OBREGON, NAVOJOA TIED AT TOP OF LMP STANDINGS

    At the halfway point of the Mexican Pacific League's first half schedule, two teams share the lead in the LMP standings with identical 11-6 records. The Obregon Yaquis and Navojoa Mayos find themselves in the driver's seat with three weeks remaining in the opening stanza of the 2021-22 season.

    Obregon did their part in breaking a three-way deadlock at the top Sunday by clobbering Mexicali, 8-2, in the border city. Jonathan Aranda broke a 1-1 tie with a solo homer off Aguilas starter Javier Solano in the top of the second inning, but it was a Reynaldo Rodriguez grand slam off Solano in the third that for all intent and purposes put the game away for the Yaquis. Obregon starter Hector Velazquez got the win with six solid innings, allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts. Solano was tagged with the loss after giving up eight runs on five hits and four walks over four innings.

    Navojoa did Sunday's heavy lifting by topping Jalisco, 4-2, at home in Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria after both teams entered the game with 10-6 records. The contest was knotted up at two runs apiece until Mayos third baseman Samar Leyva launched a solo homer over the left-center field wall off Charros starter Alex Delgado in the bottom of the fourth. Navojoa added an insurance run when Omar Renteria led off the seventh with a doubled up the middle off reliever Fernando Cruz, moved to third on an Omar Meza sacrifice bunt down the third base line and scored on Jorge Flores' single to right. Navojoa starter Raul Carrillo allowed two runs in 5.2 innings and five relievers surrendered one hit the rest of the way as the Mayos completed a three-game weekend sweep.

    At the other end of the spectrum, the Los Mochis Caneros have won just four of their first 16 games to bring up the rear after a disastrous 2020-21 campaign in which they went an aggregate 19-39 over two halves, worst in the LMP under manager Victor Bojorquez. Robinson Cancel is the Los Mochis helmsman this winter but thus far nothing much has changed, although the Caneros did salvage a series in Monterrey Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Sultanes behind a solo homer by Josuan Hernandez and 6.2 innings of one-run pitching by starter Carlos Viera.

    Heading into Sunday's games, Jalisco's Christian Villanueva was batting an even .400 to lead all LMP batters. Tirso Ornelas of Navojoa is second at .390 while Hermosillo's Nick Torres' .386 is good enough for third. Torres also tops the tables with five homers, one more than the four roundtrippers of Danny Ortiz (Monterrey), Missael Rivera (Jalisco) and Maikel Serrano (Navojoa). Serrano is first in RBIs with 17, ahead of Ortiz' 14 and the 13 of Torrez. Culiacan has three of the top five base stealers in the Mex Pac: Dairon Blanco leads the list with six swipes, one more than the five of teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Mazatlan's Ramon Rios and two more than Tomateros infielder Ramiro Pena and Venados outfielder Randy Romero.

    Among pitchers, Navojoa's Carlos De Leon has been a major reason for the Mayos' strong burst out the gate by winning his first three starts, making him the only LMP pitcher with a trio of wins at this stage of the season. Thirteen other pitchers have two wins, with two starters (Jalisco's Orlando Lara and Elian Leyva of Hermosillo) tied for the lead with 0.00 ERAs to augment their respective 2-0 records. Obregon's Luis Escobar has 24 strikeouts in 22.1 innings to lead the loop while Hermosillo veteran Juan Pablo Oramas is second with 20 whiffs over 23 frames. Jake Sanchez of Mexicali has four saves (plus a win) in seven outings for the most in that category, with Jalisco's Roberto Osuna and Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa tied for second with three salvados apiece. Sanchez has 14 strikeouts in seven innings with a 1.29 ERA.

    Off the LMP playing field, the expected sale of the Jalisco Charros has been finalized. The team, which has been marred by internecine front office squabbling for at least the past year, was sold by prime combatants Salvador Quirarte and Armando Navarro (who brought the team to Guadalajara from Guasave in 2014) to a group led by Jose Luis Gonzalez, his son Inigo and brother Juan Carlos, who also own the Mexican League Guadalajara Mariachis. Navarro was present at the press conference announcing the sale and said, “I wish the new owners every success and I thank all the fans.” The State of Jalisco is allowing the Charros to make fifty percent of Estadio Panamericano's 16,500 seats available for home games.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP: Obregon, Sonora

    We’ll continue our virtual journey to all ten Mexican Pacific League franchise sites by driving south from Hermosillo on Highway 15 for three-and-a-half hours (155 miles) through former LMP city Guaymas to Ciudad Obregon, Sonora’s second largest city behind Hermosillo with a metropolitan population of 375,000 and home of the seven-time league champion Yaquis.

    While the city itself is less than 100 years old, the area it sits in had long been settled by the Yaqui Indian nation, after whom the baseball team was named. Originally known as Cajeme when it was given municipal status in 1927, the city was renamed in 1937 after Revolution hero General Alvaro Obregon, a Navojoa native who later became president of Mexico and initiated modern agricultural techniques to the Yaqui Valley that made the region one of the most prosperous in the country. In fact, the area is called “Mexico’s Grain Provider” thanks to wheat growing standards partly established by American Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Norman Bourlaug.

    Present-day Obregon is the agribusiness center of a region whose countryside is liberally dotted with grain elevators, storage silos and cotton mills. While it is a working city and not tourism-oriented, there are some points of interest for visitors to take in. Laguna Nainari just west of town is a popular lagoon with restaurants, picnic areas and boats for water-skiing, while the nearby San Jose Beach features a spa. South of Laguna Nainari is the Parque Ostimuri, a tree-lined park geared towards young people (and the young at heart) with an amusement park, several refreshment stands and a zoo with animals ranging from deer and boars to turtles and gila monsters.

    The Museo del Yaquis celebrates the history of the valley and is doing its part to keep the culture of the Yaqui people alive. Moreover, the Mexican government designated the Yaquis as the first recognized tribe in the country, allowing them to continue their traditions overseen by a tribal government. There are four institutes of higher education in Obregon while the local airport receives flight from 13 Mexican and four U.S. cities.

    Professional baseball in Obregon debuted in 1947 as a member of the old Pacific Coast League. The Yaquis have won seven MexPac pennants (including three in a row under manager Eddie Diaz between 2010-11 and 2012-13) since 1965-66, winning Caribbean Series championships in 2011 and 2013. Past Obregon players whose numbers have been retired include Vinny Castilla, Roberto Vizcarra, Carlos Valencia and brothers Vicente and Enrique Romo.

.    The Yaquis play their home games in the state of the art Estadio Yaquis, a 16,500-seat facility on the outskirts of town that opened in time for the 2016-17 season. Estadio Yaquis co-hosted games for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup last month. Considered one of Mexico's finest ballparks, it's had a cool reception among local fans due to high ticket prices and a less-centralized location than Estadio Tomas Oroz Gaytan, which served the team for 36 years and (like Hermosillo's Estadio Hector Espino) has been purchased by the federal government to serve as a baseball academy.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Nelson Barrera, 3B/1B/DH

    One of the most beloved and admired figures in Mexican baseball history, Nelson Barrera Romellon was a mainstay at third base in the LMB for 26 seasons. Nicknamed El Almirante (“The Admiral”) by fans, Barrera was born October 17, 1957 in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche and grew up to be a six foot,180-pounder. Surprisingly, given his career power totals, Barrera was not considered a home run hitter for the first few years of his Liga career. In fact, he hit just 48 roundtrippers over his first seven campaigns between 1977 and 1983.

    Barrera posted his first big season as a 26-year-old in 1984 with Mexico City, cracking 23 homers while hitting .354 and driving in 101 runs. That led to an invitation to spring training by the Chicago White Sox in 1985. After batting just .176 with two homers for Class AAA Buffalo, Barrera was sent back to the Diablos Rojos and never played outside Mexico again.

    He went on a three-year tear between 1986 and 1988 for Mexico City, belting 110 homers and driving in 383 runs while posting batting averages of .350, .349 and .372. Although he never approached those kinds of numbers the rest of his career, The Admiral remained one of the most respected and feared batters in Mexico through the rest of the 20th century.

    Barrera retired with 455 career homers, two more than all-time great Hector Espino’s 453. His 1,928 career RBIs is also the Liga’s all-time best, as are his 972 extra-base hits and six 100-plus RBI seasons. He finished with 2,938 career hits (second behind Jesus Sommers) and a lifetime batting average of .298. Along with Sommers, he had 19 seasons of 100 or more hits. Barrera hit three homers in a seven-inning game, and once had a streak of seven bombs over a five-game stretch.

    He was a fairly marginal batter in the winter Pacific League, hitting .254 over 15 seasons with Culiacan and Mexicali although he was the LMP’s MVP for the Tomateros in 1984-85 with 15 homers and 68 RBIs. Barrera made his hits count in the winter, however, and stands sixth in career homers with 131 and 9^th in RBIs with 479. His eight career grand slam homers are a MexPac record. He played in five Caribbean Series between 1983 and 1988, winning a title with Mexicali in 1986 in Venezuela.

    Barrera was respected as a manager, too, leading the Oaxaca Guerreros to the LMB crown in 1998 while turning in 15/110/.321 numbers as a player. He was managing the Campeche Piratas in his home state when he died tragically in 2002 after he was electrocuted by a live hanging wire while doing repairs on the roof of his home following a severe windstorm. The ballpark in Campeche was renamed in his honor.

MEX PAC SEASON BEGINS; 80K ATTEND TEN OPENERS

    The Mexican Pacific League lifted the lid off the 2021-22 season last week to improved overall attendance at its traditional two-game, home-and-away opening series. Last winter's turnouts were severely curtailed fan turnout across the loop due to severe protocol restrictions due to the Wuhan virus outbreak, which had earlier caused the cancellation of the Mexican League's 2020 campaign.

    Things are less tight than a year ago and it showed at the turnstiles, as a combined 80,177 aficionados attended the ten LMP openers over three days between Tuesday and Thursday. The largest crowd was in Mexicali, where 12,867 were in the stands at Estadio Aguilas to watch a 5-1 win over Hermosillo on Thursday. One night earlier, there were 11,289 onlookers at Estadio Monterrey to witness an 8-5 Sultanes loss to visiting Jalisco. The smallest home opener gathering was in Guasave, where just 3,325 fans got their money's worth last Wednesday when the Algodoneros topped Los Mochis, 4-2, in eleven innings at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon.

    Let's take a look at all ten Mex Pac home openers:

TUESDAY, October 5

    Agustin Murillo went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to lead the hometown Jalisco Charros past Monterrey, 4-2, as 6,712 were on hand at Estadio Charros in Guadalajara. After teasing the locals over the past two winters about perhaps joining the Charros, former MLB All-Star Roberto Osuna made his debut by tossing a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save.

    Hermosillo's Juan Pablo Oramas had a great first start of the winterball season, tossing six innings of scoreless ball with seven strikeouts in the Naranjeros' 8-0 shutout over Mexicali. Nicolas Torres slammed a pair of homers and drove in three runs and Jose Cardona went 4-for-5 with a solo blast while 8,731 watched at Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora.

    Culiacan took a 7-6 thriller in ten innings over Mazatlan in front of 9,529 at Estadio Tomateros. Emmanuel Avila got on board in the bottom of the tenth after being hit by a pitch, moved to second on Alfredo Hurtado's bunt and then beat Leo German's throw from right on a Mateo Gil sacrifice fly for the game-winner. Jesus Fabela homered twice for Culiacan.

WEDNESDAY, October 6

    Jalisco made it two wins in as many nights, this time sending 11,289 at Estadio Monterrey home disappointed with an 8-5 triumph over the Sultanes. Japhet Amador and former Monterrey outfielder Felix Perez each belted two-run homers for the winners while slugger Danny Ortiz (42 longballs for Puebla in 2019) went deep for the Sultanes.

    It took eleven innings, but Guasave finally bested visiting Los Mochis, 4-2, as 3,325 watched at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon. Jhoan Urena walked before Jesse Castillo slammed a walkoff homer off Caneros reliever Daysbel Hernandez to end it. Urena socked a roundtripper for the Algodoneros while Josuan Hernandez hit a two-run bomb for Los Mochis.

    Ricardo Valenzuela's two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh broke a 2-2 tie as Mazatlan went on to trip Culiacan, 4-2, with 5,447 at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal. Mitch Lively pitched six frames of two-run ball and eight Venados batters had a hit in a game where a brawl among fans from both teams occurred at the concession stands under the grandstand.

    Luis Escobar scattered four hits over five innings and contributed eight strikeouts to combine with three relievers on a 2-0 shutout for visiting Obregon at Navojoa's Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria as 6,496 fans watched. Reynaldo Rodriguez belted a solo homer in the top of the first and Alonzo Harris had an RBI single in the second for the Yaquis.

Friday, October 8

    Jesse Castillo struck again for Guasave, this time with a three-run homer in the top of the first off Los Mochis starter Carlos Viera as the Algodoneros went on to a 7-2 road win with 6,860 witnesses at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada. Castillo and Alejandro Ortiz each had three hits for the Cottoneers; Isaac Rodriguez and Jorge Rivera had RBI singles for the Caneros.

    Mexicali and Hermosillo were tied at 2-2 until Daniel Castro rocked a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh as the Aguilas went on to a 5-2 victory. A crowd of 12,867 at Estadio Aguilas saw Enrique Burgos and Jake Sanchez toss scoreless innings to seal with win for the Eagles. Addison Russell doubled and scored on Nic Torres' single for Hermosillo.

    At home in front of 8,921 observers at Estadio Yaquis, Obregon made it two shutouts in a row with a 5-0 blanking of Navojoa. Hector Velazquez combined with three relievers to extend the Mayos' season-opening scoreless streak to 18 entradas. Carlos Sepulveda homered and Kristian Delgado singled, doubled and had two RBIs for the winners.

    The Mayos' streak of futility extended another four innings to 22 before scoring their first run of the season in the fifth frame of a game in Mazatlan they ended up winning, 6-2, by scoring four times in the top of the ninth (including Tirso Ornelas' two-run double) and then getting a 1-2-3 entrada from Carlos Bustamante to save their first triumph.

LMB REBOOTS MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE

    After an absence of four seasons, the Mexican Winter League is making a return in 2021, albeit with a different look than in the past. This time, the LIM (Liga Invernal Mexicana) will feature two four-team divisions playing six weeks each between mid-October and late November with no crossover contests, followed by division championship series between the top two regular season finishers.

    As before, the LIM will serve as a Class AA affiliate circuit for the Mexican League, who announced the reformation of the loop early this month. LMB president Horacio de la Vega was on hand, as was Mexican League sports director Gabriel Medina. The LIM will feature young players on LMB contracts who are not playing in the Mexican Pacific League or any other winterball league.

    The Mexican Winter League's North Division will include the Monclova Acereros, Monterrey Sultanes, Saltillo Saraperos and Union Laguna Algodoneros of Torreon while the South Division will be comprised of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Oaxaca Guerreros, Puebla Pericos and a combined team of Veracruz Aguilas and Yucatan Leones prospects.

    All games will be played in the same ballparks used during the LMB season between April and September, although the Veracruz venue for the Aguilas-Leones squad hadn't been finalized when the press conference was held. The Aguilas Mexican League team plays home games at Estadio Beto Avila.

    The LIM North regular season (with games played on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays) will run 28 games per team from Tuesday, October 12 through November 28, followed by a best-3-of-5 championship series between the top two teams from November 30 through December 4, if needed.

    The LIM South schedule has each team playing 30 games between Tuesday, October 19 through November 21, followed by a best-4-of-7 championship series beginning November 23. A Mexican Winter League title series between the two division champions is slated for early December.

    All teams will be made up of 28 players, with an age limit of 26 for 25 players and no limitations on three players per club. Tie games will extend for a tenth inning before they're considered completed.

    An earlier version of the LIM operated from 2015 through 2017, with teams in places like Celaya, Salamanca, Guanajuato and Moroleon as well as LMB cities such as Puebla, Aguascalientes, Oaxaca and Mexico City. The Mexico City Diablos Rojos won all three pennants under two managers (Jose Luis Sandoval in 2015-16, Victor Bojorquez in 2016-17 and 2017) before the league closed due to financial difficulties.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP: Hermosillo, Sonora

    From our second road trip stop in Mexicali, we'll take Highway 2 eastbound until heading south on Highway 150 for a total drive of 439 miles (or eight hours) to Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora and a city of 812,239 residents, Mexico's 16th-largest. Hermosillo is in a rather unique setting, a landlocked desert city surrounded by various rock formations and crowned in its center by a tall outcrop lit at night by several radio towers.

    Besides serving as a political center, Hermosillo is very much an agriculture-oriented city, especially cattle ranching. It is also an important place for industry, with car-making one of the leading local occupations. Many early figures of the revolutions in the early 20th century called Hermosillo home, including General Alvaro Obregon, Plutarco Elias Calles and Abelardo Rodriguez. However, the relatively recent boom over the past sixty years has all but obliterated anything that may have survived from the old days.

    While Hermosillo is very spread out and not the best place for visitors who like to walk around, there are some interesting things on hand for tourists to check out. The Plaza Zaragosa is very pleasant with many trees and a lacy white bandstand, while on its edge sits a 19th century cathedral featuring twin towers and a dome with crosses atop each. A mostly neo-classical structure, the cathedral took over a century to build.

    Also nearby is the similar Government Palace, most notable for its courtyard murals painted by three artists in the 1980’s. Another interesting spot is the Museo de Sonora, a beautifully-restored former prison (which maintains vestiges of its past life) now serving a museum. South of town is the Centro Ecological de Sonora, a zoo and botanical garden.

    Hermosillo is home to the Mexican Pacific League’s Naranjeros, or “Orange Growers.” The Naranjeros are considered one of the Mex Pac’s flagship franchises, capable of tracing their roots to 1944 and raking in a total of 20 pennants in three leagues, including 16 LMP championships.

    Their last flag was won in 2013-14 under manager Matias Carrillo, who took the team to their second Caribbean Series title (the first was in 1976 with Ben “Cananea” Reyes at the helm). Mexican baseball legend Hector Espino spent 24 winters playing in Hermosillo. The right-handed batting Espino won 13 batting titles and seven home run crowns in the Mex Pac and still holds most LMP career hitting records.

The Naranjeros play their home games at 16,000-seat Estadio Sonora, which was opened on February 1, 2013 and is still considered one of Mexico's top ballparks eight years later, having won two international awards for architecture. Estadio Sonora hosted the Caribbean Series upon its opening and has been the scene of MLB exhibition games between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies in 2015 as well as the WBSC U-23 Baseball Gold Cup last month.

TEAMS ADD PITCHING AS LIGA HITS HOME STRETCH

Kodai Hayama as Mazatlan Venados P

    With fewer than three weeks remaining in the Mexican League's regular season, many teams looking ahead to the playoffs have started bringing in pitching help. One is coming from Japan, another from Taiwan and one more is returning to Mexico after being buried in the minors despite exemplary numbers at the AAA level.

    The expansion Veracruz Aguilas have purchased 28-year-old Kodai Hamaya from the Ibaraki Astro Planets of Japan's independent Challenge League. Hamaya was a Planets teammate of former LMB and LMP outfielder Dariel Alvarez. The left-handed Hamaya pitched between 2014 and 2018 in NPB for the Rakuten Golden Eagles as well as a brief stint with Yokohama in 2019, going 3-1 with a 7.25 ERA over 40 appearances (all but one in relief). He also spent one winter in the MexPac, going 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA as a starter for Mazatlan in 2019-20. Hamaya will become the second Japanese pitcher to appear in the LMB this season, joining Guadalajara's Masaru Nakamura.

    Mexico City bolstered their mound staff by picking up former Los Angeles Angels starter J.C. Ramirez, who was released earlier this month by Taiwan's Fubon Guardians. A six-year veteran of MLB, the 30-year-old Nicaraguan had a 3.43 ERA and 1.18 WHIP for the CPBL club over 57.2 innings at the time he was let go. Ramirez will be making his Mexican League debut with the Diablos Rojos, but he has winterball experience in Venezuela in with Culiacan in the LMP, for whom he went 4-2 with a 1.74 ERA in 2020-21.

    Former Red Sox pitcher Hector Velazquez has returned to Mexico by signing with Monclova after being released by Houston despite pitching well in relief for AAA Sugar Land, the Astros' top affiliate. An Obregon native, Velazquez was 1-1 with a 1.46 ERA for the Skeeters in 14 appearances after posted an 11-7 record in 89 games for Boston between 2017-19.

    The 32-year-old righty made his first start for the Acereros last Friday night in Mexico City, tossing four shutout innings before allowing a run in his fifth and final entrada during an 8-7 loss to the Diablos. Velazquez allowed six hits and two walks, striking out three in his first outing for the defending champions since 2016, when he pitched for Monclova after spending six summers in Campeche. With former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon out of the Steelers lineup for a week after taking a line drive off a knee in his latest start, Velazquez' acquisition from the Astros' organization gained in importance even before his first pitch.

    Monclova will need both Velazquez and Colon as they try to catch up to Guadalajara in the LMB North standings. The Mariachis lead with a Liga-best 34-12 record, four games ahead of 32-18 Tijuana. The Acereros and Saltillo are tied for third at 29-22 apiece while Aguascalientes (20-23), Dos Laredos (22-27), Union Laguna and Monterrey (both 20-27) battle for the final two playoff slots. Durango, at 15-37, are the only North Division team out of contention for the postseason.

Hector Velazquez back with Monclova

    In the LMB South, Mexico City has won six straight and nine of their last ten to take a commanding seven-game lead with a 22-16 mark. Yucatan has dropped seven of their past ten but still possess second place at 26-23. Veracruz (25-25) is third, ahead of Puebla (23-24) while Tabasco and Quintana Roo (24-26 each) are tied for fifth. Campeche (21-26) dropped games Saturday and Sunday after winning seven of their previous eight but still hold a one-game lead for seventh over 22-29 Leon. Oaxaca is showing their first sign of life all season by winning seven of their last ten games, but still bring up the rear at 18-31 overall.

    Guadalajara's Niko Vasquez holds a slim lead over Tito Polo of Durango in the batting race, .413 to .409, as the only two regulars in the LMB still above the .400 mark. Saltillo's Rainel Rosario has caught up with Leon's Xavier Batista in the home run derby at 15 apiece, two ahead of five others at 13 (including Rosario's Saraperos teammate Kennys Vargas). MVP candidate Henry Urrutia, another Saltillo slugger, is now just one RBI behind Tijuana's Leander Castro, 53 to 52. The stolen base lead has been taken by a first baseman, with Quintana Roo's Reynaldo Rodriguez showing 18 swipes in 24 attempts, one more than Tijuana's Isaac Rodriguez, who will likely be in Tokyo for the Olympics for the rest of the regular season.

    Both Guadalajara starter Masaru Nakamura (7-0) and Aguascalientes reliever Anthony Vizcaya (7-1) have seven wins to lead the Liga, one ahead of Bartolo Colon (6-1) of Monclova and Tabasco's Ignacio Marrujo (6-3). Veracruz' Dylan Unsworth continues to top LMB starters with a 2.57 ERA but was placed on the Aguilas' reserve list last Thursday, two days after signing to pitch this winter with Cibao of the Dominican League. Puebla's Jose Valdez is 5-0 and leads the circuit with 58 strikeouts in as many innings pitched, two more than Mexico City's Hector Hernandez. Tijuana closer Fernando Rodney has converted 14 saves in 17 opportunities to lead Carlos Bustamante of Monclova by one in that category. Worth noting is that Tabasco closer Fernando Salas (1-0 with 11 saves) has yet to allow a single run in 20 outings for manager Pedro Mere's surprising Olmecas.

ADRIAN GONZALEZ TO RETIRE AT END OF SEASON

Adrian Gonzalez to retire as a Mariachi

    After having achieved his final baseball goal by representing Mexico in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Adrian Gonzalez will retire from the game after finishing the current Mexican League season with the Guadalajara Mariachis. The 39-year-old first baseman made the announcement last week.

    “For me, this is my last season,” Gonzalez said. “They (the Mariachis) want to convince me to keep playing, but I also have to dedicate my life to my family so hopefully I can close with a medal and a championship.”

    The first player selected in the 2000 MLB draft by the Florida Marlins (receiving a $3 million signing bonus), Gonzales made his big league debut in 2004 with the Texas Rangers and went on to play 15 seasons in the majors, appearing in five All-Star Games, winning four Gold Gloves and appearing in the postseason five times. He began experiencing back problems in 2017 while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and ended up with the New York Mets in 2018 before being released in June of that year. Gonzalez concluded his major league career with a .287 batting average, 317 homers and 1,202 RBIs over 1,929 games.

    The man nicknamed El Titan, whose father David was a ballplayer in Obregon and spent much of his youth growing up in Tijuana, has also played for Mexico in all four World Baseball Classics between 2006 and 2017. After not playing in 2019 or 2020, Gonzalez signed a one-year contract with the expansion Mariachis, eyeing a chance to play in Tokyo this summer after Mexico qualified during the Premier12 tournament in 2019.

El Titan to play for Mexico final time

    "Since Mexico qualified for the Olympics, I told myself it was a great opportunity to say goodbye,” Gonzalez explained at a press conference held with Mexican Olympic manager Benji Gil (who also manages Guadalajara's LMB entry) and Mariachis team president Rafael Tejeda. “I wondered what I had to do to be there, and it was not to stop working. That motivated me. I didn't want to be selected for my career but for work. For me it was total dedication to the Mariachis and to show that I deserve to be part of the National Team. For everything I've had, I thank my family and the fans.”

    The 6'2” 215-pounder has batted .340 for Guadalajara with six homers and 41 RBIs over 43 games. Like the rest of his Verdes Grande teammates, who open Olympic play July 30 against the Dominican Republic, Gonzalez may not return from Japan before the LMB playoffs get underway. The Mariachis lead the LMB North standings and while they haven't mathematically clinched a postseason slot, they're currently 14 games ahead of sixth-place Union Laguna and Monterrey with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

TIGRES TO BE ROAD WARRIORS REMAINDER OF 2021

Cancun ballpark facelift to start this week

    Even though they find themselves in the thick of a battle for a playoff berth in the Mexican League's South Division, the Quintana Roo Tigres will have to play the rest of the 2021 regular season (and the entire postseason, if they qualify) away from Cancun.

    After playing the Tabasco Olmecas at Estadio Beto Avila on Sunday, the Tigres are having to vacate the ballpark for the duration of the schedule so the State of Quintana Roo can begin work on renovating the 40-year-old facility. Being planned are reconfiguring corridors, replacing seating and otherwise making movement within the stadium easier for fans attending games.

    Estadio Beto Avila, one of two ballparks in the LMB named after the former Cleveland Indians star and two-time American League batting champion (who attended opening ceremonies in Cancun), was unveiled on November 23, 1980. The 4,500-seater was used by teams in a local league as well as the Cancun Marlins of the semipro Peninsula League.

    However, the ballpark had been all but abandoned by the time an earlier incarnation of the Puebla Pericos moved to the region in 1996 and played as the Quintana Roo Langosteros, splitting home games between Cancun and Estadio Nachan Ka'an in Chetumal for two seasons. Estadio Beto Avila underwent some remodeling at that time, although light towers had not yet been installed for their first home game against Yucatan on March 14. 

    After Chetumal gained its own Mexican League franchise when the Poza Rica Petroleros shifted there in 1998, the Langosteros were renamed the Cancun Langosteros and played all home games at Estadio Beto Avila through the 2005 season before moving to Poza Rica after Hurricane Wilma wrecked the ballpark in October of that year. Estadio Beto Avila underwent extensive renovations in 2006, with capacity more than doubled to its current 9,500-seat configuration.

Tigres to don road jerseys rest of season

    The Angelopolis Tigres rewarded the effort by moving to Cancun prior to the 2007 season after six tepid campaigns in Puebla. The team has remained since, appearing regularly in the playoffs and winning LMB pennants in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Success on the field has not translated to success in the ticket office, with the heritage franchise annually finishing in the bottom half of the attendance derby. Former Dodgers Hall of Famer Fernando Valenzuela bought the team from Carlos Peralta in early 2017 (after Peralta had threatened to pull the team out of the LMB altogether), but has struggled since the ink on sales documents had even dried.

    Last winter, Valenzuela explored moving the Tigres to San Luis Rio Colorado near the Arizona border last winter until the State came up with subsidies (and apparently renovation of the ballpark they play in), so the franchise will remain in Cancun for at least the near future. With pandemic-inspired seating limitations in place, the Tigres have drawn 38,186 fans (13^th in the 18-team loop) over 29 home games for an average of 1,317 per opening.

    Renovations at Estadio Beto Avila are expected to be complete in time for the beginning of the 2022 season. For now, the Tigres have to reschedule their remaining home series against Yucatan and Veracruz to those teams' home venues while trying to hold off hard-charging Campeche for the sixth and final LMB South playoff berth, starting with three games against the Piratas this week in the Walled City.

HERMOSILLO, CULIACAN WIN AWAY FROM LMP FINALS

Hermosillo CF Jose Cardona

     Hermosillo has been able to overcome the loss of seven players due to positive tests for the Wuhan virus to come to within a win of reaching the LMP championship series. The Naranjeros topped Monterrey, 8-6, Sunday night by overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the first inning to build a 6-3 lead in the top of the sixth before holding on over the final three frames for the win to go up 3 games to 2 in the semifinal series. Julian Leon and Yadiel Hernandez each poked their first playoff homers (Leon's was a two-run blast) to help key the Orangemen triumph while Isaac Paredes, Niko Vasquez and Alex Robles combined for six singles, three runs and two RBIs. Game Six is scheduled for Tuesday at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo.

     The Naranjeros suffered a blow with the loss of both Pitcher of the Year Juan Pablo Oramas and Reliever of the Year Fernando Salas when the team was leading the Sultanes, 2 games to 0, in the series. Also taken off the roster were pitchers Kenneth Sigman, Wilmer Rios and Alan Rangel, catcher Cesar Salazar and shortstop Walter Ibarra. All are expected to be lost to manager Juan Navarrete for at least the rest of the series. Neither Rangel nor Ibarra had appeared in the postseason prior to the time of testing.

     Centerfielder Jose Cardona has been solid in the playoffs for Hermosillo, leading the team with a .357 average and seven RBIs over both stages while Paredes is hitting .368 in five games since being picked up as a reinforcement from Mazatlan. Ryan Verdugo lost a game to Monterrey after winning twice in the first round but his 2.70 ERA tops all Naranjeros starters.

     Among the Sultanes batters, shortstop Roberto Valenzuela leads starters with a .368 average while third baseman Ricardo Serrano's three homers and seven ribbies are tops to augment his .310 BA. Serrano, Culiacan's Jesse Castillo and Victor Mendoza of Obregon are tied for the most playoff homers while Castillo and Mendoza are knotted up for the RBI leadership with eleven apiece. The Sultanes bullpen has carried the day in the postseason, with relievers Francisco Moreno and Norman Elenes combining for five of Monterrey's first six playoff victories. Moreno and Elenes have each won a game in the Sultanes semi set with Hermosillo and the only starter to break through for a win in their first round series with Mexicali was Edgar Gonzalez.

     In the other Final Four matchup, Obregon stayed alive in their series with Culiacan with help from a seemingly unlikely source Sunday. Pitcher Hector Velazquez, a mainstay with the Navojoa Mayos for several winters, tossed 5.1 good innings against the Tomateros and allowed just one run on three hits while striking out four in the Yaquis' 6-2 win in Culiacan. The Tomateros still lead the series, 3 games to 2, and are a win away from the championship series, but they'll have to win on the road Tuesday or Wednesday at Estadio Yaquis for a chance to defend their title. Carlos Sepulveda had four hits in the Obregon win, scoring once, while Dariel Alvarez added another four safeties, including an RBI double that plated Sepulveda in a Yaquis' three-run fifth inning that gave them a 5-0 lead that they never relinquished.

Culiacan reinforcement Jesse Castillo

     Jesse Castillo was red-hot for Culiacan over their first four games against Obregon after being picked up from Guasave as a reinforcement, going 9-for-14 (.638) with four doubles and a pair of roundtrippers while driving in eight runs to give notice that his physical miseries of the past two years may be behind him. Five other Tomateros regulars were batting over .300 for the playoffs, with Efren Navarro (.368), Sebastian Elizalde (.359) and Michael Wing (.343) combining with Castillo to form the most-feared offense left in the LMP playoffs since Jalisco's first-round ouster. Culiacan's pitching has come through for skipper Benji Gil as well, with nine relievers combining for a remarkable 0.00 ERA through the first ten games. The starters haven't done badly either, as Edgar Arredondo (1.42) and Manny Barreda (2.29) are among seven pitchers with one win apiece through the weekend.

     Not that Obregon have been slouches at the plate. Four Yaquis regulars are hitting north of .300 in the postseason, with Leandro Castro (.378) and Alonzo Harris (.316) leading the way. After missing a stretch of the second half, apparently due to an unspecified suspension, Harris has made up for his absence in the playoffs. The 2019 Mexican League MVP has gone 12-for-38 in batting with a double and two homers, staling four bases, scoring nine runs with five RBIs while playing a flawless leftfield. Dallas Martinez has been one of the better postseason starting pitchers, going 2-0 with 13 strikeouts and a 2.40 ERA (although his seven walks over 15 innings are a bit worrisome). A concern for Yaquis manager Sergio Gastelum has been Brazilian Andre Rienzo, who's lost all three of his playoff decisions while seeing his ERA balloon to 14.00 after nine innings of work. Rienzo was 3-0 in the regular season with a 3.15 ERA over six starts and Gastelum would love to see him return to that form ASAP.

     A pair of the Mex Pac's most notable hitters have taken their talents elsewhere for playoff ball. Outfielder Yadir Drake, who was among the LMP batting leaders during the regular season with a .321 average for Guasave (his eight homers and 40 RBIs also ranked in the top ten) begged out of the second reinforcement draft after his Algodoneros were knocked out in the first round so he could return home and play for Matanzas in the Cuban National Series, although he hadn't played for the Cocodrilos through six games as of Sunday night.

     Another LMP veteran, Mexicali first baseman Luis Juarez, signed on with Cibaenas of the Domincan League after he wasn't chosen as a reinforcement despite batting .333 with a homer and a MexPac-leading nine RBIs in the first round. Juarez was picked up by the Aguilas as a reinforcement heading into their LiDom championship series against the Cibao Gigantes but (like Drake) hadn't appeared for his new team as of Sunday.

ORAMAS CHOSEN AS LMP PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Hermosillo lefty Juan Pablo Oramas

     The Mexican Pacific League announced last week that Hermosillo left-hander Juan Pablo Oramas was chosen by the specialized press (any definition of “specialized” welcome) as the LMP's 2020-21 Pitcher of the Year, winning the Vicente “Huevo” Romo Trophy.

     Oramas finished with an 8-2 record and a 2.80 ERA in 12 starts, throwing 70.2 innings in his rotation role. The native of Villahermosa, Tabasco ended up sharing the lead of victories with Luis Miranda of Guasave, who took the Rookie of the Year award. Oramas was also the second-best in strikeouts with 57, trailing only the 64 whiffs of Culiacan's Manny Barreda.

     The 30-year-old portsider was signed in 2007 as a free agent by San Diego and went 2-3 with a 3.81 ERA for the Padres' Dominican Summer League rookie team that year. He returned to the Santo Domingo-based outfit in 2009 and was 3-2 with a microscopic 1.02 ERA in 19 games (including five starts), but he spent most of that season with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and was named the Mexican League's Rookie of the Year after going 9-1 and posting a 2.31 earned-run average over 89.2 innings, appearing in the LMB All-Star Game. Oramas had a rocky winterball season for Mex Pac champion Hermosillo (2-3, 4.59) but made a couple of relief appearances for the Naranjeros at the Caribbean Series.

Oramas as a Padres MiLBer

     Oramas went on to spend five more summers in the Padres system, earning California League Pitcher of the Week honors once with Lake Elsinore in 2010 and pitching in a game for AAA Tucson one year later, before San Diego waived him in December 2014. Toronto signed him five days later but he was cut in the Jays' 2015 training camp. Since then, he's been one of the more solid pitchers in Mexican baseball, pitching in both the 2015 and 2018 All-Star Games along the way. Through seven Liga seasons, Oramas has a 39-30 with a 4.17 ERA. Over 12 Mex Pac campaigns, he's gone 44-28 and registered 3.55 on the ERA meter.

     Oramas, who becomes the first Hermosillo hurler to be named Pitcher of the Year since Edgar Gonzalez did it in 2002-03, garnered 57 percent of the votes to easily beat out Jalisco's Luis Ivan Rodriguez (17%), Javier Solano of Mexicali (12%), Solano's Aguilas moundmate Miguel Pena (6%), Guasave's Luis Miranda (5%) and Dallas Martinez of Oaxaca (3%).

Winners of Mexican Pacific League awards thus far:
Rookie of the Year (Baldomero “Melo” Almada Trophy): Luis Miranda, Guasave.
Reliever of the Year (Isidro Márquez Trophy): Fernando Salas, Hermosillo.
Pitcher of the Year (Vicente “Huevo” Romo Trophy): Juan Pablo Oramas, Hermosillo.

16 MEXICANS AMONG TOP PROSPECTS IN 30 MLB SYSTEMS

2B Nick Gonzalez

     A total of 16 Mexican players were placed in the lists of the top 30 best prospects in each of the 30 different Major League organizations, according to the most recent listing on MLB.com.

     Nick González, born in the United States to Mexican parents, was chosen seventh overall by Pittsburgh in the 2020 Draft out of New Mexico State University and is regarded as the top prospect of the Pirates and the # 32 prospect of all the Major Leagues, being the only Mexican in the MLB top 100. Called the “best all-around hitter in college baseball” by the Fansided website, Gonzalez hit .399 with 37 homers and 152 RBIs in 128 games over three seasons for the Aggies (including .448/12/36 numbers in 16 games last spring before the schedule was canceled due to the pandemic) while playing second base, shortstop and centerfield.

     Other players such as Luis González (Chicago White Sox), Gerardo Carrillo (Los Angeles Dodgers), Tirso Ornelas (San Padres de San Diego) and Chihuahua pitcher Efraín Contreras (San Diego Padres) rose in their respective team rankings while the newcomers on the list are Milan Tolentino (Cleveland Indians), Mateo Gil (San Luis Cardinals) and Omar Cruz (San Diego Padres). Second baseman Nick Madrigal is rated #3 in the White Sox system, catcher Alejandro Kirk is Toronto's sixth-ranked prospect, as is Detroit infielder Isaac Paredes, while pitcher Seth Romero rates seventh among Washington's youngsters and first baseman Drew Mendoza (a fellow Nats hopeful) is ninth in that organization.

Jays C prospect Alejandro Kirk

     Both Kirk and Paredes remain in the same positions in their organizational rankings and continue to be considered as “prospects” although, like Luis González, they already debuted in the Major Leagues in 2020. Kirk hit .375 with a homer in nine games for the Jays, Paredes hit .220 with a grand slam over 33 games for the Tigers and started 30 games at third base last season (most among Detroit players) while Hermosillo product Gonzalez appeared in three games for the White Sox in 2020. Three of the top 30 Chisox prospects hail from south of the border, as do three players in the Padres and Nationals organizations.

     Among the remaining prospects, Padres #10 prospect Ornelas hit .273 in 18 Mexican Pacific League games for Obregon and Navojoa this winter before being shelved with an arm injury in November while the Cardinals' #22 prospect Gil, the son of Culiacan manager Benji Gil, batted .186 for the Tomateros in 16 regular season games and has gone 0-for-1 in his lone playoff appearance thus far.

THE 16 MEXICANS IN THE TOP 30 OF THEIR ORGANIZATIONS
CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 2B Nick Madrigal (#3), OF Luis González (#11), P Bernardo Flores (#16).
CLEVELAND INDIANS: SS Milan Tolentino (#23).
DETROIT TIGERS: 3B Isaac Paredes (#6).
LOS ANGELES DODGERS: P Gerardo Carrillo (#16).
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES : P JoJo Romero (#14).
PITTSBURGH PIRATES: 2B Nick Gonzáles (#1).
SAN DIEGO PADRES: OF Tirso Ornelas (#10), P Omar Cruz (#17), P Efraín Contreras (#29).
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: IF Mateo Gil (#22).
TORONTO BLUE JAYS: C Alejandro Kirk (#6).
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: P Seth Romero (#7), 1B Drew Mendoza (#9), C Tres Barrera (#17).

AGUILAS GIVEN GREEN LIGHT FOR FANS IN STANDS

Mexicali's El Nido ballpark

     The number of Mexican Pacific League teams allowed to open their home ballparks to limited fans at home games is now up to five. Rafael Martinez Barraza of AlBat.com reports that Mexicali mayor Marina del Pilar Avila has authorized the Aguilas to admit up to 30 percent of El Nido's 17,000-seat capacity (or about 5,100 fans) during the 2020-21 season. The governor of Sinaloa gave the green light for four Mex Pac teams to open their stadiums for up to about 40 percent capacity this season. The league schedule will begin Thursday, October 15 while the Aguilas will host Monterrey in their home opener five nights later. Mexicali is the loop's lone team in Baja California.

     Martinez says league security protocols will be strictly adhered to during Aguilas home games this winter. In order to enter El Nido, fans will be required to have their temperature taken at the gate, use antibacterial gel and wear masks in the stands. Mayor del Pilar adds that if Mexicali experiences an outbreak of the Wuhan virus during the season, the stadium will be closed to the public and people who bought tickets in advance will “eventually” be given a refund.

     The partial opening in Mexicali leaves five LMP franchises still looking at playing behind closed doors this winter: Hermosillo, Navojoa and Obregon in Sonora, Monterrey in Nuevo Leon and Jalisco in that state. Martinez says the four Sinaloa teams allowed by Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel have already begun to block off their ballpark seating to reflect social distancing requirements, including the Mazatlan Venados.

Seats in Mazatlan being blocked off

     At Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, where the 2021 Caribbean Series is scheduled to be held in late January and early February, Venados staff members are covering three seats in each row, with two seats being left open in alternating fashion for occupancy during games. The scheme is meant to provide a “cushion” of sorts in which pairs of fans will be surrounded by empty seats to the front, rear and sides in a zig-zag pattern.

     All ballparks allowing fans to attend games are expected to follow a similar format.

PLAYERS REPORTING AS ALL MEX PAC CAMPS GET UNDERWAY

     Ballplayers from across Mexico and points elsewhere have been reporting to the Mexican Pacific League teams as all ten LMP training camps are now in full swing. Opening night is a little over two weeks away, with five games slated for Thursday, October 15.

Johnny Davis rounding third for Rays

   Three players in particular are considered vital for the upcoming season by their respective Mex Pac squads, including incoming Culiacan outfielder Johnny Davis. The 30-year-old Davis had a very good year in the Mexican League in 2019, batting an even .300 and leading the LMB with 54 stolen bases for Dos Laredos and Oaxaca before his contract was sold to the Tampa Bay Rays in md-August. After spending a few days with the Rays' AA Montgomery affiliate, the Compton Comet was called up for his MLB debut September 11. He played eight games for the Rays and had a triple in four at-bats, scoring five runs while being used primarily as a pinch-runner.

     Davis, who did not play baseball in high school, signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay for 2020 but has not played this season. He's being brought to the defending champion Tomateros to replace centerfielder Rico Noel, who refused to sign a contract with the team at a lower salary. Culiacan sport manager Mario Valdez says, “We're confident he can help us very well by covering center field and being the team's leadoff hitter. He has excellent speed and that fits very well with the type of game that we've been playing in recent years.” Davis is expected to report October 1. This will be the 5'10 switch-hitter's first season in the Mex Pac, although he has played winterball in Venezuela in the past.

Japhet Amador in Charros batting cage

     One player who needs no introduction to LMP fans is looking forward to his 13th season in the league. Hulking first baseman/designated hitter Japhet Amador has reported to the Jalisco Charros training camp in Guadalajara after missing all of last season to heal an Achilles tendon injury he'd suffered in late 2019 playing for Mexico City in the Mexican League. The 6'4” 310-pounder whose nickname is “The Mulege Giant” acknowledges that he has work to do after not playing baseball for over 13 months. “A year without playing is something difficult to come back from,” Amador says. “You have to be ready at the beginning of the season to do well all year long.”

     When healthy, Amador may be the most feared slugger in Mexican baseball. After his 2007 Mexican League debut with the Minatitlan Petroleros at age 20, Amador has hit .332 with 195 homers in 794 games over 10 LMB seasons while cracking another 96 roundtrippers to augment a .269 average in ten LMP winters. He also socked 56 homers over 242 games in three seasons in Japan with the Rakuten Eagles before being sent packing for PED use in 2018. Amador had a .336/28/115 season for Mexico City in 2019 and is expected to be one of the anchors of Jalisco's batting order this winter along with outfielder Dariel Alvarez and longtime third baseman Agustin Murillo. Alvarez and Murillo were expected to report to the team in Guadalajara last week and undergo testing for the Wuhan virus before integrating with their teammates.

Navojoa Mayos righty Hector Velazquez

     A top pitcher joined the Navojoa Mayos on Friday after a sometimes-trying summer during which he was a member of three MLB organizations without entering a single game after having spent parts of the previous three years with Boston. Hector Velazquez, a 31-year-old righty from Obregon who went 11-7 in 879 appearances (including 19 starts) between 2017 and 2019, opened the year in the Red Sox training camp hoping for a berth with a team rebuilding just two years after winning the World Series.

     Instead, Velazquez was waived to Baltimore in early March shortly before the pandemic shut down baseball across the Western Hemisphere and then traded to Houston on July 29 for a player to be named later. A two-time LMP Pitcher of the Year with Navojoa, Velazquez went 1-1 with a 1.80 in ten innings over as many appearances last season for the Mayos. In nine Mex Pac seasons, the last ten with Navojoa, Velazquez has a 29-23 record with a 3.87 ERA. Over seven summers in the Mexican League, six of them for Campeche, he was 43-29 over 120 starts with a 3.76 ERA. His best year was in 2016-17, when he went a combined 15-4 for the Piratas and Mayos, turned in a 2.33 ERA and struck out 218 batters while walking only 35 overall in 227 innings.

BBM EDITORIAL: MEXICAN LEAGUE MUST CONTRACT TO SURVIVE

IN: Puebla Pericos

     When I wrote my first column on Mexican baseball for the OurSports Central website in March 2005, it was a temporary creative outlet between radio jobs. I'd cover the Mexican League until September, when I'd hopefully be back in radio, and that would be it. I eventually did land a radio job that summer but a funny thing happened by the time manager Che Reyes had piloted the Angelopolis Tigres to the LMB pennant: I'd come to care about the Mexican League and baseball south of the border in general, so I kept on writing and fifteen years later, I'm still here. Radio? Haven't earned a living in it since 2012. Who knew?

     In all this time, although I've thrown an occasional personal observation into a story, I've tried to maintain the role of objective reporter rather than biased commentator about baseball in Mexico. It hasn't always been easy but I think I've largely succeeded and can count the number of editorials I've written on this topic on one hand. Journalistic detachment aside, I truly want the Mexican League to not only survive but flourish and the things we've all seen the past few years suggest the opposite is happening. Things HAVE to change or the LMB may collapse under its own weight.

     The biggest threat to the survival of the Mexican League is that there are simply too many teams. While there are certainly a number of success stories among the LMB's 16 clubs (Tijuana, Monterrey, Monclova, Yucatan, etc.), there are far too many are underperforming franchises that are dragging the rest of the Liga down with them. For every team like the Tijuana Toros, who led all of Minor League Baseball by averaging 11,291 per night in attendance, there are two teams like the Leon Bravos (who averaged fewer than 3,500 a game) and the Campeche Piratas, whose 1,743 per opening ranked an embarrassing 146th among all Minor League Baseball teams, including every team in the short-season Class A Northwest League. What are Leon and Campeche doing in a AAA league in 2020?

     The Mexican League was going to contract to 12 teams in 2019 by giving Aguascalientes, Laguna, Leon and Puebla the year off (ostensibly to reorganize their finances), but then-new Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador overruled the move and ordered all four team reinstated. Puebla was somewhat resuscitated under wealthy new owner Jose “The King of Beans” Miguel and the Pericos averaging 4,693 per game, seventh in the LMB, but the other three continued continued to languish on and off the field.

     So what to do? As a longtime believer than any league, like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest league, the Mexican League needs to say adios to its weakest links by contracting. There were still too many poor franchises even after the first contraction attempt so rather than dropping four teams, the LMB would be best served by cutting itself in half to eight teams. My observation (admittedly from a distance) is that those eight remaining teams should be the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monclova Acereros, Monterrey Sultanes, Puebla Pericos, Saltillo Saraperos, Tijuana Toros, Yucatan Leones and Mexico City Tigres.

   Yes, the Tigres should return to the city of their birth to revive their 65-year rivalry with the Diablos, even though that guarantees that Fernando Valenzuela will sell the team rather than co-exist with a rival that has been the bane of his existence since buying the legacy franchise in early 2018. The smaller Mexican League would maintain balance, with four teams in the LMB North (Monclova, Monterrey, Saltillo, Tijuana) and four in the LMB South (Diablos, Tigres, Puebla and Yucatan). Assuming the Tigres are sold to qualified buyers who could co-exist with Alfredo Harp Helu and the Red Devils (perhaps even as tenants in Harp's namesake ballpark), all eight franchises would have financially solid ownerships in cities that have all proven past support for baseball.

OUT: Campeche Piratas

     This is not to say that the eight contracted franchises shouldn't have the chance to be part of future LMB expansions after the Liga stabilizes. They could even continue to serve as AA affiliates of remaining LMB teams for player development and call-ups, much as the Liga Norte has done in the past. A four-team Liga Centro could be formed with Aguascalientes, Dos Laredos, Durango and Laguna while a similar Liga Sur could be cobbled from Campeche, Leon, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Although salaries would be lower, such a move would save 200 playing jobs while teams operating on lower budgets would have a better chance of sustainability at the AA level.

     How likely is any of this? Frankly, Don Quixote's dream was more realistic. Even owners in a league in dire need of change to survive in the future would find it too difficult to do, even if it meant strengthening their product in the process, and let's not forget how AMLO killed a contraction half the size of this one. Just as Major League Baseball and Rob Manfred are using the bizarre 2020 season to reshape all of baseball north of the border (with rumblings that MLB even has an eye on a takeover of Little League Baseball), the Mexican League has a similar opportunity to take a hard and honest look at how it might best continue operating without drowning in a sea of red ink. Right now, the LMB has eight underfinanced and inadequately supported franchises dragging down the other eight that appear to be succeeding. They need to go, at least for now.

     What appears to be a most radical change also seems to be the most obvious one. Even the strongest trees need pruning to remain healthy.

CORONAVIRUS PANIC DELAYS LMB SEASON FIVE WEEKS

Mexican League openers moved to May 11

When fears over the coronavirus grounded every other professional baseball league around the world to a halt, the Mexican League still expected to begin their 2020 schedule on April 6 as planned. That changed Saturday morning when the LMB office ordered all preseason camps among its 16 teams closed and delayed its season openers until Monday, May 11, five weeks after the original date. The Class A Northern Mexico League suspended its camps and season one day later.

Virtually every professional and collegiate sports league in the United States had suspended operations by the end last week after the number of COVID-19 cases in the USA rose to nearly 3,000 over the weekend, with 60 deaths reported. Worldwide, the numbers stand at a combined 157,000 active and closed cases and over 5,800 deaths, with coronavirus source nation China accounting for more than half of both figures. Mexico, on the other hand, has thus far remained relatively untouched by what the World Health Organization recently declared a "pandemic." As of Saturday, there were just 26 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (22 active) with one person listed in serious or critical condition, but no deaths thus far.

Mexico's total cases among its population of over 100,000,000 stands at 0.2 per million residents, one of the lowest rates in the world. Conversely, nine countries have over 100 cases per million (with Italy at 349.6), with South Korea leading nations with pro baseball leagues at 159.2 per million with 75 deaths. The United States is down the list at 9.0 per million total cases with 60 deaths, Japan is at 6.4 with 22 fatalities and Taiwan (whose Chinese Professional Baseball League is the most recent play-for-pay circuit to postpone their openers) shows 2.2 cases per million with two deaths. Besides Italy, Europe's other pro loop, Holland's Hoofdklasse, has suspended operations as The Netherlands shows 56 cases per million with 12 deaths.

All LMB teams ordered to close camps

With such relatively low numbers south of the border, the LMB was the last league standing, although some teams had adjusted their training camp venues and/or schedules as a precautionary measure. The Tijuana Toros, for instance abandoned their preseason work at South Mountain Community College in Tempe, Arizona last Friday in response to an alert from the state government ordering (among other things) the closure of all schools. The Toros arrived in Tempe on March 1 and planned to spend the entire month training in the Phoenix suburb. Instead, they broke camp after less than two weeks.

Even so, Mexican League teams were working their way toward their respective openers, with Monclova defeating Leon, 9-5, last Wednesday in the Liga's first exhibition game of the year at the LMB Academy near Monterrey as Jeremy Martinez homered for the defending champions. Ultimately, however, it appears that governmental pressure generated by coronavirus fears led the league office to issue a statement on Saturday morning that opened: The Mexican Baseball League (LMB) reports that the preseason of all the teams that make up our circuit is officially suspended and the start of the 2020 season is postponed to Monday, May 11, 2020; as long as there is no new notice, in accordance with the health authorities of the Federal Government.

The postponement comes at a difficult time for the Mexican League, which had already shortened its regular season schedule to 102 games and are facing the potential loss of 30 games during their five-week dark period. As outlined in last week's BBM post of Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra's interview with new LMB president Horacio de la Vega, the league office is already cash-strapped (as are many, if not most, of its teams), and the loss of up to 240 games' worth of revenue will not help matters. However, public safety concerns are taking precedence as Mexicans brace themselves for their country's first fatality from COVID-19.

LMB PLAYER UNREST BUBBLING DUE TO SALARY CAP, DQ LIST

OF Leo German is out of work for 2020

Labor relations between the Mexican League and its players has historically been tenuous at best, with a 1980 midseason strike leading to the creation of a six-team splinter league that finished out the year with an abbreviated schedule among the more obvious examples of tensions bubbling over. While things have been quieter over recent seasons, a pair of issues irritating the players have surfaced and led to renewed calls for a players union.

One such issue is the imposition of an LMB team salary cap of five million pesos per month, equal to approximately US$250,000. On the surface, that doesn't appear to be an unreasonable limit in a league with teams carrying 35 men (30 of them active) on their rosters, which would work out to an average of US$7,143 per player. That's competitive with Class AAA salaries north of the border, where first-year players earn a minimum of US$2,140 per month, and enough to live quite well south of it. However, as is often the case with Mexican baseball, it's not that simple.

In the first place, even though there's a monthly salary cap of 5,000,000 pesos in place, not all teams can afford to pay that much. Wealthier franchises like Mexico City, Monterrey, Tijuana and Monclova have no problem coming up with that kind of money for payroll, but less prosperous teams like Tabasco, Aguascalientes and Union Laguna simply don't generate enough revenue to pay their players as well as their richer Liga counterparts. The Durango Generales, for example, generated stories during their first LMB season in 2017 when they sometimes went weeks without paying players, leading some to force trades by either sitting out games or making similar threats; it's how Daniel Mayora ended up in Monterrey (winning the batting title) and MVP candidate Yadier Drake landed in Japan.

Secondly, not every player is going to be paid the same. While some players, especially extraneros with major league experience, can command salaries higher than US$10,000 per month (does anyone think Monclova is paying Bartolo Colon less?), many others will earn half that amount or less, particularly Mexican-born players with less experience and no option of signing with an MLB organization because their rights are owned by their LMB team. The divide between the haves and have-nots is creating friction among the latter, many of whom may be earning about 50,000 pesos (US$2,500) per month.

Another point of contention has been the existence of a list of Restricted Players who are disqualified for the 2020 season because they did not sign a contract with their LMB by a specified date. Here is the list of eight Restricted players (each of whom has at least three years of experience), released by the Mexican League last week:

Hector Ambriz, P, Saltillo Saraperos

Leo German, OF, Dos Laredos Tecolotes

Demetrio Gutierrez, P, Campeche Piratas

Carlos Mendivil, C, Saltillo Saraperos

Jorge Quinones, P, Aguascalientes Rieleros

Alex Sanabia, P, Aguascalientes Rieleros

Zack Segovia, P, Leon Bravos

Kenneth Sigman, P, Dos Laredos Tecolotes

C Carlos Mendivil wants a players union

None of the above are considered stars, although Ambriz, Sanabia and Segovia have pitched in the majors while German emerged with a .322 average and 10 homers for the Tecos in 2019 after several years as a substitute with Monterrey. However, baseball IS how they earn a living, they're now in effect blacklisted by the Mexican League for missing a signing deadline and some aren't taking it silently.

On Twitter, German called the Restricted List a "disgrace," adding that "Mexicans are the ones who get the worst treatment." Mendivil, a reserve catcher for the past seven years, decried the lack of a players union in Mexico, saying "there is no organization of players who fight for what is fair for each one as a professional baseball player." 

Outrage was not limited to the affected players.  Pitcher Hector Velazquez, an Obregon native recently picked up on waivers by Baltimore after going 11-7 over parts of three years with Boston, sent out three tweets blasting the listings, saying it was "outrageous and that it can't be possible that they (LMB) have left the Mexican players out of work."

Leon first baseman Jesse Castillo, a two-time Liga MVP, added his voice to Mendivil's in advocating for a players union and calling upon Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the nation's highest-ranking baseball fan, to step in. "If you want to set a precedent, Senor Presidente, the moment has arrived," said Castillo. "The players need to be protected by a union so this does not happen in our baseball."

FELIX PIE, EX-ROY ROMARIO GIL SIGN WITH CAMPECHE

Felix Pie poses for another Pirates team

Although the Mexican League season will be delayed until at least mid-May, the Campeche Piratas have made a couple of roster moves that figure to make the Walled City nine more competitive. The Buccaneers recently signed former Major League outfielder Felix Pie and 2018 Rookie of the Year Romario Gil as free agents under new manager Francisco Campos.

The 35-year-old Pie figures to make an immediate impact in the Campeche lineup once play begins. Once ranked by Baseball America as the top prospect in the Cubs' minor league system, Pie made his MLB debut with Chicago as a 22-year-old in 2007. Although the Dominican-born son of Haitian immigrants went on to play all or part of six MLB seasons with the Cubs, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, Pie never fulfilled his early promise although there were occasional flashes of brilliance along the way. After his final big league appearance in 2013, he spent the next year in South Korea and hit .326 with 17 homers and 92 RBIs for the Hanwha Eagles. He also spent time in Taiwan before coming to Mexico in 2018 with Leon.

Over the past two years as the Bravos' leftfielder, Pie hit a combined .356 with 38 homers and 141 RBIs over 192 games. He's expected to jumpstart a Piratas lineup that finished 15th in the LMB in scoring (5.38 runs per game), 14th in batting (.295) and 11th in homers (130). He'll round out an outfield that includes speedy CF Jay Austin (.329 with 15 homers and 31 steals) and well-traveled veteran RF Olmo Rosario (.321 with 12 homers), whose 18-year career has taken him to five countries, including a couple of .300+ seasons in Italy.

Romario Gil seeks a new start in Campeche

Expectations aren't quite as high for the 25-year-old Gil, a 6'1" lefty from Culiacan who made his Mexican League debut with five appearances for Monclova in 2017. One year later, he was selected as the Liga's top rookie after being loaned to Puebla and going a combined 6-2 in 17 starts over two short seasons, including a 4-0 ledger with a 2.47 ERA in the Fall campaign for the Pericos. Sensing that Gil might be ready to help his Acereros, Monclova owner Gerardo Benavides brought him back to "The Furnace." Although the 221-pounder did go 5-1 for the eventual league champions, his 5.86 ERA was less than impressive and after spending July on the disabled list, Gil was demoted to the bullpen for the rest of the season. Things went no better last winter with Gil's hometown Tomateros even though he pitched for the Mexican Pacific League champs, as he recorded a 1-5 record and a 5.92 ERA in six starts for Benji Gil's team.

The bar will be set far lower in Gil's new surroundings as he goes from pitching for two pennant-winning teams to one that last flew a title flag in 2004. He's presently on the Piratas reserve list and was starting out in the bullpen under pitching coach Isidro Marquez (the LMB's all-time saves leader) when training camp was suspended last weekend, and may be given a shot at a spot in the starting rotation when play resumes. He may be an improvement for a team with a collective 6.26 earned-run average last year, although Campeche pitchers miraculously combined for eight shutouts in 2019.