contest was all but decided by then. Connor Herber earned his third postseason win by pitching five innings of two-run ball for manager Pat Listach.

Yucatan battled back to tie the series Saturday night with 3-2 victory.  Monclova took an early lead in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Perio doubled off Leones starter Dustin Crenshaw and came in one out later on a Peguero two-bagger.  The Acereros made it 2-0 one entrada later when Perio's two-out single off Crenshaw brought in Amador from second after the latter had doubled to open the inning.  From that point on, Crenshaw went unscathed through the sixth inning and benefitted from a three-run Yucatan fourth keyed by a two-run Charles homer against Monclova opener Geno Encina.  That would mark the last run of the game as Crenshaw, who earned the win, and three relievers held the Acereros scoreless over the last seven innings. A Californian who pitched collegiately at South Alabama and spent four years in indy ball before making his 2015 LMB debut with Laguna, the 6'5" Crenshaw has been one of the Liga's best pitchers since when healthy with a 29-14 record and 3.63 ERA in 61 starts.

The Serie del Rey now shifts back to Monclova for Tuesday night's Game Six.  All five games have been sellouts and another full house is expected at Estadio Monclova as the Acereros strive for the city's first Mexican League pennant since entering the league in 1974.  Negrin is expected to start for Yucatan while Jaime Lugo will take the mound for Monclova.

LOS MOCHIS, GUASAVE BALLPARKS READYING FOR LMP SEASON

Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada in Los Mochis

Two of the Mexican Pacific League's ten ballparks are undergoing upgrades in preparation for the upcoming 2019-20 season.  

State approval of renovations at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada in Los Mochis was signed by Sinaloa governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel on October 7, 2017 with hope that the two-stage project would be completed by October 2018 after an initial investment of 50 million pesos for work that winter and 260 million pesos projected as the overall price. Sinaloa Public Works secretary Osvaldo Lopez Angulo envisioned a total remodel of the central portion of the stadium, which now has three seating levels (lower and upper box seats topped by luxury and press boxes), and other safety- and comfort-related amenities.  Instead, the facelift will be unveiled a year late with a pricetag of 400 million pesos, or about 20 million US dollars, not an unusual turn of events when it comes to ballparks, new or renovated. 

Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada was first opened in 1947 when Los Mochis was admitted to the old Pacific Coast League, precursor to the modern LMP.  Initially known as Estadio Mochis, the facility seated 3,000 and had no lights. It has since undergone a number of renovations, the first coming in 1963 when seating was doubled to 6,000 and a lighting system was installed.  A second renovation took place in 1972, as seating was nearly doubled again to a capacity of 11,000 while being renamed after Ibarra, who brought pro baseball to Los Mochis in 1947 and helped inaugurate the ballpark that winter.  Ten years later, Hurricane Paul damaged the facility so badly that the Caneros were forced to play the first half of the 1982-83 LMP schedule on the road before playing home games without lights during the second half. The updated, modern facility is expected to be ready to host 12,000 spectators when the Caneros play their first home game on Saturday, October 12 against Guasave.

Speaking of Guasave, work at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon has been hurrying along in advance of the revived Algodoneros' home opener against Los Mochis on October 13, one day after the two teams welcome the season at the Caneros' new digs.  Where renovations in Los Mochis have had almost two years to reach completion, Guasave has had less than a year to bring their stadium up to modern standards because the city was only granted re-entry to the Mex Pac last winter after the previous version of the Algodoneros were sold and moved to Guadalajara in 2014.

Guasave's Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon

Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon is a much newer plant than its counterpart in Los Mochis, opening in 1970 with seating for up to 8,000 spectators.  However, the ballpark was not upgraded over the years and by the time it was 44 years old in 2014, it was showing its age and falling into disrepair as the undercapitalized team owners couldn't afford to make needed changes and the state government wasn't willing to pick up the tab.  Attendance had long been declining in Guasave and the team was eventually sold to a group led by Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte and moved inland to Guadalajara, where the renamed Jalisco Charros have become of of Mexican baseball's more recent success stories, hosting several international tournaments and winning last winter's LMP pennant.  After a five-year absence, the Mex Pac returned to Guasave when Mexico president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador fulfilled a campaign promise to bring baseball back to the Sinaloa agricultural center.

Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu, who bankrolled a new ballpark of his own in the nation's capital, is paying for renovations at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon, which will be expanded to 10,000 seats.  While there was speculation that Harp might own an LMP along with his Mexican League franchise, he said he had no such interest and another LMB owner, Arturo Aramburo (who owns the Durango Generales but is said to be looking to sell that franchise), officially bought the team over summer.  

The ballpark used by the new Algodoneros was in enough disrepair that the facility might not have been ready to host games next month.  LMP president Omar Canizales, who toured the stadium with Governor Ordaz last week, was quoted in Puro Beisbol as saying, "I am pleasantly surprised.  I had come a couple months ago and I was really a little worried, and when I realize what has happened in the last six weeks, I see a very important breakthrough.  

"They will be ready to sing 'Play ball' on October 13." 

MEDIUM: 30% OF 2019 LMB PLAYERS WERE MEXICAN-AMERICANS

Tijuana outfielder Beau Amaral

It's been two years since the Mexican League expanded its definition of what constitutes a "Mexican" player.  The issue is one reason the LMB underwent an offseason schism that threatened either a split into two separate leagues or cancellation of the 2017 season altogether.  An uneasy truce was eventually brokered and the new policy, in which a player with Mexican heritage who can qualify for a passport is considered "domestic" and does not count against foreign player limits per team, has played out for two years.  While it can be argued that making players with peripheral family connections to Mexico eligible has raised the overall level of play in the Liga, homegrown Mexican players are now having a harder time finding work in their own country.

A September 18 story by Joseph Bien-Kahn for the Medium website delves deeply into the topic.  According to Bien-Kahn, "If you had a Mexican ancestor and could qualify for a Mexican passport, you were Mexican in the eyes of the league."  Tijuana Toros press officer Armando Esquivel estimates that 30 percent of the Mexican League's 400 players (25 players per team) are Mexican-Americans, many of whom bring Major League Baseball experience south of the border.  One such player, Tijuana outfielder Beau Amaral, is a son of former major league infielder Rich and spent seven seasons in the Reds minor league system and part of 2018 with the Mariners' AA Arkansas affiliate before joining the Toros this year.  A Californian who played collegiately at UCLA, Amaral had a great-grandmother who was born in Mexico and thus is not considered a foreigner in the eyes of the LMB.

Indeed, Tijuana has come to specialize in finding players with tenuous literal relations to Mexico who still oxymoronically qualify as domestic imports, with Director of International Operations Arturo Marcano heading the effort.  "That's one of my areas of work: to look for pochos," Marcano told Bien-Kahn, "It's kind of like detective work."  Marcano is a hard-working man, as only six Toros players this season were born in Mexico, including just one pitcher.  He says, "It's not like we have a network of spies looking for pochos everywhere.  What we're doing is scouting players for the team."

Tijuana won their first LMB pennant in 2017 after embracing the philosophy and earning the enmity of Monterrey owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz, who played on Mexico's 1957 Little League World Series champions as a 12-year-old.  Maiz called the team who defeated his Sultanes in the LMB North Championship Series the Pocho Toros, a term that stuck among opposing fans and players who saw the influx of foreign-born players after eligibility rules were relaxed as taking away jobs from homegrown talent.  Although the Mexico City Diablos Rojos played the 2017 season without a single foreign player in protest and missed the playoffs. Other teams noticed that Tijuana won a pennant with 22 foreign-born players (including 16 Mexican-Americans) while Monterrey was eliminated in the semis and Mexico City took the postseason off altogether, and the Toros' philosophy was eventually adopted by organizations across the Liga.

Manny Barreda pitched 2017 no-hitter for Toros

The term pocho technically applies to foreign-born ethnic Mexicans (similar to the longer standing term chicano), but it can also be a derogatory one used toward ethnic Mexicans perceived to have "lost their way" culturally.  While players like Watkins won't hear it directed towards them, Mexican-Americans like pitcher Manny Barreda are frequently targeted.  Born and raised in Arizona, Barreda came to Tijuana in late 2015 after eight years in the Yankees system and one in the Brewers organization.  Except for an excellent seven-start stint with the Braves' AAA Gwinnett affiliate in 2017 (3-1 record with a 1.83 ERA), he's played for the Toros every summer since.  Barreda memorably tossed a 138-pitch no-hitter for Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League on November 28, 2016 and then repeated the feat for Tijuana on July 16, 2017, requiring 135 pitches for that 14-strikeout performance.

Although he and wife Karla have become more comfortable living in Mexico, Barreda's first full year in the LMB resulted in several hostile emails and a sense of isolation in a country where he had much stronger cultural roots than many players with far more tertiary ties.  Players of Mexican descent born and raised north of the border often find themselves in a cultural void on both sides of the border. Barreda explains to Bien-Kahn, "In the U.S., you're considered 'Mexican.' And when you come to Mexico, you're an American. You're a pocho. People like us, we don't have a place."  Minnesota Twins reliever Sergio Romo, who still pitches winterball for the Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros, has voiced similar frustrations in the past.

Perhaps the biggest losers with the new regulations are the Mexican-born players who would have played in the LMB in the years prior to 2017.  Previously, Mexican League teams could only carry four foreign-born players, including Mexican-Americans, so only 64 total imports were on the 16 active team rosters.  If Marcano's estimate is accurate, that number is now 120 and could be higher. Not being able to play in their national circuit has hurt these players economically because the average pay in the both the Liga and Mex Pac for homegrown players is said to generally be in the $3,000-$5,000 per month range, a lot of money in a nation where the International Monetary Fund estimated the per capita income in 2017 to be equal to 9,377 US dollars per year. Minor league baseball is not a lucrative undertaking north of the border but in Mexico, many players extend their careers as long as possible because few jobs at home pay the kind of money they can earn in the LMB and LMP.

The notion of limiting the number of foreign-born players may be an unfamiliar one outside Major League and Minor League Baseball (where such practices are illegal), but it is a common practice in almost every other country in the world as a means to allow domestic talent a chance to play.  With the apparent impending ouster of president Javier Salinas and return to power of the so-called Old Guard owners who opposed relaxing player eligibility rules, a return to the old standards may well be discussed during the offseason.

LMB PLAYOFFS OPEN TUESDAY; TJ, DIABLOS TOP SEEDS

Quintana Roo Tigres reach LMB playoffs

It came down to the final week of the regular season, but the eight-team Mexican League playoff field and matchups have been determined.  The Tijuana Toros have earned the number one seed in the North Division while the Mexico City Diablos Rojos are tops in the LMB South heading into Tuesday's Division Semifinal series.  However, most attention last week was focused on whether the Puebla Pericos would finish close enough to the Quintana Roo Tigres in the overall standings to force a wild-card game for the fourth and final berth in the South.

Saltillo won the second-half title in the LMB North by finishing with a 38-21 record to collect eight playoff points, bringing their season total to 12 and clinching the fourth seed in the division.  Monclova was second at 36-24, picking up seven points for the half and earning the second seed with 13 overall points, but it was third-place Tijuana (35-25) who got the top seed in the LMB North with 13.5 points after the Toros tied for first with Monterrey in the first half. Both teams were awarded 7.5 points and while the defending champion Sultanes fell to fourth in the second half with a 32-26 mark, their 12.5 overall points nudged out Saltillo for the third seed.  Monclova and Tijuana tied for the best season won-lost record in the Liga, both finishing at 75-45 over two halves. Dos Laredos (8 points), Aguascalientes (6.5), Durango (4.5) and Union Laguna (2) finished out of the money, although the Rieleros put up a good fight in August by winning 17 of their final 25 games (including a six-game win streak between August 18-24). While the North lacked playoff intrigue over the last week of the regular season, Puebla had a mathematical chance of forcing a wild-card game against Quintana Roo going into their final series in Mexico City while the Tigres wrapped up in Tabasco.  Although the seventh-place Pericos were 21-32 and had no chance of catching up in points, playoff qualifiers occur when a fifth-place team in the overall standings finishes within the fourth-place club. The Parakeets' window was open because their season record of 55-58 was two-and-a-half games behind 59-57 Quintana Roo in fourth, meaning Puebla had a puncher's chance of forcing the extra game.  Both teams won their openers last Tuesday, however, meaning the Pericos' season was in effect over. Puebla lost their final two games in the nation's capital while the Tigres went on to sweep the Olmecas and clinch the division semis cleanly and are the South's #4 seed with 10 overall points.  

The sun sets on Francisco Campos' career

Yucatan followed a tepid first half by winning the second half with a 40-20 record, giving them 12 points for the year.  Mexico City and Oaxaca tied for the points lead with 13 apiece, but the 67-49 Diablos got the nod for #1 seed by posting a better overall record than the 68-52 Guerreros.  Puebla finished fifth with 8 season points, followed by Leon (6), Campeche (5.5) and Tabasco (4.5). Longtime Campeche pitcher Francisco "Pancho Ponches" Campos officially retired as a player after 25 LMB seasons, all but part of one season with the Piratas.  A converted catcher, the Guaymas native was put on the Reserve list one day after his July 2 win over Union Laguna, a 12-5 triumph in which the righty became the 14th hurler to record 200 Liga career wins. Campos is the only man to ever win the Pitching Triple Crown in both the LMB and Mexican Pacific League. The playoffs open with a full slate of games.  In the LMB North semifinals, Monclova will be in Monterrey and Saltillo will visit Tijuana while the LMB South semis have Yucatan playing in Oaxaca and Quintana Roo traveling to Mexico City.  The latter is a resumption of Mexican baseball's most storied rivalry with the added twist of the Tigres reportedly being open to a possible offseason move from Cancun to Mexico City, where they played over four decades and won eight pennants.  Game Two will be played Wednesday at the same venues. All Mexican League playoff series are best-4-of-7 matchups. Home field advantage in the Serie del Rey championship finals will likely go to a North team, as Monclova (75-45), Tijuana (75-45) and Monterrey (72-46) all finished with better regular season records than South leader Mexico City (67-49).  On the other hand, Saltillo (66-53) would've been fourth overall in the LMB South behind the Diablos, Oaxaca (68-51 and Yucatan (66-52). The Tigres finished 62-57 for the year, assuring them a Game Seven away from home at every step.

MAYORA WINS BAT TITLE, HARRIS FALLS ONE HR SHY OF 40/40 CLUB Durango's Daniel Mayora stayed hot at the end of the season while Leon outfielder Felix Pie's slide wrapped up with a 4-for-17 run at the plate over his final five games as Mayora pulled away to win the 2019 Mexican League batting title by ten points over the ex-Oriole.  Mayora went 16-for-31 over his last ten appearances to finish with a .391 average along with a career-high 19 homers and 93 RBIs for the Generales. Conversely, Pie hit .200 in HIS last ten outings to come in at .381 after sporting a .403 average as recently as August 10.  Despite his late-season fade, the 18-year pro veteran (a three-time Futures Game pick while a Cubs minor leaguer) had career highs in batting, homers (22) and RBIs (80). Monclova's Francisco Peguero finished third in the batting table with a .380 average.

Oaxaca's Alonzo Harris dives into home

Monclova first baseman Chris Carter had a monster first year in Mexico, belting 49 homers and driving in 119 runs to lead the LMB in both categories.  The ex-National League home run champ also led in slugging percentage (.709), on-base-plus-slugging-percentage (1.1581), bases on balls (115) and strikeouts (156) and didn't miss a game all season.  Carter also scored 113 runs for the Acereros but saw his average drop to .293 after going 3-for-17 over his last seven games. The massive Californian would be a front-runner for MVP honors if Oaxaca outfielder Alonzo Harris hadn't turned in one of the best all-around offensive performances in recent Liga seasons. A 30-year-old Mississippian who spent six years in the Mets system, Harris hit .343 for the Guerreros while belting 39 homers and stealing 45 bases, just missing becoming the first 40/40 player in Mexican League history.  The 2017 Atlantic League Player of the Year while playing with York, Harris led the LMB with 131 runs scored while his 117 RBIs were second only to Carter in that category.  He also topped the circuit with 324 total bases, his .691 slugging percentage was also second to Carter and his 45 steals trailed only former teammate Johnny Davis' 54 swipes.  Davis' contract was sold to Tampa Bay on August 29 and he finished with the Rays' AA Southern League affiliate in Montgomery. All in all, it was a good year for batters in the Mexican League, even though the bats cooled down a little.  Ten of the LMB's 16 teams hit an aggregate .300 or better (with Mexico City leading the way at .323) and all but two teams averaged at least one homer per game as Monclova, Saltillo and Tijuana hit 190+ homers over 120 games. The Acereros averaged an astounding 7.47 runs per game. Accordingly, LMB pitchers may be forgiven if they started wearing suits of armor on the mound.  Tijuana's 4.41 team ERA was nothing to write home about but it was the lowest in the Liga as eleven teams turned in ERAs of 5.41 or higher as just three pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title were below 4.00.  Union Laguna's staff were particularly battered by the new Franklin ball, as the Algodoneros coughed up 12.18 hits and 8.28 runs per contest, both league highs. Numbers like these, taken in perspective, show just what a great year Yucatan right-hander Cesar Valdez had.

Likely LMB Pitcher of the Year Cesar Valdez

Valdez, who previously spent time in MLB with Arizona, Oakland and Toronto, went 15-2 for the Leones to easily lead the Liga in wins while also taking the ERA title with a relatively-microscopic 2.26 ERA along with an equally-low 1.06 WHIP. also best in the league.  Valdez didn't lose his first game until June 28 (nearly three months into the season) and allowed more than two runs just four times in 24 starts after being shelled for five runs on ten hits over five innings in his first start of the year on April 5 at Monterrey. Beginning with the LMB's Fall season last year, Valdez has gone a combined 23-2 for the Leones and the winterball Licey Tigres of the Dominican League.  He also finished fifth in strikeouts with 122 whiffs in 147.2 innings (Leon's Yasutomo Kubo was tops with 154 punchouts) and is the easy choice for Pitcher of the Year. Roman Mendez of Dos Laredos earned saves in his last two outings to finish with 32 to top Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo by two for most in the LMB while Tijuana middleman Jesus Pirela's 30 holds easily led in that category. TOROS TOP LMB IN ATTENDANCE, CROWDS UP FROM FALL 2018

Full house at a Diablos game in Mexico City

Following a moribund Fall 2018 season during which Mexican League attendance fell to alarming levels in some markets during the Fall season, 15 of 16 LMB teams witnessed growth at the game this summer as the average per opening snuck over the 5,000 mark.  However, that increase doesn't tell the complete story as several Liga franchises continue to struggle at the gate. Tijuana led the league in attendance for the second season in a row with 677,464 fans clicking the turnstiles for an average of 11,291 per opening, an increase of nearly 2,000 per game from last Fall's 9,358.  The Toros were the only team in Minor League Baseball to average double figures in attendance this year. Defending champion Monterrey was second at 546,804 for the season, averaging 9,593 per game, while Yucatan was third with an 8,673 average for a total of 520,350 over 60 dates.  Mexico City saw a huge increase in ticket sales with the opening of Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. The Diablos averaged just 2,613 fans per game in Fall 2018 for their final season at Estadio Fray Nano before pulling in 7,156 aficionados at their new state-of-the-art ballpark in 2019, a jump of 274 percent.  

Lots of good seats available in Campeche

Every team but Monclova saw an increase in attendance from last Fall.  The Acereros finished fifth in the league after dipping from a 6,017 average in Fall 2018 to 5,917 this year, a negligible difference.  Even though they finished dead last for the third season in a row (including Spring 2018), Campeche went from a nadir of 855 warm bodies per game last Fall to a 1,743 average over 50 dates this year, more than doubling the number of spectators at Estadio Nelson Barrera.  Across the Liga, attendance totalled 4,603,163 fans over 913 playing dates in 2019 for an average of 5,042 per opening. In comparison to the LMB's average of 3,914 per contest last Fall (1,675,165 over 428 openings in the second short season in 2018), crowds went up 29 percent this year. The LMB office in Mexico City can be justifiably happy with their attendance gains this year, but the 94-year-old loop still has work to do. Overall attendance during the Spring 2018 season was better, with three teams averaging double figures: Monterrey (12,878), Tijuana (10,123) and Yucatan (10,060).  Twelve LMB teams drew better last Spring than they did in the Fall as fan interest plummeted in many Liga cities after the Spring playoffs concluded just days before the Fall season began. The combined attendance numbers for the Spring and Fall seasons in 2018 were 3,785,858 for 920 games, an average of 4,115 per date.  The Spring average of 4,290 shows that while teams at the top were drawing well, those eleven teams pulling in less than 4,000 a night kept the overall totals down. In 2017, the LMB's last full schedule before the two-season format was tried last year, league attendance was 4,042,605 (for an average of 4,695).

Puro Beisbol columnist David Braverman

In his recent Out 27 column posted on Puro Beisbol, David Braverman (one of Mexico's most respected baseball writers) decries the disparity between the Haves and Have Nots of the Mexican League, saying that one result is that fans of Have Not teams have steadily lost interest in spending a night at the ballpark, even in cities with a long history of baseball.  Braverman names Aguascalientes, Durango, Dos Larendos and Union Laguna among LMB North teams as that division's Have Nots, joined by Campeche, Tabasco and Leon in the LMB South. "At the start of the campaign, the owners promise competitive teams, announce hirings and there is optimism," says Braverman.  "But within a few weeks everything changes and fans begin to be absent from the stadiums and, little by little, that communion between team and grandstand is lost...What's next for those losing places?  What's next for a league that can't balance its forces? What follows for those cities where the board has thrown in the towel, putting the franchise on sale?" Braverman points an accusatory finger at embattled LMB president Javier Salinas, saying the Have Nots are "the usual losers in a Mexican League that has refused to progress, that has lived two years in the midst of false promises and cheap verbiage, an absolute baseball illiteracy among the leader and some of his squires."

SULTANES WIN SIX IN ROW, TECOS FIGHT TO STAY ALIVE

Mexico City''s Japhet Amador is heating up

Defending champion Monterrey was in a fight for fourth place in the Mexican League North Division before a six-game win streak gave manager Roberto Kelly's Sultanes some breathing room over fading Dos Laredos with just three series remaining in the regular season.

Monterrey swept three-game home sets over Dos Laredos and Tijuana last week to go to 27-22 in the second half, trailing Saltillo (33-17), Monclova (31-20) and TJ (29-22) in the standings.  The Sultanes capped their broom job over the Toros Sunday with a 5-4 win as 9,136 fans braved 102 degree temperatures to watch at Estadio Monterrey. The Sultanes chased Tijuana starter Carlos Hernandez with four runs in the bottom of the second inning to go up 5-0, then had to hang on as the Bulls sent Edgar Gonzalez to the showers by scoring three in the sixth.  Juan Gamez combined with four other relievers to hold Tijuana to one more run over the final ten outs as Wirfin Obispo pitched a perfect ninth to register his 28th save.

While Monterrey, Monclova and Tijuana are virtual locks for the playoffs even if Dos Laredos passes the Sultanes in the next ten days, the Tecos need to move up in the standings to reach the postseason if Saltillo holds on to first place.  If the season ended today, the Saraperos would finish the two halves with 12 points while the Owls would only have 9 points to show for themselves. The Tecos salvaged a road series in Monclova Sunday with an 11-9 win powered by five Dos Laredos homers (including Balbino Fuenmayor's 30th longball of the season) to halt a five-game losing skid.  The Tecos are now 24-27 to trail Monterrey by four games and while they should hold off Aguascalientes (21-29), Durango (17-33) and Union Laguna (16-34), standing pat likely means being spectators when the playoffs open next month.

Things are no better defined in the LMB South, where Yucatan (33-18) leads Quintana Roo (32-18) by just half a game with Mexico City (30-21) creeping up on both teams by winning seven of their last ten games.  Should the Diablos remain in third place they would finish with 13 points and qualify for the playoffs even if Campeche (24-24) or Oaxaca (24-26) overtake them, but that's about the only certainty. Yucatan had only four points in the first half while the Tigres picked up just three while Oaxaca won the division and eight points while Puebla finished third and collected six points.

The Leones and Guerreros will probably join Mexico City in the playoffs next month, but the Pericos are plummeting after losing eight of their last ten games to fall to seventh at 19-28.  Quintana Roo will not fall below third, meaning they'll finish with at least nine points for the year. Puebla needs to overtake sixth-place Tabasco (21-28) to finish with nine points. The Pericos will host Yucatan and Tabasco this week before finishing the regular season next week with a series in Mexico City, so they've got their work cut out for them.  Puebla didn't help themselves by dropping two of three games against Tabasco in Villahermosa over the weekend, including an 8-4 Olmecas win Sunday as every Tabasco player in the lineup had at least one hit (Roel Santos had three) and eight scored a single run, with Jose Luna knocking out a solo homer in the second off Scott Harkin. Tabasco has been one of the Liga's problem franchises for years and only 1,847 were in the Parque Centenario de 27 Febrero on Sunday, but new owner Juan Carlos Manzur has reportedly brought the beleaguered franchise a sense of order and direction that was lacking when the Olmecas were owned by the Dagdug brothers.

LMB strikeouts leader Yasutomo Kubo of Leon

After batting over .400 most of the season, Leon outfielder Felix Pie's recent freefall continues as the ex-Oriole went 3-for-20 over his last six games to drop out of the LMB lead into third place in the batting derby with a .387 average, trailing new leader Francisco Peguero of Monclova (.389) and Durango's Daniel Mayora (.388).  Peguero is the defending Liga MVP after batting .368 with 13 homers and 60 RBI's over 52 games in the league's shortened Fall season. Acereros teammate Chris Carter's memorable campaign continues after the ex-Brewers slugger cracked three homers last week to bring his season total to 46, nine more than Puebla's Danny Perez and Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca.  Harris now has 43 stolen bases (second to fellow Guerrero outfielder Johnny Davis' 54) to go with his .336 average and needs three homers to become the first-ever 40/40 man in Mexican baseball history. He and Carter (who also leads with 114 RBIs) are dueling for the MVP trophy, although Mexico City's massive Japhet Amador has been heating up and shows .354/27/109 numbers despite missing ten days in June due to injury.  Amador is batting .436 with four homers and 13 ribbies over his last ten games.

The league office may as well have their Pitcher of the Year trophy engraved because there's little chance Yucatan's Cesar Valdez won't get it despite losing his second game of the season Sunday, 2-0, to Campeche despite allowing two runs and striking out five in seven innings.  The Piratas' Manuel Flores pitched his league-leading second shutout of the year, scattering three hits to go to 9-7. Valdez leads the league in wins (14-2 record), earned-run average (2.30) and WHIP (1.07) while standing fifth in strikeouts (115). Leon's Yasutomo Kubo has struck out 23 batsmen in 19 innings over his last three starts to take control in that category with a total of 144 whiffs.  Kubo also gave up 15 earned runs in that span to fall to 8-13 with a 5.97 ERA. He's allowed just 29 walks in 144.2 innings this year. Obispo's save Sunday over Tijuana put the Monterrey closer one save behind leader Roman Mendez, who has 29 for Dos Laredos. Mendez finally won a game outright Sunday in Monclova to go to 1-6 for the year.

Most series are taking on added importance these days, but few among the midweek sets are bigger than Oaxaca's trip to Cancun to face the Tigres in a series with playoff implications for both teams.  The same can be said when Yucatan visits Puebla and Saltillo travels to Tijuana. Next weekend's biggest series appears to also be in Cancun, when rival Mexico City visits Quintana Roo, although it'll matter when Tijuana hosts Monterrey in the LMB North.

FERNANDO VALENZUELA NAMED LMB COMMISSIONER

New LMB commissioner Fernando Valenzuela

No fireworks were reported from last Thursday's Mexican League owners meeting in Monterrey, but one surprising development has emerged: former Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela has been named to fill the newly-created Commissioner position.  

According to Martha Cedillo of Milenio, a national newspaper owned by Monterrey Sultanes co-owners Grupo Multimedios, says the position of LMB Commissioner will be "even above its president, Javier Salinas."  Puro Beisbol was a bit more vague describing El Toro's new job, stating simply that "Valenzuela will address sports issues independent of the presidency of the circuit."

Whatever Valenzuela's role as Commissioner will be, the announcement from Monterrey was made by Monclova Acereros owner Gerardo Benavides, a Salinas ally and head of the Liga's Board of Presidents.  Cedillo reports that the next LMB league meeting will be held in September, during which Salinas' status as president will be discussed. Salinas was not at the Monterrey gathering.

Valenzuela's two-year travails as owner of the Quintana Roo Tigres has been broached here numerous times so we'll avoid another at-length rehash of the difficulties he and wife Linda have encountered ever since they entered negotiations to buy the legacy franchise from Carlos Peralta in February 2017, but it's safe to say the couple does not feel they've received their pesos' worth since then.  There’ve been past rumors that the Valenzuelas were so fed up with their experience owning an LMB team, they were considering putting the franchise back on the market, but last month's league-wide retirement of Valenzuela's number 34 and accompanying pregame celebrations (Fernando took part in one at his home ballpark in Cancun) may have mollified them somewhat.

Valenzuela in his role as Dodgers broadcaster

As reported last week, there is a split among LMB team owners whether to retain Salinas as president and conjecture is that his opponents may break away from the league and form their own summer loop if Salinas stays on, and the one owner said to be on the fence was Valenzuela.  With divisions within the league as even as they are on this matter, it's not beyond the pale to speculate that the Commissioner position was created specifically for Valenzuela in an effort to swing his vote to the Salinas camp. It's not known whether his appointment will have any effect on his duties as a color commentator on Los Angeles Dodgers Spanish language broadcasts, a post he's held for 17 years. 

Also at last week's meeting, a new committee on league relations was formed with Valenzuela, Francisco Gonzalez (Monterrey), Erick Arellano (Yucatan) and Jose Miguel (Puebla), the latter three in the camp favoring the retention of Salinas.  The role and duties of that committee was not given in the Puro Beisbol writeup while the formation of the committee was not mentioned in Milenio.

DODGERS SIGN 18-YEAR-OLD LEFTY, TOP LMB PROSPECT

Octavio Becerra (c) signing with Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed an 18-year-old lefthanded pitcher considered by many to be the Mexican League's number one prospect.  Aguascalientes hurler Octavio Becerra came to terms with the defending two-time National League champions late last month. One of the sticking points within the Liga regarding their March agreement with Major League Baseball regarding the signing of prospects controlled by LMB franchises is that the prospect is required to be on the Liga team roster for at least one year in order for the team to receive a portion of the player's signing bonus.  Since Becerra made his LMB debut on July 18, 2018, the Rieleros expect to receive 35 percent of his bonus.

A native of Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Becerra signed with Aguascalientes as a 16-year-old in February 2017 and was assigned to the LMB Academy near Monterrey.  He was brought up to the Rieleros during the Fall 2018 season and was less than overwhelming, turning in a 7.94 ERA over 11.1 innings in seven relief appearances.  Things had not gone any this season for the portsider before he signed with the Dodgers. In seven more relief outings, Becerra allowed ten earned runs, including six homers, in seven innings for an ERA of 12.86 (although he did strike out 11 batters in that span).  His last outing for Aguascalientes came on April 23 at home against Monclova, when he tossed one inning and gave up a roundtripper to 2017 LMB Rookie of the Year Ricky Rodriguez. He was subsequently sent back to the academy in El Carmen for more seasoning.

Becerra posing in his Aguascalientes uniform

Despite his lack of early success at the AAA level in a hitter's league or size (he stands 5'9" and weighs just 165 pounds), he was ranked the Academy's top prospect this year prior to signing with the Dodgers.  Rieleros team president Jose Eustacio Alvarez said at the contract ceremony, "We know that today is the first step to achieve the dream of reaching the big leagues. He is a player with discipline and a lot of work, so we are sure he will have a career full of successes."  Dodgers scout Juvenal Soto commented, "He was a pitcher who from the beginning, more than six months ago when we started to look more at him, he always caught our attention, not just because of the speed of his pitches.  He also has a very good selection of secondary pitches. All the evaluations we did were positive, so we did not hesitate to follow up until we got his signature."

Becerra is expected to be assigned to the Dodgers team in the Dominican Rookie League next month.