LEONES TOP SULTANES 6-1 IN GAME 7, WIN LMB CROWN

Yucatan Leones pitcher Henderson Alvarez

           The Yucatan Lions were crowned Mexican League champions for the fifth time in their history last Monday, thanks to pitcher Henderson Alvarez and outfielder Jose “Cafecito” Martinez. The Merida squad joins their predecessors from 1957, 1984, 2006 and Spring 2018 as pennant-winners, leaving behind two consecutive defeats in the Serie del Rey after skipper Roberto Vizcarra and his players defeated the Monterrey Sultanes, 6-1, in the seventh and deciding game as a sellout crowd of  21,909 at Estadio Monterrey looked on.

Nicknamed “Chapo,” the 55-year-old Vizcarra managed Yucatan’s Spring 2018 champions before parting ways with Leones owners Juan Jose and Erick Arellano after a first-round playoff exit in the second abbreviated Fall 2018 season. Vizcarra was brought back to manage Yucatan on May 30 when Luis Matos was relieved of his duties after piloting the Merida club to a 14-19 record, marking the third mid-year change at the helm in as many seasons for the Leones and sixth such move since 2013. Yucatan went 32-24 the rest of the way under Vizcarra to finish fourth in the LMB South during the regular season before defeating Puebla, Quintana Roo and Mexico City in the playoffs to reach the title series against manager Roberto Kelly’s Sultanes. He managed Jalisco to a Mexican Pacific League pennant last winter.

The Leones were paced in Game Seven by the mound work of Alvarez, a former big league starter in Toronto and Miami who was selected to the 2014 All-Star Game as the Marlins representative but did not appear. The 31-year-old Venezuelan tossed eight-plus innings of one-run ball and scattered seven hits to earn the win on the heels of 7.2 shutout innings in a Game Three triumph, and was named the Serie del Rey's Most Valuable Player for 2022 by media members.

After driving in just one run over the first six games of the finals, Martinez picked the right time to wake his bat up for the winners, doubling in Norberto Obeso in the top of the first to put the visitors on the scoreboard, scoring Obeso on a single in the fifth and then crashing a three-run homer off Wander Suero in the seventh to bring in Obeso and Art Charles before crossing the plate himself. Walter Ibarra stroked a solo homer off Monterrey closer Neftali Feliz in the top of the ninth to give Yucatan a 6-0 lead. 

Alvarez came out in the bottom of the frame to complete his complete game shutout bid but after Sultanes leadoff batter Zoilo Almonte deposited a 1-1 pitch (Alvarez’ 102nd of the game) over the left field wall, Vizcarra brought Jorge Rondon from the bullpen to complete the inning and season by holding Monterrey scoreless the rest of the way.

Martinez, who grew up 125 miles from Alvarez in Venezuela, finished the night 4-for-5 at the plate with five RBIs for Yucatan while Orlando Calixte had three singles and Almonte homered and singled for the Sultanes.  Yoanner Mendez had a decent start for Monterrey, allowing two runs on five hits over 4.2 innings, but was no match for Alvarez and took the loss.

With this title, the Leones win their fifth flag to equal the Dos Laredos Tecolotes as for fifth among LMB teams with the most pennants (Mexico City has 16, the Quintana Roo Tigres have 12 and Monterrey has won 10). Vizcarra climbs in the record books to third place among managers with the most titles in the LMB, reaching four (2013 and 2015 with the Tigres, Spring 2018 and 2022 with Yucatan) to trail only Lazaro Salazar (7) and Benjamin “Cananea” Reyes (6).

TIJUANA, MEXICALI SPLIT CLASICO CON CAUSA SERIES

Tijuana Toros OF/P Felix Perez

     While the Mexican League was wrapping up its 2022 season in Monterrey, the Mexican Pacific League’s ten teams were already in full training camp mode. Although their season had officially ended with their elimination by Monterrey in the LMB North Division championship series, the Tijuana Toros were able to assemble a squad to play a two-game “Clasico con Causa” (“Classic with a Cause”) series against the LMP Mexicali Aguilas as a fundraiser for two cancer-fighting organizations, the Fundacion Mujeres Que Viven of Mexicali and Fundacion Castro Limon of Tijuana.

The short set opened Friday night in Mexicali at a sold out El Nido ballpark with a resounding 9-1 win before 13,000 fanaticos for the host Aguilas, who broke the game open early with an 8-run third inning, aided by a pair of costly Toros errors. Tijuana had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Junior Lake scored from third on a Zach Kirtley single up the middle off Eagles starter Eduardo Vera. The lone run held until the fateful third, which was keyed by Kevin Zamudio’s two-run double and an RBI single by venerable Aguilas outfielder Chris Roberson. 

A 43-year-old Californian who hit .317 with 10 homers and nine steals in 78 Mexican League games between Leon and Monclova in his 22nd summer of pro ball, Roberson is a naturalized Mexican citizen who has settled his family in Monterrey and is arguably the most beloved American ballplayer south of the border today. He received a warm ovation from Mexicali fans, for whom he’d played nine winterball seasons before spending the last two Mex Pac campaigns in Mazatlan, when he was pulled for pinch-runner Israel Camacho after his one-bagger. 

Mexicali reliever Thomas Melgarejo was awarded the win after the left-hander had a strong outing out of the bullpen while Daniel de la Fuente’s disastrous third inning was enough to tag him with the loss. 

The second and closing game of the historic first series between the two neighboring border cities was held Saturday in Tijuana as the Toros held off Mexicali, 6-4, at Estadio Nacional with 12,974 onlookers in the stands.

Tijuana again drew first blood in the opening inning, taking a 3-0 lead on a Jose Guadalupe Chavez single that scored Isaac Rodriguez and a double from Agustin Murillo that plated Lake and Felix Perez. Mexicali woke the scorekeeper in the top of the third when Yahir Gamez socked a homer over the left field wall to close the gap to two runs, but Perez responded with a two-run roundtripper of his own to right in the bottom of the entrada to stretch the Bulls’ advantage to 5-1. 

Not to be put away that easily, the Aguilas made it a 5-3 game in the top of the fourth on Fernando Diaz’ two-run single but Perez put the game away in the bottom of the eighth with a run-scoring safety to bring the Toros’ lead to 6-3 and while Mexicali scored one more time in the top of the ninth, the visitors ran out of outs to fall by a pair of runs.

Perez did more than just homer and drive in three runs for the winners.  The 37-year-old Cuban expat, who’d spent five years in the Reds system before coming to Mexico in 2015, pitched a scoreless fifth inning and was awarded the victory.  The 6’2” lefty, who hit .323 with 38 homers to tie Saltillo’s Rainel Rosario for most in the Liga this summer, made four relief appearances for his hometown Isla de la Juventud team in the Cuban National Series and tossed two-thirds of an inning for AAA Louisville in 2014, allowing nine runs on six hits and five walks. Maybe he’s been working on his slider.

MEXICO FINISHES SIXTH AT U-18 BASEBALL WORLD CUP

Celebration of win over Panama

After a fairly promising start in which they won three of five first round games at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup at spring training sites in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida, the Mexican U-18 National Team lost all three of their Super Round games to finish sixth overall in the 12-team event earlier this month under manager Enrique “Che” Reyes.

Mexico opened Group B play on Saturday, September 10 with a 9-5 win over Australia at Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium, spring home of the Baltimore Orioles. Rosman Verdugo doubled in Carlos Gutierrez with the first run of the game for the Mexicans in the top of the first inning, followed by an RBI single from Yael Romero, who later scored on an Alberto Barriga groundout. A two-run Romero double capped a four-run fourth inning in which Mexico opened a 7-0 lead and never looked back. Romero finished with four RBIs on the night while starter Manuel Rodriguez tossed four innings of one-run ball to earn the win.

One day later, a three-run first for Japan was the difference as the top-ranked team went on to top Mexico, 4-1, at the former McKechnie Field in Bradenton, spring headquarters of the Pittsburgh Pirates since 1969. The key hit for Japan in the first was a two-run, two-out single to right by Kaito Ito of Mexico starter Angel Sanchez that gave the visiting team a 3-0 lead that turned out to be insurmountable. Mexican batters could only muster one run on four hits, including a Romero single that drove in Verdugo in the fifth, against winner Kazuki Kozai and reliever Haruya Miyahara. Kozai allowed one hit in four shutout innings. Sanchez took the loss for Mexico.

Mexico bounced back on September 12 with a 12-7 triumph over Italy in Bradenton as leadoff hitter Antonis Macias went 4-for-5 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored for the victors. Italy held a 2-1 lead until the top of the third, when Mexico erupted for five runs in the third. Barriga and Daniel Sierra each contributed two-run doubles  while Macias’ RBI three-bagger chased Italian starter Giacomo Taschin. Italy kept battling and were within 9-7 until Mexico scored thrice in the top of the seventh (two on Barriga’s second double of the afternoon) to salt the contest away. Reliever Victor Landeros took the win while Anhuar Garcia held Italy scoreless on three hits over the final 2.2 innings to earn the save for Mexico, but it was a hitter’s day as both teams combined for 25 safeties over seven innings.

The Mexicans could have used some of that offensive output during their September 13 loss to defending U-18 champs Taiwan, 4-0. Lin Shao-En pitched a complete game one-hitter for the Formosans, needing only 85 pitches over seven innings. Manue Estrada averted the no-hit bid with a leadoff single on an 0-2 pitch in the top of the fifth but Lin was in control throughout., striking out eight batters and walking one. Mexico, who entered the tournament ranked fourth in the world, did not help their own cause by committing four errors in the field 

It was back to Bradenton on September 14, when Mexico beat Panama, 8-7, in eight innings for their last win in Florida. After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, Mexico plated five runs on just two hits in the bottom of the frame. Macias stroked a leadoff double and scored on a Gutierrez single but the next four runs were scored without benefit of a hit, thanks in part to two walks and two hit batsmen. Panama fought back and tied the game with two seventh-inning runs, but with runners placed on first and second in the bottom of the eighth via WBSC tiebreaker rules, Macias’ single to right brought in Barriga from second for the walk-off win.  Macias had his second straight four-hit game, scoring twice and driving in the game-winner, while Gutierrez had three hits, one run and a ribbie. The win gave Mexico a 3-2 first round record, edging out Panama for a Super Round berth.

Mexico U-18 OF Antonis Macias 

After that, it was 3-and-out for Reyes’ charges, starting with a 7-4 loss to The Netherlands on September 15 in Bradenton. Mexico scored first in the top of the second when Barriga laid down a bunt to the mound, allowing Estrada to score from third. The Mexicans eventually built a 3-1 lead that disappeared in the fifth when Holland scored three runs, two coming in after a pair of errors on back-to-back bunts by Cano at third and  Barriga at catcher, respectively. The Netherlands pushed three more scores across in the sixth and that was all she wrote. Romero had two of Mexico’s six hits (including a fifth-inning double down the left field line) but while the Mexicans put runners on base in every inning, eight were left stranded in a disappointing loss to a Dutch team ranked eighth in the world prior to the World Cup.

Mexico played for a sixth straight time in Bradenton on September 16, this time in a 7-5 loss to the host United States.  Mexico scored twice in the top of the first, including a Romero RBI single to right that scored Macias from third, and held a narrow 3-2 lead until the floodgates opened in the bottom of the third. The Americans scored five times  n three hits, two walks and an Estrada error at second. To their credit, Mexico came back with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to make it a two-run game, thanks in part to an RBI single by Gutierrez, but that would be the last time either team scored. Mexico outhit the USA, 9-4, as Gutierrez and Cano each had two singles but five walks and three errors were hurtful, as were nine Mexican runners left on base.

The Mexicans finally returned to Sarasota on September 17 for their first game there since their World Cup opener, but their tourney appearance ended with a disappointing 6-4 loss to South Korea. Once again, Mexico had an early lead at 3-1 going into the bottom of the third after Cano doubled in Verdugo and Romero in the top of the frame, but the Koreans scored twice in the third to tie the game and then plated three more runs in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead they would never relinquish. Facing a 6-3 deficit in the top of the second, Gutierrez scored from third on a Macias groundout to short just before Romero flew out to left to end the game.  Verdugo had three of Mexico’s five hits, including a pair of doubles, but South Korea was able to convert enough times on eight hits of their own plus seven walks and one Mexico error to put the game away. 

Although the U-18 World Cup ended on a down note, there were bright spots in Mexico’s performance. Yael Romero was selected the All-World first baseman after hitting .476 with eight RBIs for the tournament, which was won by the USA, while Rosman Verdugo was the pick at shortstop by virtue of his .320 average with five RBIs and five runs scored over nine games. Antonis Macias (.448) and  Carlos Gutierrez (.414) joined Romero in the 400 Club while combining for 25 of Mexico’s 62 hits in Florida as the team hit a collective .281. Pitching was not a strong point as the team posted a 5.28 ERA but Manuel Rodriguez did go 1-1 in two starts with seven strikeouts in 8.1 innings for a 2.52 ERA while reliever Anhuar Garcia looked good in two outings, earning a save and a team-best ERA of 1.50 over 4.2 frames.

YUCATAN FORCES GAME 7 WITH 6-2 WIN AT MONTERREY

Cristhian Adames, Yucatan Leones

The Yucatan Leones have proven that they are not phased when facing elimination from a playoff series. After overcoming a 3-games-to-1 deficit to defeat Mexico City for the Mexican League South Division championship series, the Lions delayed their offseason one more day with a 6-2 Game Six win Sunday in front of a full house of 21,909 at Estadio Monterrey to force a seventh and deciding Serie del Rey game against the Sultanes Monday night. All six games of the LMB title series have had sellout crowds and with all tickets gone for Monday’s Game Seven, a total of 132,387 fans will have clicked the turnstiles, an average of 18,912 per opening.

Manager Roberto Vizcarra’s charges never trailed Sunday after taking a 2-0 first-inning lead on Cristhian Adames’ two-run double with two out off Monterrey starter Cristian Castillo, the 2016 Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year as a Royals farmhand. The Leones built a 3-1 lead before the Sultanes made it a one-run contest in the bottom of the seventh when Gustavo Nunez tagged third and scored on Sebastian Elizalde’s sacrifice fly to center, but Yucatan put the game in their hip pocket with three more runs in the top of the eighth as Yadir Drake and Luis Juarez contributed RBI singles. Jorge Rondon held the Sultanes scoreless over the last two innings in relief to close out the win.

Adames was 2-for-5 for the night with a double, a run scored and three RBIs for the winners while Juarez singled and scored twice. Victor Mendoza went 2-for-3 for Monterrey, doubling in Zoilo Almonte with the Sultanes’ first run in the fourth off Yucatan starter Onelki Garcia. Hunter Cervenka pitched one shutout entrada for the Leones and was awarded the win while Castillo absorbed the loss for Monterrey.

The Sultanes took the Serie del Rey lead by winning two of three games on the road last week in Merida, where sellout crowds of 14,917 packed Parque Kukulkan for all three tilts. After rain washed out Game Three on Tuesday night, the two teams were able to take the field Wednesday. Yucatan gained a 2-games-to-1 advantage with a 6-1 win behind the standout pitching of ex-MLBer Henderson Alvarez, who was supported by a pair of three-run innings from his teammates. Alvarez lasted until Vizcarra lifted him with two out in the top of the eight, by which time he’d scattered seven hits and allowed one unearned run.

Drake drove in the first run of the night in the bottom of the second by doubling in Jose Martinez from second. Sebastian Valle’s one-out single brought home Adames and a Norberto Obeso sacrifice fly to left plated Drake from third. The lone Monterrey run came in the fifth, when Jose Cardona’s infield single moved Ramiro Pena to third and Pena scampered home after an errant throw from Adames at shortstop. The Leones pushed three insurance runs across in the bottom of the fifth as Art Charles and Martinez each had run-scoring singles. Charles, Martinez and Adames combined for six hits, three runs and two RBI for Yucatan while Pena doubled twice off Alvarez for the Sultanes.

The visitors bounced back to win the next two games, including Thursday’s 5-0 whitewash in Game Four behind the five shutout innings from 2022 ERA champ Yohander Mendez, who allowed three hits and struck out six Yucatan batsmen. 

All five Sultanes runs came via the longball as Elizalde socked a two-run homer off Leones starter Jake Thompson in the top of the first after rain delayed the game’s start by a half-hour. Mendoza victimized Thompson, a former Phillies starter, two innings later with a three-run bomb of his own to end the scoring for the night. At that point, Vizcarra replaced Thompson with Yoanner Negrin and while the 2016 LMB Pitcher of the Year gave the Leones three scoreless innings, the damage was done as Yucatan collected just six hits (two each for Drake and Josh Fuentes) and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position for the night.

Monterrey pulled ahead in the series Friday night by virtue of a 6-3 win to take a 3-games-to-2 advantage. Yucatan did lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth after a Luis Juarez double drove in Valle from second and a Charles line-drive single brought home Obeso, but Orlando Calixte’s two-run roundtripper in the top of the seventh regained the Sultanes’ lead and Monterrey salted the contest away with a pair of runs one inning later on an Elizade single and an Almonte double. Yucatan did have runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, but reliever Carlos Morales settled down and got Drake to fly out to right and struck out pinch-hitter Lazaro Alfonso swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

Juan Gamez earned the win after manager Roberto Kelly brought him in to replace a struggling Julio Teheran (4.1 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 3 BB) in the fifth and tossed 1.2 frames of shutout ball. Neftali Feliz held the Leones scoreless in the ninth to record his second save of the Serie del Rey. Yucatan starter Elian Leyva pitched well enough to win (6 IP, 2 R, 4H), although he did allow an Almonte homer in the second, but Cervenka gave up Calixte’s go-ahead homer in the seventh and absorbed the loss. 

Monday night’s game marks the third consecutive season that the Serie del Rey has gone a full seven games. Alvarez will start for Yucatan in the contest, which is slated to begin at 7:30PM EDT, while Mendez will open for Monterrey.

GIL: MENESES TO PLAY FOR CULIACAN IN SECOND HALF 

Joey Meneses, Culiacan Tomateros

Former major league shortstop Benji Gil, who is wrapping up his first season as a coach with the Los Angeles Angels under interim manager Phil Nevin, says he should return to his managerial post in Culiacan just prior to the coming Mexican Pacific League season, when the Tomateros will seek their fourth pennant in six winters.

However, Gil said, there is one player who will not joining him next month for the start of the 2022-23 campaign: Longtime Tomateros slugger Joey Meneses, a Culiacan native who has spent all or part of nine seasons playing for his hometown team. Gil adds that Meneses is expected to join the Tomateros when the second half of the LMP schedule begins in November.

Although he’s become a minor sensation in Washington since his August 2 big league debut for the Nationals at age 30 (becoming the first Mexican to homer in his first MLB game), Meneses’ baseball journey during the summer has taken several twists and turns since he first signed with the Atlanta Braves as a 19-year-old free agent in 2011. Beginning with a less-than-impressive 19-game stint that year with the Braves’ Dominican Summer League entry (for whom he hit .206 with no extra-base hits), Meneses spent seven years in the Atlanta system and was an organizational All-Star in both 2014 and 2019 but never rose above Class AA Mississippi, for whom he was a Southern League midseason All-Star in 2017.

After that season, Meneses filed for free agency and signed with Philadelphia, who assigned him to AAA Lehigh Valley, where he was named the 2018 International League MVP after batting .311 and leading the loop with 23 homers and 82 RBIs. That earned him a one-year US$950,000 contract with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League. After struggling at the start of his first season in Asia (.206 with 4 homers in 29 games), the 6’3” first baseman-outfielder was suspended for one year in June 2019 after testing positive for Stanozolal (a steroid) and the Buffaloes subsequently voided his contract. 

After sitting out the 2020 summer season, Meneses signed as a free agent with Boston last year, splitting 2021 between AA Portland and AAA Worcester, before signing with Washington this season. Meneses hit .286 with 20 homers in 96 games at AAA Rochester before his August call-up. Since then, he’s hit .317 with 9 homers and 23 RBIs over 39 games for the Nationals. Meneses has never played in the Mexican League.

Although his summers have often been frustrating at best, Meneses has returned home every winter to play for the Tomateros since 2013-14. In 453 games over nine LMP seasons, the right-handed batter has hit .283 with 42 homers and 268 ribbies, appearing in five Caribbean Series including last February in Mazatlan, where he hit .158 as a pickup for the Jalisco Charros and manager Roberto Vizcarra.

PEREYRA: MEXICAN WOMEN SHOWING THEY CAN PLAY, TOO

The Mexican National Women’s Baseball Team secured a berth in next year’s World Championship tournament, the first time the country will appear in that event, after securing a bronze medal at the Americas Qualifier in Venezuela last month. As Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City’s Proceso writes, it marks one more step in the process of women being seen simply as “ballplayers” south of the border instead of being limited to playing softball in the public’s perception.

The following is a Google translation of Pereyra’s piece in Proceso, lightly edited for clarity:

The members of the Mexican Women's Baseball Team have something in common: as girls they began playing baseball with boys in some leagues in the country, then were forced to switch to softball because they were not allowed to compete with men. Players like Rosi del Castillo, Dafne Mejía and Samaria Benítez from Nayarit have become known for being the first to participate in men's amateur or semi-professional leagues. On the way to Mexico's participation in its first World Cup and given the lack of infrastructure for them in the ninth, they warn: "People need to believe that women can also play baseball."

Despite the fact that Mexican women's baseball is in an incipient stage, the national team qualified for the 2023 World Championship, a tournament in which Mexico will have its first international participation.

The squad, made up of 21 players from different states, is currently ranked 12th in the world. Recently, they won the bronze medal at the Venezuela 2022 Women's Baseball Pre-World Championship, where five other teams participated: Venezuela (5th in the world), the Dominican Republic (6th), Cuba (7th) Puerto Rico (9) and Nicaragua (17th).

This is the second time in which the Mexican Women's Baseball Team gets its ticket to the World Cup which in this edition, its first stage will be played in 2023 and the rest in the summer of 2024, with dates and venues to be defined. The first time they qualified was in the 2019 Aguascalientes Pre-World Cup tournament. However, the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) decided to cancel the 2020 World Cup event as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. 

The Mexican team is made up of “veteran” players such as Dafne Mejía (30 years old) and Thalía Villavicencio (34) plus other younger ones such as Rosi del Castillo from Puebla and María José Valenzuela from Sonora (both 24 years old), but all with a lot of experience because they have played baseball since they were very young. Regardless of her deafness since birth, Valenzuela, the only Sonoran on the team, is one of the most outstanding players.

“It has been an important achievement. We were able to transcend, we classified as we wanted and one goal was to bring the medal that we couldn't before,” says Mejia, who was Mexico’s designated hitter in Venezuela. “ Although it was not gold, we are proud of that achievement, of giving Mexico a medal.”

Sisters Laura and Melody Cortés Tapia also stand out in the team as daughters of Julio Cortés, a promoter of women's baseball in the city of Pachuca, where he runs the Rancho Beisbolero Academy. They are joined by pitchers of the quality of Adriana Palma from Yucatan, Marlene Lagunes from Veracruz and Narda Andrade from Puebla, catchers Itza Hernández and Marcela Díaz, who is a player in Mexico City’s Anahuac League. 

Almost all of them have followed the same process in their careers as ballplayers: as girls they started playing baseball with boys in some little league, then they were forced to switch to softball because they are not allowed to participate with men, but they clung to staying in the sport they love.

Players such as Rosi del Castillo, Dafne Mejía and Samaria Benítez from Nayarit have become known because they have been pioneers in participating in men's amateur or semi-professional leagues, because if women's baseball still lacks something, it is that it does not have the facilities and enough coaches that is not an appendage of men's baseball.

TIJUANA, SULTANES ADVANCE TO LMB NORTH FINALS

Felix Perez, Monterrey Sultanes

It took them six games to do it, but the Tijuana Toros took one step closer to repeating as Mexican League pennant-winners by defeating 2020 champion Monclova in their Northern Division semifinal series. Tijuana clinched their 6-games-to-2 set victory last Friday with a 12-5 pounding of the Acereros at home before 17,193 fans in a jam-packed Estadio Nacional.

The Toros led 5-0 after two innings after Leander Castro’s two-run homer capped a three-run first against Monclova starter Eduardo Vera. Castro then rapped a bases-clearing double off Wilmer Rios, who came on in relief, in the second. Efren Navarro’s three-run roundtripper in the fourth off Ernesto Zaragosa, who took over for Rios, made it an 8-0 contest and TJ’s win was all but assured. 

The Acereros did score three runs in the sixth as 13-year LMB veteran Chris Roberson contributed an RBI single while former Cubs All-Star Addison Russell’s two-out homer in the eighth off Tijuana reliever Sam Dyson accounted for Monclova’s final two runs. Humberto Mejia got the win by pitching five innings of three-run ball while the loss went to Vera.

The Acereros had actually taken a 2-games-to-1 lead last Monday with an 11-7 win thanks to a six-run seventh featuring homers by Chris Carter and Keon Broxton after trailing 5-0 earlier in the tilt. Tijuana then won the next three games, starting with Tuesday’s 15-2 drubbing in Monclova as Junior Lake, Felix Perez and Castro each had three hits and three RBIs. Perez then clubbed two more homers one night later, driving in four runs in a 9-2 Toros win as a third straight sellout crowd of 8,500 looked on at Estadio Monclova, setting up Friday’s series-closing game in TJ.

Monterrey won the first two games of their LMB North semi set with Dos Laredos before dropping a 4-2 contest last Monday as Balbino Fuenmayor’s two run homer in the top of the 13th off Sultanes reliever Miguel Aguilar held up to give the Tecolotes their lone win before 15,062 onlookers at Estadio Monterrey. Tuesday’s starter Cristian Castillo gave Monterrey skipper Roberto Kelly five innings of one-run pitching while Orlando Calixte singled, doubled and scored twice in a 5-1 Sultanes win with 15,395 in the stands at home and Monterrey ended the division semi set on Wednesday with a solid 7-2 triumph with Zoilo Almonte’s RBI double in the second giving the Sultanes a 2-1 lead that they would never relinquish. The midweek date and a rain delay dropped attendance to 12,160 but co-owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz had to be happy with the three-game turnout exceeding 42,000 in Mexico’s largest ballpark.

The Sultanes and Toros were scheduled to open the LMB North championship series Monday night at Tijuana in what has become perhaps the most bitter rivalry in the Mexican League over the past few years. Monterrey owner Maiz (a firm believer in relying on homegrown talent) has taken deep exception to Toros owner Alberto Uribe and family paying large amounts of money to import foreign players to the border city, a sentiment the 1957 Little League World Series champion likely harbors towards Monclova’s similarly free-spending owner Gerardo Benavides.

Whatever the front office methodology, Tijuana and Monterrey finished 1-2 in the LMB attendance derby this year and it would surprise nobody if more than 50,000 fans attend the first four games of this series, which marks the sixth time in the Toros’ nine years of existence that they have met the Gray Ghosts in the postseason. Monterrey holds a 3-2 lead in that context but Tijuana’s LMB North title wins in 2016 and 2017 were what touched off the rivalry that transcends the playing field.

DIABLOS BASH PUEBLA, FACE YUCATAN FOR SOUTH TITLE

Julian Leon, Mexico City Diablos Rojos

The Mexico City Diablos Rojos won the Mexican League South Division regular season title in no small part to an offense that produced 7.3 runs per game (highest in the LMB) with a .320 team batting average, which ranked fourth in the circuit as the Red Devils were the only LMB South club among seven who topped the .300 mark. That the capital city congregation’s playoff hopes would sink or swim on the strength of their bats was a foregone conclusion, but Mexico City has put on a postseason fireworks that has been nothing short of awesome.

In sweeping both their first round and division semifinal series, the Diablos outscored Veracruz and Puebla by an aggregate 94-45 score, an average of 11.75 per game. The Aguilas were able to hold Mexico City to 8 and 4 runs over the final two games of their opening round set, but the Pericos allowed 57 runs (14.25 per game) during the Diablos’ broom job in their series. To their credit, Puebla averaged 7.5 runs in their division semi but when your pitchers allow 63 hits (including 13 homers) over four games, you’re not likely going to win many games.

The Diablos closed out their dominant series win last Wednesday by throttling the Pericos, 15-5, in Puebla. After a scoreless first inning, Mexico City torched Pericos starter Kurt Heyer and reliever Braulio Torres-Perez for nine runs on nine hits, including Julian Leon’s fourth homer of the series (a two-run bomb off Heyer) and a three-run shot by Juan Carlos Gamboa off Torres-Perez in the fourth. Danny Ortiz, who has hit 94 longballs in 265 games over three seasons in Puebla, captured the spirit of the thing with solo homers off starter William Cuevas in the fourth and reliever Edgar Torres in the sixth but the visitors were up 12-1 when the latter shot came and the outcome of both game and series were no longer in doubt.

After going 1-for-8 over the first two games against the Pericos, veteran slugger Japhet Amador went 7-for-9 (including a homer and a double) with five runs and five RBIs to finish the semis with a .477 average. The hottest bat, however, belonged to Diablos catcher Julian Leon. A 28-year-old former Dodgers and Angels minor leaguer, Leon followed up a decent but unremarkable regular season (.301 with 8 homers in 48 games) and an 0-for-7 performance over two games against Veracruz in the first round with a dominant series against Puebla, batting 10-for-18 (.556) with four homers, 13 RBIs and 6 runs.

It’s unlikely that Leon and the Diablos will match their output against Yucatan in the LMB South divisional finals. Since joining the Liga in 1954, the Leones have built their reputation on pitching and defense. Both were on prominent display in their series-ending 6-0 Game Five win over Quintana Roo last Thursday in Cancun. Starter Henderson Alvarez, a 2014 All-Star with Miami who led the National League with three shutouts that year, tossed a complete game shutout for the Leones, scattering five singles over nine innings, striking out five and walking none while his defense played errorless ball and turned a pair of double plays as he won his second game against the Tigres. Thirteen-year veteran catcher Luis Juarez socked a three-run homer in the top of the first and that was all Alvarez would need.

Alvarez won Game One as well, a 9-1 laugher on August 20 that featured a three-run homer by Art Charles. Game Two on August 21 was more of the same, with another Charles three-run blast keying a 5-4 win. The series shifted to Cancun for the next three games, starting with a homer-filled (8 HRs between the two teams) 11-8 Yucatan win last Tuesday in which the Leones were their own worst enemies, with the visitors batting 5-for-19 with runners in scoring position and leaving 13 runners on base. The Tigres showed some fight with a 6-4 Game Four win last Wednesday as Ramon Bramasco lined a dramatic two-run walkoff homer to right center off reliever Tim Peterson on a 1-2 count with two out for the triumph. A  former University of Washington shortstop, Bramasco hit one regular season homer for the Tigres after hitting no roundtrippers in three collegiate seasons. All three games at Cancun’s refurbished Estadio Beto Avila drew in excess of 9,000 fans, nearing the facility’s listed 9,500-seat capacity.

Like their counterparts to the north, the Diablos and Leones have a long history of facing each other over the past seven decades, albeit without the intensity that marks the Tijuana-Monterrey rivalry. Despite both clubs being in the Mexican League for so long, Mexico City and Yucatan have met only 12 times in the playoffs. Although the Diablos have a 7-5 overall advantage, the Leones have topped Mexico City twice (2019 and 2021) for the LMB South championship. This year’s South Division title set will open Tuesday night in Mexico City.

All division championship series games will be available via streaming. The Tijuana-Monterrey LMB North title set is being carried on various ESPN and Star+ channels while the Mexico City-Yucatan LMB South series can be watched on Fox Sports 2, Claro Sports, TUDN, AYM, ViX+, Azteca Deportes, and Sipse. Both series will be streamed live and on-demand on Jonron.TV, as will next month’s Serie del Rey between the two division champions.

ROBERTO OSUNA NOW PITCHING IN JAPANESE LEAGUES

Roberto Osuna, Chiba Lotte Marines

One pitcher who started the 2022 season strong for Mexico City but is not likely to pitch for the Diablos Rojos during the playoffs is former MLB All-Star closer Roberto Osuna.

A nephew of one-time reliever Antonio Osuna, who pitched in 411 games over 11 major league seasons between 1995 and 2005, the younger Osuna had established himself as one of the game’s top closers by averaging 31 saves over a five-year period, gaining an All-Star Game selection in 2014 with Toronto and leading the American League with 38 saves in 2019 for Houston, although a domestic violence charge that was settled out of court hastened his exit from Canada. 

However, the Sinaloa native came down with an elbow injury that erased his 2020 season after just four appearances and the Astros placed him on waivers following the campaign after he turned down Tommy John surgery in favor of a rest-and-rehab approach. After holding a showcase in the Dominican Republic the following March but receiving no offers from an MLB team as a free agent, Osuna then signed with the Diablos Rojos two months later. He spent the rest of the abbreviated 2021 Mexican League season in Mexico City, going 3-0 with 12 saves in 24 appearances and turning in a 1.09 ERA (striking out 27 batters with just three walks in 24.2 innings).

After spending the winter pitching for his hometown Jalisco Charros in the Mexican Pacific League (5-2/11 saves/1.26 ERA in 28 appearances) and making four scoreless outings in the Caribbean Series, Osuna was back in Diablos Rojos togs this season. He got off to a hot start for the Red Devils and was 2-0 with six saves and a 1.35 ERA after his first 12 appearances when he got a call from Japan’s Chiba Lotte Mariners of NPB’s Pacific League and signed a contract with the team on June 11. Terms were not available.

Osuna, who turned 27 in February, has since pitched for both the Marines’ Eastern League affiliate, giving up a pair of runs over three innings in as many relief appearances, but has spent most of the past ten weeks with the big club, where’s he’s been teammates with Mexican National Team member Brandon Laird, former Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin and one-time Marlins infielder Adeiny Hechavarria. 

After 20 games out of the bullpen for the Marines (who are fifth in the Pacific League with a 56-59 record), Osuna is 3-0 with five saves, nine holds and a 0.90 ERA. Continuing to exhibit the pinpoint control he showed in Mexico City, the righty has struck out 23 NPB batters and issued just two walks over 20 innings pitched. The NPB regular season lasts into the first week of October, meaning Osuna’s return to the Diablos Rojos for the playoffs is highly unlikely.

CHARLES IN CHARGE: LEONES SLUG WAY TO 2ND ROUND

Yucatan DH/1B Art Charles

Led by the explosive bat of Art Charles, Yucatan outlasted Puebla, 20-17, last Wednesday to win their Mexican League first round playoff series 4-games-to-2 and advance to the South Division semifinals against Quintana Roo. By winning two games, the Pericos also moved on to face Mexico City in their LMB South semi set.

A former Toronto and Philadelphia farmhand, the 6’6” Charles crashed a pair of homers in the Leones’ deciding-game win, including a three-run bomb during a six-run eighth inning outburst that brought Yucatan back from a 17-14 deficit to the Parakeets in Puebla. The two teams combined for 37 runs on 42 hits as 19 pitchers were used in the 5-hour, 5-minute marathon. Charles ended the series with five homers in six games. 

The Leones’ post-series ride to the Mexico City airport for a flight back to Merida was marred when their bus was attacked and fired upon less than ten miles out of Puebla. Two of their buses’ tires were punctured and destroyed by rocks as the team was chased by a vehicle with at least one occupant firing a gun at them. The National Guard was called and nobody on the bus was hurt. While Mexico is beset nationwide by drug cartels, the attack is believed to have come from some irate Pericos fans.

The Yucatan players and coaches showed no lost nerve by winning the first two games of their next series against rival Quintana Roo at home in Merida. The Lions thumped the Tigres, 9-1, in Saturday’s opener. Charles’ bat sayed hot with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth and a run-scoring single in the sixth. Former Blue Jays and Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez got the win by tossing 5.2 innings of 1-run ball and scattering seven hits. McKenzie Mills took the loss, allowing three runs on two frames.

The Leones needed 12 innings to slip past the Tigres, 5-4, on Sunday. Charles crushed another three-run roundtripper in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead, but Alexis Wilson’s solo blast in the top of the ninth tied it up as the game went into overtime. Quintana Roo’s Raul De Los Reyes came out from the bullpen in the bottom of the twelfth with two Yucatan runners on and promptly walked Jose Martinez to load the bases and then gave Marco Jaime a free pass to score Norberto Obeso from third to end what was literally a walk-off win for the hosts.  Crowds topping 12,000 attended both contests at Parque Kukulkan. Game Three will be Tuesday night in Cancun.

Meanwhile, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos plated 27 runs in winning their first two games against Puebla, beginning with Saturday’s 10-6 triumph over the Pericos. The Diablos were up 4-3 before a six-run fifth inning essentially put the game away. Catcher Julian Leon, not ordinarily considered one of the team’s big guns, the the most damage by swatting a two-run homer in the third and a three-run clout in the sixth, both off Puebla starter Gabriel Ynoa. While starter Jeffry Nino pitched four innings of two-run ball, reliever David Huff got the win despite allowing a counter in the fifth. Ynoa took the loss by letting in seven runs on eight hits in four-plus innings (serving up Leon’s second homer after walking Roberto Ramos and Juan Carlos Gamboa to start the fifth.

Game Two of the series was a Red Devils’ 17-7 blowout of Puebla as the home team socked five homers, two by Ramos. The former KBO star finished 3-for-5 (adding a double) and drove in five runs). Daniel Mercado and Miguel Guzman went deep for the Pericos but with Mexico City holding a 13-3 lead after four entradas, it was all Diablos. Bernardo Flores’ five innings of 4-run pitching was good enough to be given the win while Puebla starter Braulio Torres-Perez somehow lasted long enough to allow five runs on two hits and three walks in Mexico City’s 7-run first before being yanked with only one out to show for it. Attendance at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helo approached 28,000 for the two contests as the series now shifts to Puebla for Games Three on Tuesday night. 

SULTANES UP 2-0 IN LMB NORTH SEMIS VS. TECOS

Monclova RHP Josh Lowey

The Monterrey Sultanes topped Dos Laredos twice in Nuevo Laredo over the weekend to take the reins in their Northern Division semifinal playoff series. Both games were played at Estadio Nuevo Laredo, a somewhat surprising move because while the 12,000-seat facility is much nicer than the Tecolotes usual Mexican home of aging Parque La Junta, it sits several miles outside the city and fans tend to stay home rather that avoid the risk of running into cartel activity along the way. Attendance was over 5,000 both Friday and Saturday, decent crowds compared to La Junta’s usual turnout but well below the double-figure audiences at the six other second-round matchups played in Merida, Mexico City and Tijuana.

Monterrey doubled up the Tecos, 4-2, in Friday’s Game One after building up a 4-0 lead on RBI singles by Zoilo Almonte in the first inning and Jose Cardona in the third, preceding a homer in the fourth from Ramiro Pena (who scored on Ali Solis’ sacrifice bunt in the sixth. Kennys Vargas and Balbino Fuenmayor put Dos Laredos on the board with ron-scoring singles in the seventh but the Tecos couldn’t come any closer.  Yohander Mendez pitched five shutout innings for the Sultanes to collect the win as Neftali Feliz notched the save. Brandon Brennan was handed the loss after giving up three runs in four frames.

One night later, the Sultanes grounded the Owls, 9-3, behind the solid start from former Atlanta hurler Julio Teheran, who had five 10+ win seasons for the Braves in the 2010’s. Teheran allowed just two safeties in six shutout innings to earn the win. Longtime independent league reliever Nate Antone was converted into a starter with the Tecos this season and while he didn’t pitch badly on Saturday (5 innings, 3 runs), he got no support and was handed a loss in what might’ve been a winning effort on another night. Cardona went 5-for-5 with a double and two runs to pace the Sultanes batters as the series shifted to Monterrey for the next two games.

Defending champion Tijuana and 2020 titleists Monclova have developed a good rivalry over the past few years, so it’s no surprise that their LMB North final four series is tied at a game apiece. The set opened Friday night in Tijuana as 16,001 fans witnessed the visiting Acereros 13-1 throttling of the Toros. Francisco Peguero’s bases-loaded single drove in Bruce Maxwell with the first run of the game in the top of the second and the Steelers built an 8-0 lead before Agustin Murillo’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth gave Tijuana their only run of the tilt. The Acereros scored runs in six of the nine innings they batted, including a 3-run homer from Noah Perio during a five-run fifth.  Former Pitcher of the Year Josh Lowey, who went 4-0 in five late starts for Monclova, allowed one run on five hits over six innings for the win while another longtime LMB star, Manny Barreda, was shelled for seven runs in 4.1 innings to take the loss for the Toros.

Tijuana bounced back in Game Two with a 5-4 win on Saturday as another crowd exceeding 16,000 jammed Estadio Nacional in the border city. Monclova held a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth before RBI singles by Efren Navarro and Murillo put the Bulls on top. Closer Fernando Rodney took the ball in the top of the ninth and the former MLB All-Star struck out Peguero, Rudy Amador and Keon Broxton on ten pitches to end the game with a flourish. The contest was a homer orgy during the first three innings, with Felix Perez and Nick Williams going long for TJ while Addison Russell belted a lngball and Alex Mejia homered twice for Monclova. The series shifted to Monclova for the next two games in the Steel Capital.

RENOVATIONS APPROVED FOR NAVOJOA BALLPARK

Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria

One of the major accomplishments for outgoing Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales over his 14 years in office was the construction or modernization of ballparks in all ten Mex Pac cities. Although Canizales won’t be sitting behind the big desk when it’s completed, the final renovation was approved under his watch earlier this year when the governor of Sonora appropriated 65 million pesos ($US3.23 million) for upgrading Navojoa’s Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria, home of the Mexican Pacific League Mayos. 

Navojoa mayor Mario Martinez Bojorquez made the initial announcement in January while Sinaloa governor Alfonso Durazo held a press conference to that effect in late May. According to Durazo, work was scheduled to begin in June and be completed in time for the Mayos’ 2022-23 regular season home opener on Thursday, October 13 when the Los Mochis Caneros come to town. 

Estadio Echeverria was first opened on October 7, 1970 and has seated 11,500 spectators since Day One. Dimensions are a cozy 378 feet to straightaway center field, 318 feet down both foul lines. The ballpark is named after a former local pitcher and is owned by the State of Sonora, although it falls under the jurisdiction of the Navojoa city government and is both rented and managed by the Mayos under team owner Victor Cuevas Valenzuela.

Primary funding for the renovation was expected to come from the federal government, which has paid for many such efforts across the country under the presidency of lifelong baseball enthusiast Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. According to Marian Millan of the  La Verdad website in Navojoa, mayor Martinez said federal approval for funding the project was twofold in its objective: “One, that it serves the Navojoa Mayos professional sports team and also that it provides service to the community in the sports and cultural fields.”

Of course, as so often happens, what is said and what is done can be two different things in Mexico. While both announcements came out before the end of May, there was no information immediately found via online searches about the actual progress of renovations to Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria as of August 22.  Guess we’ll all find out on October 13.