YAQUIS RECORD AT 15-2, SWING A PAIR OF DEALS

Felix Perez now plays for Obregon

    Recent arrival Felix Perez socked a pair of homers, including a two-run bomb, while Moises Gutierrez added a solo blast as the Obregon Yaquis outlasted the Navojoa Mayos, 4-3, Sunday in Mexican Pacific League action before empty seats at Estadio Yaquis in Obregon. The Yaquis are one of three LMP teams (along with Hermosillo and Navojoa) ordered by Sonora's Secretary of Health Enrique Clausen to disallow fans in the stands after pandemic-related health protocols were ignored in several ballparks on opening weekend.

    The win extended Obregon's record to 15-2 for the first half as the Yaquis stayed three-and-a-half games ahead of second-place Hermosillo (11-5) and third-place Monterrey (11-6), who both won their games on Sunday. Obregon features a strong pitching staff paced by starter Octavio Acosta (3-0 with a LMP-best 2.12 ERA) and closer Miguel Aguilar (7-of-7 in saves and a 2.35 ERA). While the Yaquis batting order won't remind anyone of the 1927 Yankees, they're hitting well enough to win while catcher Sebastian Valle (.339, 4 homers) and outfielder Roberto Lopez (.306/3/12) have been the timeliest hitters.

    Defending LMP home run and RBI champion Dariel Alvarez is off to a hot start for Jalisco, as the Cuban outfielder leads the circuit with a .400 average. Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde, who hit .308 with 10 homers and 21 steals last winter, leads the Mex Pac with seven homers and 22 ribbies after 17 games while Alonzo Harris has been Obregon's (and the loop's) best base stealer with 10 swipes in 12 tries. Besides the Yaquis' Acosta and Aguilar, the early pitching leaders include Hermosillo starter Juan Pablo Oramas with four wins and 23 strikeouts plus Oramas' Naranjeros moundmate Heriberto Ruelas, who has five holds in nine appearances and has yet to allow a run in 7.2 innings pitched.

    With the season only two weeks old, teams are already making deals to strengthen their rosters. One of the most noteworthy saw Monterrey loaning holdout outfielder Felix Perez to Obregon. A Cuba native who played three winters for his hometown Isla de la Juventud Toronjeros before spending five years in the Cincinnati Reds system, the 35-year-old also played in Japan and has put in five summers in the Mexican League with both the Sultanes and Aguascalientes.

    Perez was a member of Monterrey's first Mex Pac team last winter and one of the club's top hitters, leading the team with a .270 average, 48 RBIs and 36 runs scored while finishing second with 10 homers. However, Perez decided to sit out this LMP season after failing to come to terms with the Sultanes. He decided to report to Obregon and is already making an impact, belting a pair of homers and driving in three runs Sunday in their 4-3 win over Navojoa.

    Not content to coast on their league lead, Obregon also traded veteran utilityman Maxwell Leon to Mazatlan for journeyman infielder Issmael Salas. Son of former MLB reliever Maximino Leon, the younger Leon played five years (2006-10) in the Detroit system before embarking on a nine-year run in the Mexican League with Minatitlan in 2011. This will be his 15th winter in the LMP, where the 36-year-old has played every position but catcher and pitcher while batting .280 over 532 games. He had yet to appear for the Yaquis.

    Salas primarily plays third base but is proficient at all four infield positions. A former Cubs farmhand who has played solely in Mexico since 2009, the Tijuana-born 38-year-old made his LMP debut with Guasave in 2005-06. Obregon will be his eighth team in the loop. Salas has a career .267 winterball average and was batting .400 after six games with the Venados prior to the trade.

    And in Guadalajara, the likelihood of Roberto Osuna finally pitching in a game for the Jalisco Charros increased dramatically after the 25-year-old closer was waived by the Houston Astros last week. Osuna appeared in just four games for the defending American League champions before an elbow injury shelved him for the rest of the shortened 2020 season. There had been concerns that he'd require Tommy John surgery but instead has chosen to rehab in the MLB offseason. After clearing waivers, the righty is now a free agent who will likely need to pitch in the Mex Pac to demonstrate his recovery to potential big league employers. Osuna is reportedly due to begin pitching for the Charros on November 20.

TIGRES, VALENZUELAS TO REMAIN IN CANCUN FOR 2021

Fernando Valenzuela: Now and Then

  After weeks of speculation that the Quintana Roo Tigres were on their way out of Cancun (with the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora thought to be the legacy franchise's destination), the Mexican League announced over the weekend that the 12-time champions will stay put in Cancun.

    An announcement from the LMB office in Mexico City says that Liga president Horacio de la Vega met last week with “the directors of the Tigres de Quintana Roo, the Government of the State of Quintana Roo and the Municipality of Benito Juárez to ensure the team stays in Cancun.” Jose Alfredo Otero of El Fildeo writes that both de la Vega and team owner Fernando Valenzuela verified at an Assembly of Presidents meeting last Friday that the Tigres will stay put in the resort city for the 2021 season.

    Ever since buying the Tigres from Carlos Peralta in February 2017, Valenzuela and his wife, Linda Burgos, have seemingly been beset by one issue after another while struggling to keep the franchise viable on the field and at the gate as well as with the banks. Three rocky years were followed by 2020's canceled season, which seemed to tip the scales toward the Valenzuelas seeking to relocate the team in greener pastures.

    There have long been calls to return the Tigres to their original home of Mexico City, where their longstanding rivalry with the Diablos Rojos would be revived in closer quarters, and there were rumors that there was interest in Veracruz as a possible landing spot. Instead, San Luis Rio Colorado emerged seemingly out of the blue as the team's destination. The city of 200,000 sitting on the Arizona border would be one of the Mexican League's smallest markets while never having hosted a team in either the LMB or the winter Mexican Pacific League.

    On the other hand, San Luis is a baseball hotbed in which the city's ballpark has undergone a refurbishing that more than doubled its capacity to 7,000 spectators. Local and state governments pledged their support for the team moving there, San Luis' closer proximity than Cancun to the Valenzuelas' home in Los Angeles was seen as a positive, as was a natural travel partner for the Tijuana Toros, the Liga's most geographically-remote franchise. As recently as Friday, Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros wrote that the Valenzuelas were working to move the Tigres to San Luis, although nothing was official.

Estadio Beto Avila, Cancun

   Instead, it appears that Cancun will have another chance to better support Class AAA baseball after being a tepid host over the previous 14 years. The Tigres moved to the resort city from Puebla in 2007. While there's nothing to indicate that local interest will increase enough for the club to break even financially at the gate, state subsidies expected to disappear in 2021 may have been revived during talks involving de la Vega and the Valenzuelas with government officials. Money talks, whatever the source.

    It was a momentous week for the former National League Cy Young Award-winner. Besides deciding the fate of his ballclub, Valenzuela (who celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday) was given a National Sports Award for his contributions to Mexican baseball, both inside and outside the country. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will make a formal presentation on November 20 as part of events commemorating the Mexican Revolution, in which hostilities officially ceased on November 20, 1920.

LMB: RIELEROS TO STAY PUT, EXPANSION TEAM TO VERACRUZ

Veracruz won LMB title in 2012

    Another team that will be staying put is the Aguascalientes Rieleros. After word came out that the Tigres were hoping to move to San Luis Rio Colorado, rumors heated up that the Railroaders would be making a one-way trip to Veracruz for the 2021 season. An LMB team first appeared in Aguascalientes in 1975, when (ironically) the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila moved west from the port city. While it took just three years to win a Liga pennant, that remains the only title the city has ever won and the current franchise is the third incarnation of the Rieleros after the first two versions moved to Puebla in 1999 and Nuevo Laredo in 2008.

    The current iteration dates to 2012 (when the Tecolotes returned to the city of 800,000) but none of the three Rieleros teams have had much money to work with and crowds at 6,500-seat Parque Alberto Romo Chavez were never large enough to create enough revenues to build a contending team there since the earliest days. The cancellation of the 2020 Mexican League season meant no revenues coming in for a team already swimming in a sea of red ink, making them a target for potential buyers.

    Veracruz has seen its own share of Liga teams come and go since the circuit started in 1925, although the city and state could be considered Mexico's version of Florida in that baseball players are historically more plentiful than baseball fans. Still, business owners there have wanted to bring a team back to the Gulf Coast city ever since owner Jose Antonio Mansur moved the latest version of the Eagle Reds to Nuevo Laredo in 2018. The league office announcement that no team will move anywhere prior to the 2021 season put an end to a Veracruz pursuit of the Rieleros or any other vulnerable LMB franchise (and there are several).

Estadio Beto Avila, Veracruz

    However, a surprising announcement from the LMB put Veracruz at the front of the line in the future. De la Vega's office said that a letter of intent has been “successfully submitted” by a group of Veracruz investors seeking an expansion team. While no timetable has been given for such a move, that would increase the number of Liga teams from the current 16, the announcement said the LMB is “enthusiastic about the possible new addition of the Veracruz Aguilas as an expansion team in such an important and historic city for Mexican baseball.” The original Rojo del Aguilas were formed in 1903 and teams using that name have won six LMB pennants over the years, with Hall of Famer Martin Dihigo hitting and pitching Veracruz to back-to-back titles in 1937 and 1938.

    The statement concludes, “The Mexican Baseball League expects Veracruz fans can soon return to the iconic Parque Deportivo Universitario Beto Avila.”

CULIACAN WINS LMP FINALS IN 7, ON TO PUERTO RICO

Ramiro Pena was named Finals MVP

Former Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena belted a pair of homers and drove in five runs while starter Anthony Vazquez combined with four relievers to toss a shutout as the Culiacan Tomateros blasted the Mazatlan Venados, 11-0, on January 30 in Game Seven of the Mexican Pacific League Championship Series.  An overflow crowd of 20,000 looked on at Estadio Tomateros as Culiacan ran away with the deciding game to win the set, 4 games to 3, to win their second pennant in three seasons and 12th LMP flag overall while punching their ticket to the Caribbean Series, which was scheduled to open February 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Tomateros finished the regular season with a 37-29 overall record, fourth-best in the MexPac, but put together a playoff run during which they eliminated Mexicali in five games in the first round and outlasted Los Mochis in seven games before meeting Mazatlan in the title series.  The Venados opened with a six-game win over Hermosillo and knocked out top seed Obregon in seven games to reach the championship series, which began January 22 in Culiacan.

The Tomateros drew first blood in the series opener by bopping the Venados, 6-2, thanks in part to fifth-inning homers from Pena, Dariel Alvarez (a two-run shot) and Efren Navarro, the first two coming off Mazatlan starter Irwin Delgado.  Delgado also served up a third-inning roundtripper to Joey Meneses but was deadlocked in a 1-1 game with Culiacan starter Manny Barreda until the roof fell in for the visitors with the Tomateros' four-run outburst in the fifth. Barreda earned the win while Delgado was tagged with the defeat.

Game Two on January 23 didn't go any better for the Venados, as Culiacan held on for a 4-3 win to go up 2 games to 0.  Meneses whacked his second homer in as many nights in the bottom of the second to put the Tomateros up, 1-0, but the two teams jousted all the way into the seventh frame, when Sebastian Valle socked a four-bagger for Mazatlan in the top of the inning to pull the Deer into a 3-3 tie.  However, in the bottom of the seventh, Pena ripped a two-out double to left off Venados reliever Mitch Lively, who was then replaced by Roman Pena. The next batter, Sebastian Elizalde, then lined a 1-1 pitch to right, scoring Ramiro Pena to give the Tomateros a 4-3 lead they would maintain the final two innings for the victory.

The series shifted to Mazatlan for the next trio of games, with Game Three on January 25 resulting in a 7-0 Venados win as Juan Pablo Oramas scattered five hits and striking out seven Culiacan batsmen in seven innings to earn the win.  The batting star for the home team was Ricky Alvarez, whose two-run homer in the bottom of the third gave the Venados a 3-0 lead and bases-loaded bloop single to left one frame later plated two more runs made it a 6-0 Mazatlan advantage, leaving it to Oramas and four relievers to carry the shutout to its conclusion.  Tomateros starter Anthony Vasquez, who dished up Alvarez' longball, was saddled with the defeat.

Mazatlan evened things up at two games apiece on January 26 with their second whitewash in as many nights (and the third such game of the series), 3-0, behind a strong Game Four outing by Edgar Torres.  The 23-year-old Puebla native was a middleman for Durango during the 2019 Mexican League season before going 4-6 as a starter with the Venados. He went 6.1 scoreless innings and allowed just three hits while walking none before giving way to Daniel Guerrero and two other relievers as Tiago da Silva nailed down the save in the ninth.  The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Mazatlan cobbled together three runs on two singles, three walks and two wild pitches off Culiacan starter Manny Banuelos (who took the loss) and two relievers.

The Tomateros bounced back on January 27 to pick up the first win by a visiting team in a 3-2 Game Five win over the Venados in ten innings.  Mazatlan's Jorge Flores led off the bottom of the first with a walk and later came around to score on a Carlos Munoz single to give the Deer an early 1-0 lead. The score held until a sloppy top of the eighth, when Culiacan tied the game on an RBI single by Rico Noel, who advanced to second on the play.  Noel subsequently stole third and then scored the go-ahead run on a Ramiro Pena sacrifice fly. The Venados knotted the game at 2-2 when Alberto Baldonado gave up a bases-loaded walk that pushed Anthony Giansanti in from third, but Culiacan went ahead for good in the top of the tenth when another Noel single (this one off da Silva) brought in Christian Zazueta with the eventual game-winner. Derrick Loop tossed a scoreless tenth to save the win for Baldonado.

Culiacan's Rico Noel was clutch in the LMP finals

The series resumed with a January 29 Game Six in Culiacan.  Mazatlan earned THEIR first road win by topping the Tomateros, 6-2, tying the finals in a game that was closer than the score indicated.  The Venados went up 1-0 in the top of the first when Edson Garcia scored on Ricky Alvarez' bases-loaded dribbler off Culiacan starter Zack Dodson to third, where Zazueta chose to throw to Pena at second to force Carlos Munoz.  A Ramon Rios homer off reliever Loop in the top of the seventh gave the Deer a 2-0 lead but the game was blown open in the top of the eighth, when the visitors scored four more times (with veteran Chris Roberson clubbing a three-run homer) to make it 6-0.  A two-run Efren Navarro double in the bottom of the ninth put the Tomateros on the board but it was too little, too late. Mitch Lively got the win after pitching eight shutout innings of five-hit ball, striking out seven. Dodson took the loss despite giving up only one run on four hits in five entradas.

That led to a deciding Game Seven on January 30, a contest that was basically over by the end of the first inning when Culiacan scored four runs and never looked back.  The damage was done when Meneses and Alvarez poked back-to-back RBI doubles, followed by an Elizade homer that scored Alvarez. All came off Mazatlan starter Oramas, who showed none of his Game Three magic (although he did last into the third.  The Venados did not lack for baserunners, gathering eleven hits and three walks off Tomateros starter Vasquez. However, they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position en route to leaving 13 runners stranded on bases in what was a less-than-artistic shutout for Culiacan manager Benji Gil's team (but one they gladly took as a pennant-clincher).

The Tomateros had precious little time to celebrate their win and Ramiro Pena's selection as Finals MVP.  The team immediately packed their gear and headed out to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Caribbean Series.  Culiacan's first Serie del Caribe game was scheduled less than two day days after clinching the LMP pennant with a Saturday afternoon game against the Dominican League champion Este Toros at 2:30PM in Estadio Hiram Bithorn.

CUBA NO, COLOMBIA SI IN SIX-TEAM CARIBBEAN SERIES FIELD

The Caribbean Series will feature a six-team field for the second year in a row, but there will be a first-time entrant in Puerto Rico after another country bowed out of the competition.

Cuba, a charter member of the original Caribbean Series from 1949 until it was halted after the 1960 tournament, when Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (ironically a lifelong baseball fan and former player) ended professionalism in his county and withdrew seven-time CS winners Cuba from the competition.  The tournament was resumed in 1970, with Mexico and the Dominican Republic replacing Cuba and Panama in the four-nation lineup that also included Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Panama returned on an emergency basis last winter, hosting the event in the nation's capital and stunning the baseball world by winning it.

Cuba had returned to the CS lineup on a conditional basis in 2014 and their National Series champions Pinar de Rio winning the event one year later in San Juan.  The island nation even altered their National Series schedule so their champion could participate in the Serie del Caribe (the 2019-20 CNS championship was won by Matanzas), but the Cuban Baseball Federation pulled out of the Caribbean Series for this year, citing difficulty in obtaining travel visas to Puerto Rico in time for the event, leaving the tournament with only five national winterball champions.

Enter Colombia.

Pro baseball in the South American nation dates back to at least 1948.  Since 2013, the champion of the Colombia Professional Baseball League has taken part in the Latin American Series, a lower-tier competition similar to the CS won by LCBP champions twice (in 2014 and 2015) that had been scheduled to take place in Panama City last month but ended up being cancelled due to CS "call-ups" to Panama and Colombia plus the apparent demise of the Veracruz Winter League in Mexico, leaving Nicaragua as the only nation able to send a team to the competition.

Like Panama, Colombia is playing in the CS on a provisional basis until it can prove capable of competing with existing Serie del Caribe nations both on the field and in the ability to host the event in the future.  The LCBP is headed by former MLB shortstop Edgar Renteria, who has a 12,000-seat ballpark named after him in Barranquilla.  While the LCBP pennant-winning Monteria Vaqueros are not expected to contend for a Caribbean Series title this year, expectations were similarly low for the Panamanian champion Herrera Toros last February and all they did was win the tournament.  This year, the Panamanian Professional Baseball League (Probeis) will send the expansion Chiriqui Astronautas to San Juan hoping the Cinderella slipper still fits.

While the CS will feature relative newcomers from Panama and Colombia, four mainstays will be back in the lineup.  The Lara Cardenales will represent Venezuela for the second year in a row and sixth time overall. The Cardenales began playing in 1942 and have at times featured players like Cecil Fielder, Shawn Green, Felix Hernandez and late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.  The Lara roster this winter included some players familiar to fans of Mexican baseball: 2017 LMB Pitcher of the Year Nestor Molina, Leon Bravos third baseman Carlos Rivero and outfielder Yordanys Linares, who has played in both the LMB and LMP. Lara is managed by former infielder Luis Ugueto, who spent parts of two seasons with the Seattle Mariners.

The Dominican champion Este Toros, formerly known as the Este Azucareros, are one of the younger teams in the Caribbean Series, having only played since 1983.  Based in La Romana, the Toros are playing in their third CS (and first since 2011). Este has a distinctly Mexican flavor to their roster, starting with manager Lino Rivera, who pitched for Monclova in the early 2000's before taking over as Acereros manager in 2004.  He went on to manage in Yucatan for several years, including the 2006 Mexican League champion Leones. Among Rivera's Toros players are current Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo, Aguascalientes reliever Anthony Carter, Unon Lagna starter Frankie de la Cruz and a quartet of outfielders who've played in Mexico: Felix Pie, Junior Lake, Jordany Valdespin and Ruben Sosa.

The host Santurce Cangrejeros need no introduction to Latin baseball fans.  The team goes back to 1939 and has over the years featured Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willard Brown, Roberto Clemente, Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez and Reggie Jackson. Santurce has won 16 league championships over the years and copped five Serie del Caribe titles.  While the current incarnation of the Cangrejeros don't have any Cooperstown-bound players on their roster, manager Jose Valentin does have a solid crew of ballplayers including 2017 Caribbean Series MVP David Vidal (who plays for the Mexico City Diablos in the summer), former Cleveland pitcher and two-time WBC hurler Giovanni Soto, ex-MLB infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr. and onetime MLB outfielder Ray Fuentes.  Playing in their home ballpark, Santurce should be one of the favorites going into the CS.

The Culiacan Tomateros arrived in San Juan on the heels of their 12th Mexican Pacific League pennants, eight of them under the late Francisco "Paquin" Estrada and three more under current skipper Benji Gil.  Estrada led Culiacan to two Caribbean Series titles. While pro baseball in the Sinaloa city dates as far back as 1945, the current Tomateros franchise was founded in 1975 and has consistently contended tor championships ever since.  Although Culiacan hasn't had the list of Hall of Fame players Santurce has, they've had contributions over the years from such Mexican baseball stalwarts as Nelson Barrera, Francisco Campos, Karim Garcia, Luis Alfonso Cruz, Cy Acosta, Sid Monge, Luis Ayala and Salome Barojas.  This winter's edition has been led offensively by Joey Meneses, Christian Zazueta, Rico Noel, Sebastian Elizalde and MexPac MVP Dariel Alvarez while the pitching has been paced by closer Alberto Baldonado, starters Manny Barreda and J.C. Ramirez and swingman Aldo Montes.

This year's Caribbean Series will consist of five tripleheaders between February 1-5 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium for the first round of games in which teams will meet each other once, followed by a semifinal doubleheader on February 6 and the championship game on February 7 at 8:00PM.

2020 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE

First Round

Saturday, February 1: Monteria (COL) at Lara (VEN) 10AM, Culiacan (MEX) at Este (DOM) 2:30PM, Chiriqui (PAN) at Santurce (PR) 8PM.

Sunday, February 2: Monteria (COL) at Chiriqui (PAN) 10AM, Santurce (PR) at Culiacan (MEX) 2:30PM, Lara (VEN) at Este (DOM) 8PM.

Monday, February 3: Chiriqui (PAN) at Culiacan (MEX) 10AM, Este (DOM) at Monteria (COL) 2:30PM, Santurce (PR) at Lara (VEN) 8PM.

Tuesday, February 4: Chiriqui (PAN) at Este (DOM) 10AM, Culiacan (MEX) at Lara (VEN) 2:30PM, Monteria (COL) at Santurce (PR) 8:00PM.

Wednesday,  February 5: Lara (VEN) at Chiriqui (PAN) 10AM, Monteria (COL) at Culiacan (MEX) 2:30PM, Este (DOM) at Santurce (PR) 8PM.

Semifinals

Thursday, February 6: Fourth Place at First Place 2:30PM, Third Place at Second Place 8PM.

Championship Game

Friday, February 7: Winner Semi One vs. Winner Semi Two 8PM.

DARIEL ALVAREZ NAMED MEXPAC MVP FOR 2019-20

Jalisco Charros OF Dariel Alvarez

Jalisco Charros outfielder Dariel Alvarez has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Mexican Pacific League for the 2019-20 season.  The native of Camaguey, Cuba received 71.1 percent of ballots cast for the award, beating out Jesus "Cacao" Valdez of Obregon, Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde and Yadiel Hernandez of Hermosillo.

Alvarez, who is a reinforcement with Culiacan in Puerto Rico for the Caribbean Series, had a banner year with the Charros.  He led the MexPac with 16 homers (the most for a single LMP season since Obregon's Jesse Gutierrez whacked 20 longballs in 2011-12) and 56 RBIs while compiling a .301 batting average.  Alvarez also led the Mex Pac in total bases (135) and slugging percentage (.527) while striking out just 35 times in 281 plate appearances. His MVP season comes on the heels of a Mexican League campaign split in which he hit .288 with 18 homers and 80 RBIs in 117 games for Tijuana and Saltillo.

The 31-year-old Alvarez had quite a journey before coming to Mexico.  He debuted at 17 with his hometown Camaguey Ganaderos of the Cuban National Series in 2006-07 and went on to play six winters with the Ranchers, including a huge 2010-11 campaign that saw him bat .363 with 20 homers and 81 ribbies in 90 games.  One year later, Alvarez defected to Mexico and played one season in the Veracruz Winter League, batting .354 for the Tuxpan Tigres in 2012-13. Scouts from seven MLB organizations attended a 2013 workout in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but it was the Baltimore Orioles (who did not have a representative at the Florida workout) who outbid everyone to sign him.

Dariel Alvarez during his Camaguey days in Cuba

That began a quick rise for Alvarez through the Baltimore system, beginning with the Orioles' Gulf Coast League Rookie team for three games in August 2013 (he hit .444) and two weeks at Class A Frederick of the Carolina League (.436 in ten games), nine games at Bowie of the Class AA Eastern League (a wall-hitting .194) and a month with Surprise of the Arizona Fall League (.239 in 19 games) before presumably collapsing from exhaustion.  Alvarez spent the next three seasons bouncing between Bowie and Norfolk of the AAA International League, generally batting between .275 with occasional power and earning midsummer call-ups to Baltimore in 2015 and 2016 (hitting a combined .250 with a solo homer off Kansas City's Danny Duffy over 14 games).

However, things went south in 2017 when the Orioles attempted to convert Alvarez into a pitcher.  He'd tossed a few innings in relief for Camaguey before defecting, but the experiment resulted in Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2017 season and his 2018 release after struggling in two appearances out of the bullpen for the O's GCL affiliate.  Alvarez spent last winter in Guadalajara with the Charros, returning to the outfield and hitting .315 with 14 homers (second to Navojoa's Jovan Rosa) before signing with Tijuana prior to the 2019 LMB season.

Other postseason award-winners in the LMP are Los Mochis righthander Yoanys Quiala as Pitcher of the Year, Obregon skipper Sergio Gastelum copped his second consecutive Manager of the Year trophy, Hermosillo infielder Alex Robles was tabbed Rookie of the Year, Obregon pitcher Samuel Zazueta for Reliever of the Year,

EX-MLB P, VERACRUZ STATE LEAGUE FOUNDER ELVIRA MURDERED

Narciso Elvira pitching for Mexico's National Team

A former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher and the only Mexican to pitch a no-hitter in Japan before founding a winter league in his home state of Veracruz after his retirement has been murdered, along with his 20-year-old son.  Narcisco Elvira and his son were reportedly driving on a road outside the town of Paso del Toro on January 28 when armed men ambushed their car. Eyewitnesses to the attack said the two victims tried to flee the scene on foot but were gunned down after the assailants opened fire. The elder Elvira was 52 years old while son Gustavo was 20.

The incident marks a tragic end to what had been a fascinating life inside and outside baseball for Elvira, who was born October 29, 1967 in Tlalixcoyan, Veracruz.  As a 19-year-old lefthander, his rights were sold by Mexican League Leon Bravos to the Milwaukee Brewers in December 1986. The Brewers assigned Elvira to Beloit of the Class A Midwest League in 1987 and he went 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts for the Snappers that year.  Elvira was called up to the big club late in the 1990 season and made his debut on September 9, giving up a run on two hits with a strikeout pitching the ninth inning of a home loss to Detroit. Elvira made three more relief appearances that month, including 2.1 scoreless innings against the Yankees in what would be his last MLB game on September 28, finishing his abbreviated major league career with an 0-0 record and a 5.40 ERA over five innings with six strikeouts and five walks.

After spending the 1990's bouncing between MiLB and the Mexican League (mostly with Monterrey), Elvira was signed by the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League in 2000 at age 32.  In two years with the Osaka club, primarily as a starter, he was a combined 7-8 with a 4.79 ERA but made history as the first Latin American pitcher to toss a no-hitter when he banked the Seibu Lions on June 20, 2000.  Elvira was no stranger to no-nos, having hurled TWO of them for Monterrey in 1999. He later pitched two years in South Korea with the Samsung Lions, going 13-6 with a 2.50 ERA in 2002, before returning to Mexico for good to pitch for Campeche.  Elvira's last full season with the Piratas was in 2006, although he did come out of retirement at 41 to make two appearances (one of them a start) for Minatitlan in 2009 before hanging up his spikes for good.

Elvira celebrating his no-hitter in Japan

After his playing career concluded, Elvira went into ranching at home in Veracruz, employing about 100 people.  He made headlines in 2015 when he was kidnapped by men who claimed they were with the Gulf drug cartel, and was held captive for 23 days until police found him chained to a tree.  He said that the time that he had given up hope when his captors told him the ransom hadn't been paid. Despite that incident, Elvira stayed in Veracruz. "I like it here," he once said, "to be with my people, those who saw me grow up.  I wanted to be back here with them."

Even though he was no longer a pitcher, Elvira was never far from baseball.  When the original Veracruz Winter League folded after the 2015-16 season, he stepped up and organized the four-team Veracruz State Baseball League for the 2016-17 winterball campaign.  The LBEV did not operate at the same level as its predecessors, relying on homegrown prospects playing a weekend-only schedule in front of sparse crowds, but Elvira was able to bankroll them through two seasons with the Xalapa Chileros and Acayucan Tobis, respectively, winning pennants and competing in the Latin American Series.  The LBEV shut down after sisters Regina and Fabiola Vazquez Saut, co-owners of the Acayucan team and politicians affiliated with the PRI, restarted the LIV in 2018 for one season before that circuit apparently closed down this winter due to financial instability.

FERMIN COMMISSIONED AS NEW FIELD GENERAL IN DURANGO

Felix Fermin managed Aguascalientes in 2019

While most North American baseball fans remember Felix Fermin as a smooth-fielding shortstop who was once traded for a future Hall of Fame shortstop, their counterparts in Mexico think of Fermin as a former big leaguer who's gone on to be a pretty good manager capable of putting together winning teams under sometimes less then ideal conditions.  The 56-year-old Dominican well get another chance to spin silk out of a cow's ear after being picked as the Durango Generales' new helmsman.

Durango will be Fermin's sixth managerial stop in the Mexican League since he began as Monterrey's dugout boss in 2007.  That would turn out to be El Gato's longest tenure leading an LMB team, as he spent four mostly-successful seasons directing the Sultanes' on-field fortunes.  His first season was his best as Fermin managed Monterrey to a Liga-best 69-39 record and the Liga pennant. Fermin had a solid second year in 2008 as the Sultanes won their second consecutive LMB North title (after coming in third at 64-46) and reaching the Serie del Rey, where they lost to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in five games,  but the team struggled to a 51-56 season in 2009 and missed the postseason altogether. Despite a 2010 rebound that saw Monterrey finish second in the North at 58-49 and winning their first round playoff series before falling to Saltillo in the division championship series, Fermin was fired after the season. Despite that setback, managers with 242-188 records and one pennant at their last stop usually find work in Mexico and it only took Fermin a year to land his next job.  

Instead of working for an established team with a storied past in a city that has historically supported its team, however, he took the reins of the Carmen Delfines, a 2012 LMB expansion team in a resort city with no history of baseball beyond four years in the late 1960's when the Cameroneros played in the long-forgotten Class A Mexican Southeast League.  Although Fermin had a handful of decent players like ex-Rangers outfielder Ruben Mateo and former Rays starting pitcher Tim Corcoran, the Delfines stumbled to a 51-60 record and a fifth-place finish in the LMB South. Things went much better in Carmen's second year as the Delfines finished first in the LMB South at 63-46, thanks in part to Mateo's .322/37/119 season and the addition of ex-Yankee outfielder Ruben Rivera (.313/22/80 with 23 steals), but lost to fourth-place Veracruz in the first playoff round.  Carmen reached the playoffs again in 2014 with a 57-54 regular season and a play-in win over Oaxaca, but the Delfines were bounced in the first round by Quintana Roo and after a 51-59 season in 2015, Fermin was bounced to the unemployment line. Ironically, the Delfines lasted one more season in Carmen until the team itself was bounced to (wait for it) Durango, where they became the Generales in 2017.

Fermin's 1991 Upper Deck card

Fermin has since managed in Monterrey (again) in 2016 and 2017, leading the Sultanes to an aggregate record of 140-80 but losing to archrival Tijuana in the MLB North finals both years, which led to owner Jose Maiz firing him a second time.  El Gato then led Dos Laredos to a 33-24 record in the Fall 2018 season before losing to Monclova in five games in their first-round series. Despite a respectable 21-15 record six weeks into the 2019 season, Tecos owner Jose Antonio Mansur replaced Fermin with Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez, yet another former MLB shortstop who led Dos Laredos to a 39-45 mark the rest of the way.  Fermin didn't stay jobless long, however. Two days later, he was brought to Aguascalientes to take over for the deposed Joe Alvarez, who left the Rieleros at 17-22. Despite toiling for one of the LMB's most perpetually-underfunded franchises, Fermin was able to coax the Railroaders to a 17-8 record in August (best in the Liga that month), including a six-game winning streak to salvage an otherwise lost 54-64 season, with a 37-42 register under Fermin.

And now it's on to Durango for the peripatetic Fermin, who will be replaced in the Aguascalientes dugout by former Baltimore pitcher Luis Carlos Rivera. Oh, that shortstop that the Seattle Mariners traded to Cleveland (along with designated hitter Reggie Jefferson) so they could install El Gato at the same position in the Kingdome?  A 26-year-old career .252 hitter named Omar Vizquel, Tijuana's new manager and someone who'll likely be selected to Cooperstown before his ten years of BBWA eligibility are over.

MEXICAN LEAGUE CHOOSES NEW PRESIDENT

Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega

The Mexican League has named Horacio de la Vega as their new president.  The 44-year-old de la Vegas is a Mexico City native and two-time Olympic pentathlete for Mexico (1996 and 2000) with a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas and has an extensive background in sports.  He'll replace Javier Salinas, a former Liga MX pro soccer marketing executive who served as LMB president for two years before leaving office following the 2019 season.

De la Vega was the Commercial and Marketing Director for the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara prior to serving as General Director of Sports in Mexico City, helping coordinate events involving the NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, UFC and Formula One organizations, among others.  During his time in Mexico City, according to an LMB press release, de la Vega oversaw more than 35 international sporting events per year along with about 400 local or national events. 

LMB Home Run Derby in Mexico City Zocalo

He was Mexico City Commissioner for the Formula One Grand Prix of Mexico, general coordinator for the 2016 MLB Mexico Series between the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros and Fray Nano Stadium, one of the main drivers of the 2015 Mexican League Home Run Derby in Mexico City's Zocalo (the first time a public square was converted into a ballpark) and helped stage NFL and NBA games in Mexico City.  De la Vega was also president of the organizing committee for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.  He most recently was a senior advisor for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

De la Vega will take the Mexican League reins from longtime Liga executive Gabriel Medina, who served as interim president after the LMB and Salinas parted ways.  He'll inherit a 16-team circuit in which many franchises are bleeding red ink with teams playing in front of sparse crowds, although the league did top five million in attendance for the first time since before the turn of the 21st Century.  The vote to name the former National Sports Award winner as a pentathlete reportedly involved all teams, a change from Salinas' 2017 selection originating from just three owners.


CHARROS WIN 7 OF FIRST 8 GAMES TO OPEN LMP SECOND HALF

Jalisco Charros outfielder Dariel Alvarez

The Jalisco Charros had a good first half to their Mexican Pacific League season, finishing one game behind first place Obregon with a 21-14 to come in third, garnering eight playoff points in the bargain.  Now the Guadalajara side has broken out the second-half gate in a big way by winning seven of their first eight games to take a two-game lead over the 5-2 Mexicali Aguilas, who are trying to rebound from an 18-24 showing in a first half that saw manager Bobby Dickerson fired and replaced by Pedro Mere (whose coaching staff includes former skippers Eddy Castro, Bronswell Patrick and Adan Munoz, who was canned as Navojoa helmsman in the first half).

Back to Jalisco, the defending champions have shown well under manager Roberto Vizcarra.  The Charros have a veteran roster that includes catcher Bruce Maxwell, infielders Stephen Cardullo, Manny Rodriguez, Amadeo Zazueta and Agustin Murillo plus outfielders Carlos Figueroa, Henry Urrutia and Dariel Alvarez.  Four Jalisco everyday starters are batting over .300, led by Zazueta's .350 average and Figueroa at .333.  Much of the power has been supplied by Alvarez, whose team-leading eight homers and 33 RBIs supplement his .295 average.  The Cuban-born rightfielder played six winters in that country's National Series before signing with Baltimore in 2013 (and eventually had two cups of coffee with the Orioles).  Alvarez is not regarded as a power hitter, per se, but he's found his groove in Guadalajara after belting 14 roundtrippers for the Charros last season to finish second in the MexPac behind the 15 of Navojoa's Joan Rosa.

Jalisco left-handed pitcher Marco Tovar

Jalisco's pitching staff isn't as star-studded as their daily lineup, with a team ERA of 3.88 in the bottom half among the LMP's ten teams, but Guadalajara is not the easiest place to pitch with its high altitude so those numbers can be a little deceiving at first glance.  The best starter thus far this season has been lefty veteran Marco Tovar, whose 3-2 record hides an ERA of 2.19 that ranks fourth among qualifying MexPac hurlers.  Tovar is a 30-year-old Tijuana product who's pitched in five Mexican League All-Star Games and was named the LMB's Pitcher of the Year in 2011 after going 12-4 for Reynosa that summer.  Among other Jarros starters, import Mitch Atkins, who pitched in several minor league All-Star Games and had two short stints with the Chicago Cubs in 2010 and 2011, is 4-3 with a 2.80 ERA (8th in the LMP) while Octavio Acosta has a perfect 4-0 record and a 4.03 ERA (12th in the loop).  If the Charros have a weak spot, it's in the bullpen.  Although closer Grant Sides is sixth in the league with seven saves, the former Indians farmhand isn't likely writing home about his 12.75 ERA or opponents' batting average of .373.  Even so, you have to outscore your opponents to win a baseball game and the Charros have shown the offense to continue doing just that and are in good position to repeat as LMP champions.

The aforementioned Zazueta (he of the .350 average) now leads the MexPac in hitting, twelve points ahead of Christian Zazueta's .338 for Navojoa.  Culiacan's Seastian Elizalde, Leandro Castro of Los Mochis and Monterrey's Michael Choice are all tied for the lead in homers with 10 each while Jalisco's Alvarez and Jesus Valdez of Obregon both top the RBI table with 33.  Rico Noel of Culiacan recently stole five bases in a seven-game stretch to bring his season total to 20 swipes in 24 attempts, well ahead of the 13 apiece for Elizalde and Obregon's Taiki Sekine.

Los Mochis starting pitcher Yoanys Quiales picked up his first win since November 15 last Wednesday in Mazatlan to go to 7-1 for the season, comfortably ahead of eleven pitchers who have four wins each.  One of them, Mike Kickham of Hermosillo, is tops in ERA at 1.96, with Mexicali's Greg Mahle in second at 2.01.  Another four-win pitcher, Obregon's Brazilian starter Andre Rienzo, heads the strikeouts table with 51 ponches, six more than Quiales and Juan Pablos Oramas of Hermosillo.  An Oramas teammate, Trey McNutt, is tied with Jose Rosario of Guasave with an LMP-best 11 saves while Obregon's Samuel Zazueta is best with 11 holds.  It does not appear that any of the three Zazuetas are related.


LIGA NORTE EXPANDS TO SIX TEAMS; TWO MORE ON WAY?

The Northern Mexico League has added an expansion franchise with the Otay Industriales set to join the Class AA circuit in time for the 2020 season.  At a recent LNM presidents meeting in Tijuana, five existing teams confirmed their participation next year, including the San Quintin Freseros, Caborca Rojos, Ensenada Marineros, La Paz Delfines and the defending champion San Luis Algodoneros.  However, the main topic moving forward was expansion, with Otay brought into the fold and talk of two more new franchises to turn the LNM into an eight-team loop next season.

Mesa de Otay is not an independent city but rather a section of Tijuana, Baja California Norte.  The Industriales will not play in Tijuana's Mexican League ballpark currently used by the Toros during the spring and summer.  Instead, they'll play in Estadio Angel Camarena, a smaller facility where former MLB All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez cut his teeth as a young player, according to El Titan's father David.  The elder Gonzalez is now general director of B.C. Norte's Institute of Sports and Physical Culture, and will help coordinate what is being called "a significant investment" in  the ballpark's remodeling, to be completed by next April, prior to the 2020 LNM schedule.

B.C. Norte governor Jaime Bonilla's first pitch

Gonzalez was joined by Baja California Norte governor Jaime Bonilla, who tossed a ceremonial first pitch before the inaugural game of the Tijuana Amateur Baseball League in late October.  The renovations were announced weeks before the new Liga Norte franchise was granted to Otay, but the two are undoubtedly linked to each other.

Representatives of a second possible team in Baja California Sur were on hand at the meeting.  The LNM made its debut in that state last season when the La Paz Delfines took the field.  No word on where a second team there would be located; the Los Cabos region is the only area with the population to support a franchise but the Mexican League Quintana Roo Tigres could probably testify that selling tickets to baseball games in a tourist center is not the easiest thing to do.  Another potential expansion site was termed "an old acquaintance in the league" in a story posted on Puro Beisbol, but no further details could be given for now.

The Liga Norte also gave Tuesday, April 14 as their 2020 season inaugural date.  If eight teams indeed play next year, each would play an 84-game schedule with the season wrapping up the second week of August.  The LNM is still searching for an executive president, but that topic was tabled at the recent meeting.  The president of the league's Board of Directors, San Luis Algodoneros owner Francisco Montano, has sat behind the big desk the past two years.


Notice to Readers: BBM to go monthly on interim basis

This will be the only Baseball Mexico scheduled to be posted in December.  I'm moving from the U.S. Pacific Northwest to the Philippines this week and will need some time to somehow get settled during the holiday season.  I'm moving to Baguio, a city of 370,000 with ten universities nestled nearly 5,000 feet above sea level in the Cordillera Mountains.  Baguio is noted for its relatively cool temperatures and is nicknamed "The Summer Capital of the Philippines" for that reason.  

Jose Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium, Manila

They do play baseball in the Philippines, by the way, but only at the amateur or scholastic level. There IS a great old 12,000-seat ballpark in Manila named Jose Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium, where the first homers hit after its 1934 opening were by guys named Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (you may have heard of them), and I would like to catch at least a couple ballgames there while it's still standing.

Anyway, Baseball Mexico will hopefully be back to a weekly basis by February 2020, just in time for the Caribbean Series.  I'll try to post unscheduled updates between now and February when I can, but I expect to be a little preoccupied until then.

JALISCO WINS FLAG, IN PANAMA FOR SERIE DEL CARIBE

Jalisco Charros pitcher Marco Tovar

The Jalisco Charros broke up a tight Game Six with nine runs in the fifth inning and went on to clobber the Obregon Yaquis, 11-1, last Monday in Guadalajara to win their first Mexican Pacific League championship series, 4 games to 2.  The Charros are now in Panama City, where they'll start a hastily-rescheduled Caribbean Series on Monday night against the Venezuelan champion Lara Cardinales at 8PM Eastern.
Jalisco and starting pitcher Marco Tovar held a precarious 2-1 lead over Obregon heading into the bottom of the fifth, when the Horsemen sent twelve batters to the plate to knock out Yaquis starter Yoanner Negrin. Negrin hit finals MVP Dariel Alvarez to open the frame and allowed four consecutive hits before being relieved by Jesus Anguamea after Stephen Cardullo lined a two-run double to left that scored Japhet Amador and Henry Urrutia, giving Jalisco a 5-1 lead.  Anguamea plunked the first batter he faced, Gabriel Gutierrez, to reload the bases before striking out Alonzo Harris for the first out of the inning.  Amadeo Zazueta then singled to left to plate two more runs, making it a 7-1 Charros lead. Manny Rodriguez then singled in Gutierrez and Alvarez cracked a three-run homer to left to stake Tovar and Jalisco their final 11-1 margin of victory.  After tossing a scoreless sixth, Tovar was taken out after 78 pitches and it was left to Rafael Martin, Chad Gaudin and Sergio Romo to close out the contest.

LMP Championship Series MVP Dariel Alvarez

Alvarez went 4-for-4 for the winners, scoring twice and driving in four runs to key Jalisco's 16-hit attack.  The 30-year-old Cuban outfielder had cups of coffee with Baltimore in 2015 and 2016 before missing the last two summers after undergoing Tommy John surgery while the Orioles were trying to convert him to pitcher.  Alvarez is still a free agent but after hitting .370 and earning the LMP finals MVP on the heels of a regular season during which he hit .315 with 14 homers for the Charros (leading the MexPac with a .571 slugging percentage), he likely caught some MLB organization's attention.

Despite his Game Six difficulties, Anguamea was picked up from Obregon as a reinforcement player for the Charros, who also added second baseman Ramon Rios from Mazatlan after regular season MVP Rodriguez sustained what's being called a "muscular injury." Anguamea and Rios were joined as add-ons by catcher Sebastian Valle (Mazatlan), infielders Victor Mendoza (Navojoa), Jasson Atondo (Hermosillo) and Rodolfo Amador (Los Mochis), outfielder/DH Jesus Valdez (Obregon) and pitchers Edgar Torres and Francisco Moreno (both from Mazatlan) and Mexicali's Jake Sanchez and Efren Delgado.

The Caribbean Series will feature six teams for the first time, with Panamanian champion Herrera a late addition after the event was moved to the Central American nation last week after unrest in Venezuela scuttled plans to hold it in Barquisimeto for the second year in a row.  The late start, coupled with Major League Baseball's spring training set to open next week, compresses the tournament into two three-team divisions playing double round-robins between Monday through Saturday, with the top teams in each division meeting next Sunday for the CS title.  

Jalisco will represent Mexico in Group A along with the Las Tunas Lenadores (Cuba) and Lara Cardinales (Venezuela) while Group B consists of the Santurce Cangrejeros (Puerto Rico), Orientales Estrellas (Dominican Republic) and the host Herrera Toros (Panama).  All games will take place at Rod Carew National Stadium in Panama City. Newly-elected Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, a native of Panama, will toss out the ceremonial first pitch...we're guessing it'll be a cutter.

2019 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE

MON, February 4:  Orientales at Santurce (3PM), Jalisco at Lara (8PM)

TUE, February 5: Las Tunas at Jalisco (3PM), Orientales at Herrera (8PM)

WED, February 6: Las Tunas at Lara (3PM), Herrera at Santurce (8PM)

THU, February 7:   Jalisco at Las Tunas (3PM), Santurce at Orientales (8PM)

FRI, February 8: Herrera at Orientales (3PM), Lara at Jalisco (8PM)

SAT, February 9: Lara at Las Tunas (1PM), Santurce at Herrera (7PM)

SUN, February 10: Group A winner vs. Group B winner (4PM)

ALL TIMES EASTERN

JALISCO CHARROS CARIBBEAN SERIES ROSTER
PITCHERS (14): Jesus Anguamea, Manny Barreda, Alex Delgado, Manuel Al Flores, Felipe Gonzalez, Orlando Lara, Rafael Martin, Francisco Moreno, William Oliver, Jose Oyervides, Sergio Romo, Jake Sanchez, Edgar Torres, Marco Tovar.
CATCHERS (2): Gabriel Gutierrez, Sebastian Valle.
INFIELDERS (7): Japhet Amador, Rodolfo Amador, Jasson Atondo, Victor Mendoza, Agustin Murillo, Ramon Rios, Amadeo Zazueta.
OUTFIELDERS (5): Dariel Alvarez, Stephen Cardullo, Carlos Figueroa, Alonzo Harris, Jesus Valdez.
MANAGER: Roberto Vizcarra
COACHES: Martin Arzate, Javier Colina, Houston Jimenez, Roberto Mendez, Julio Cesar Miranda, Rafael Montalvo, Jesus Moreno, Leo Rodriguez, Marco Antonio Romero.


TOBIS FALL IN LATIN AMERICAN SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Nicaragua's Leon Leones: 2019 LAS champions

The Acayucan Tobis overcame an opening day loss (a 1-0 shocker to Argentina's Cordoba Falcones) to reach the Latin American Series title game before dropping a 3-1 contest in eleven innings to Nicaragua's Leon Leones Saturday in front of a full house at Beto Avila Park in Veracruz.

The Tobis scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Eliseo Aldazaba drew a bases-loaded walk on four pitches, pushing Kevin Flores across the plate.  Leon tied the contest up in the top of the second when Keurys de la Cruz doubled and later scored on a single by Edgard Montiel to make it 1-1.  The score stood until the top of the eleventh, when de la Cruz came up with another double, this time down the left-field line with the sacks full to bring in Darian Gonzalez and Adrian Moreno with the go-ahead runs.  Acayucan was unable to score in the bottom of the frame as Nicaragua's champions won the Serie Latinoamericana for the fourth time in the seven-year history of the tournament.  Leon cruised through the first round with a perfect 5-0 record and won their Friday semifinal game over Panama's Herrera Toros, 5-4, on Maikel Caseras' walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

Following their first-day loss on January 26, Acayucan won two of their remaining four first-round contests (beating Colombia's Barranquilla Caimanes, 6-1, last Sunday and blanking Herrera, 4-0, on Tuesday) to reach the LAS Final Four, where they faced countrymen Xalapa.  The Chileros lost to the Tobis in seven games in the Veracruz Winter League title series, but were able to edge Acayucan in extra innings last Monday in the first round by a 4-3 count as Yancarlo Angulo led off the tenth by drawing a walk off Tobis veteran Adrian C. Ramirez and later scored the go-ahead counter on an Oscar Soto single.  Kevin Flores led off the bottom of the tenth with a single for Acayucan and advanced to second on a sacrifice fly by Eliseo Aldazaba but the next two Tobis batters were retired as Juan Pablo Tellez saved the win for fellow reliever Heriberto Sanchez.

2018-19 LIV pennant winners Acayucan Tobis

Friday's semifinal rematch between the two LIV teams was no less riveting. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth entrada, when Acayucan scored without a hit when leadoff batter Yadier Mujica got on board via a Xalapa error, moved to second when Eduardo Arredondo as hit by a pitch, took third on a Yadir Drake sacrifice bunt and came in with the first run of the game on Angel Francisco Rivera's ground out.  Aldazaba cracked a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth and Mujica led off the seventh with a double and later scored from third with the final run of the night to give Acayucan a 3-0 lead they never relinquished as Edgar Gonzalez and four reliever combined on a five-hit shutout.

Although Nicaragua's Leones ran the table for the LAS and were clearly the best team in the tournament, Panama's Herrera was tabbed to fill a sixth berth in the Caribbean Series by virtue of being champion of the host country's national winter league.  The competition is expected to get a little tougher.


AMLO PROMISES VERACRUZ ANOTHER LIGA TEAM...THIS YEAR

Three LMB baseball fans from Veracruz

Whatever one thinks of new Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador probably depends on their political leanings, but his supporters and detractors alike have to agree on one thing: When it comes to baseball, the man has been very proactive.  Just days after fulfilling a campaign promise by brokering a Mexican Pacific League expansion franchise for Guasave (along with a tenth LMP team in Monterrey), the so-called AMLO said during a morning press conference last Thursday that Veracruz would see a return of their Mexican League team for a 2019 season that will be opening in two months.

De Pelota en Pelotas website writer Hector "Chapis" Sanchez quoted Lopez Obrador, who was in Veracruz last week during the recently-concluded Latin American Series, as saying that the LMB would be expanding from 16 to 18 teams for the coming season and that one of them would be the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila.  The most recent edition of Mexico's oldest professional baseball team (the original Veracruz Reds were formed in 1903) moved to the Texas border after the 2017 season as the Dos Laredos Tecolotes, who played in both Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and Laredo, Texas last year.

The Tecos will move their home games south of the border to Parque La Junta, a 72-year-old facility that seats 6,000 and has been host to five previous Liga championship teams. The Tecos played their Mexican home games at Estadio Nuevo Laredo last year but the 12,000-seater (which is 60 years newer than Parque La Junta) is located out of town, which has been a bone of contention among local baseball fans concerned for their safety traveling to the ballpark in a region that's been the scene of some of Mexico's toughest drug war battles among cartels and federal police agencies.

Although Veracruz has been one of the most prominent states in Mexican baseball for decades and the home of 1940's majordomo Jorge Pasquel, it is reminiscent of Florida among states in the USA as a place where you'll find plenty of players on the field but not so many fans in the stands.  Whether AMLO is able to push the LMB to expand to 18 teams in fewer than ten weeks or not, LMB president Javier Salinas has to be wondering what his role is within the league that hired him to replace Plinio Escalante after the latter retired following the 2017 season.

Salinas had originally convinced owners to contract from 16 to 12 teams for the upcoming season, with Aguascalientes, Laguna, Leon and Puebla going on hiatus for at least one year.  Instead, Lopez Obrador managed to bring those four franchises back from the freezer even though the Aguascalientes franchise is out of money for all intent and purposes while Laguna owners Erick and Jose Juan Arellano have repeatedly expressed their desire to divest themselves of the Algodoneros  (a move likely supported by fans in Torreon and Gomez Palacio) so they could devote all their attention and resources on the Yucatan Leones team they also own.

At this point, all anybody can do is keep an eye on things and wait for the dust to settle.  Just don't ask when.