LEYVA, VALLE GIVE LEONES 1-1 TIE IN SERIE DE REY

Yucatan Leones pitcher Elian Leyva

After taking a lead role in overcoming a 3-games-to-1 deficit to win the Mexican League South Division Championship Series over the heavy-hitting Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Yucatan pitcher Elian Leyva could be forgiven if he was exhausted heading into the LMB’s Serie del Rey against Monterrey to determine this year’s pennant winner.

Instead, the two-time Mexican Pacific League Pitcher of the Year showed no ill effects of facing one the Liga’s most potent offenses over seven games, including a pivotal relief stint in the LMB South title series clincher, Sunday against the Sultanes. Leyva gave the Leones four-hit shutout pitching until being lifted by manager Roberto Vizcarra (who led the Merida squad to the Spring 2018 crown) one out into the seventh inning of a 1-0 win over the hometown Sultanes, disappointing the capacity crowd of 21,909 at Estadio Monterrey. By then, the 33-year-old righty had thrown 84 pitches (52 for strikes), struck out seven Sultanes hitters and not allowed a baserunner past second base. Three relievers went on to preserve the shutout, with closer Jorge Rondon getting the final three outs in the ninth for the save to tie the series at one game apiece.

Obviously, manager Roberto Kelly’s Sultanes were getting some pretty good pitching too. Julio Teheran, who has had an excellent postseason, gave up five hits and struck out four Leones batsmen in a solid five-inning performance of his own. Unfortunately for the ex-Braves starter, two of those hits came in the top of the fateful fifth frame. Yadir Drake led off with a single and one out later motored in from first on Sebastian Valle’s double to left fielder Jose Figueroa, whose throw to catcher Ali Solis was not in time to nail the 2017 LMB batting champion, who has hit .342 over five summers in Mexico. Five different players had a hit for Yucatan Sunday while Sebastian Elizalde and ex-Yankees prospect Ramiro Pena split four of Monterrey’s five safeties.

The series opened on Saturday night (a day later than the scheduled Friday opener because the Yucatan-Mexico City went the full seven games) with a 4-3 Sultanes win in front of 19,026 fans at Estadio Monterrey.  The Leones took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Luis Juarez RBI single but the Sultanes tied it up in the bottom of the second on a Jose Figueroa groundout when baserunner Orlando Calixte ran home from third on the play and drew an errant throw to the plate from first baseman Art Charles. Monterrey took a 2-1 lead one innings later on Zoilo Almonte’s one-bagger that plated Jose Cardona from third but Sebastian Valle’s homer off reliever Manuel Chavez in the fifth lifted Yucatan back into a 2-2 tie.

The Sultanes regained the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth when Calixte lined a full-count double to left off reliever Jake Thompson, who had just come in for Chavez, scoring Victor Mendoza all the way from first. After advancing to third on a Thompson wild pitch to Ramiro Pena, Calixte made it a 4-2 contest by coming in on Pena’s sacrifice fly to right. Juarez’ two-out single drove in Josh Fuentes in the top of the seventh but the Leones got no closer as Monterrey skipper Roberto Kelly replaced reliever Wander Suero with Jose Martinez, who combined with two other bullpen mates to shut down the visitors the rest of the way. Juan Gamez was awarded the win after pitching a scoreless sixth for Monterrey and Neftali Feliz earned the save while Chavez took the opening loss for Yucatan.

The Serie del Rey now moves to Merida for Tuesday’s Game Three.

Yucatan earned the LMB South championship (and their slot in the title series) with a miraculous seven-game defeat of Mexico City after having trailed the Diablos Rojos, 3 games to one, at one point. Following their 2-0 home shutout over the Red Devils last Sunday to stave off elimination, the Leones then took the final two games of the set before hostile crowds in the nation’s capital at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.

Game Six began last Tuesday and ended a day later with a wild 21-18 Yucatan win in ten innings. A six-run outburst in the bottom of the seventh keyed by a Roberto Ramos three-run homer gave Mexico City an 18-7 lead. Valle’s three-run roundtripper of his own in the top of the eighth off Connor Greene cut the Diablos lead to five and the visitors tied it up at 18-18 in the top of the ninth with five more runs on a three-run longball from Cristhian Adames and a two-run blast off the bat of Fuentes.

After Andre Tovalin held the Diablos scoreless for the second inning in a row in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into overtime, Mexico City reliever Francisco Haro ran into immediate trouble in the top of the tenth by allowing a leadoff double to Juarez and then intentionally walking Charles to pitch to Jose Martinez, who then launched a 2-2 Haro delivery over the wall in left center for yet another three-run homer, this one giving the Leones the lead at 21-18. It was left to Rondon (the 16th pitcher to appear for the two teams) to hold the Diablos scoreless to save the win and tie the series at three games apiece. 

The combatants combined for 40 hits, including eight homers (two by Juarez, who finished 5-for-7 with six RBIs and four runs), as the game was halted by rain in the fourth inning Tuesday night and had to be completed Wednesday. Juan Carlos Gamboa drove in seven runs on a double and homer for Mexico City in their home loss, witnessed by 18,916 spectators.

The deciding Game Seven, which was delayed until Thursday night, when just 10,497 were in the stands as Yucatan completed their series comeback with a 7-5 win to advance to the Serie del Rey. Charles opened the scoring for the Leones in the top of the first with a two-run homer (his third of the series) off starter William Cuevas. Jesus Fabela sliced a leadoff single off Yucatan starter Henderson Alvarez in the bottom of the first, advanced to third on a pair of groundouts and then scored the Diablos’ first run on a Japhet Amador single. Martinez gave the Leones a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer off Cuevas, followed later by back-to-back doubles by Yadir Drake and Fuentes (the latter scoring Drake) and a Norberto Obeso groundout that brought in Fuentes from second thanks to a throwing error by Gamboa at short to give the Lions a 5-1 advantage.

To their credit, the Diablos Rojos did not lie down, scoring once in the fourth on a Gamboa single that scored Amador from third and then pushing three more runs across in the fifth to tie the game on a solo homer by Amador and a two-run bomb by Ramos, both with two out. Alvarez was able to record the third out but Yucatan manager Roberto Vizcarra, who returned to Merida on May 30 to replace Luis Matos at the helm two days after being fired in Saltillo, replaced the former big leaguer withLeyva in the sixth. Normally a starter, Leyva held scoreless for two innings before his teammates put the final two runs of the game on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth, when a Juarez double scored Obeso and Walter Ibarra to give Yucatan a 7-5 lead. Cervenka and Rondon each turned in a shutout inning to seal the win, which went to Leyva (his second of the series). Charles led the Leones offense with two hits, a homer and two RBIs while Amador was 3-for-4 on the night for Mexico City, driving in three runs, scoring twice and homering once.

ROJAS NEW MANAGER IN NAVOJOA

The Navojoa Mayos announced that Homar Rojas, fresh off a summer season that saw his Tijuana Toros post the best regular season in the Mexican League and reaching the LMB North Championship Series (a loss to Monterrey) will be their manager for the 2022-23 Mexican Pacific League season. He’ll replace Matias Carrillo as dugout boss for the Mayos, who finished with the top overall playoff seed in the LMP last winter with a 40-28 record before being knocked out by eventual LMP champion Culiacan in four straight games in January’s first round. Carrillo finished the Mexican League season as manager in Monclova and will presumably manage the Acereros’ defending Mexican Winter League champions in the coming months.

Rojas, 58, debuted as a professional player in 1982 with Monterrey in the summer circuit and went on to spend 23 seasons playing in both leagues, including Navojoa in 1996-97, hitting .248 over 44 games. He was a lifetime .291 hitter in the LMB, topping the .300 mark nine times, and was a solid defender behind the plate.

One year after retiring as a player, Rojas made his managerial debut in 2005 with Oaxaca. Later, he directed Liga teams in Reynosa, Campeche, Monclova, Aguascalientes and the last two years in Tijuana, winning the 2021 LMB pennant with the Toros. In 15 years managing in the LMB, Rojas has a 816-749 record and was named Manager of the Year in 2008 with Oaxaca and 2017 with Aguascalientes, two teams that historically have rarely been winners on the field or at the turnstiles.

Over the winters in the Mex Pac, Rojas has managed in Obregon, Hermosillo, Jalisco and Monterrey, while also serving as bench coach with Mazataán. He won LMP pennants with Obregon in 2007-08 and Hermosillo in 2009-10 and was named manager of the year in both 2006-07 and 2007-08 with the Yaquis. 

RODRIGO LOPEZ NEW GM FOR MEXICAN 2023 WBC TEAM

Mexican WBC GM Rodrigo Lopez

According to both the Mexican Baseball Federation (FEMEBE) and the Mexican League, former major league pitcher Rodrigo Lopez, who started three Opening Day games for Baltimore, was appointed General Manager of the Mexican National Team, which will play the World Baseball Classic in 2023.

Lopez played eleven seasons in the Major Leagues with the Orioles, San Diego, Colorado, Philadelphia, Arizona and the Chicago Cubs between 2000 and 2012. The former pitcher appeared in a total of 257 games, 215 as a starter, with a 4.82 ERA. In 2004 and 2005 he was eighth in the American League in wins both seasons with 14 and 15, respectively, and reached double figures in wins three times. However, the Mexico City area product also led the AL in losses in 2006 (18) as well as the NL with 16 setbacks for the Diamondbacks in 2010 and led each league in earned runs allowed both seasons.  

In 2013, Lopez started 15 games with the Liga’s Mexico City Diablos Rojos, going 4-3 with a 5.49 ERA, and was 13-13 with a 3.68 ERA in 38 outings over six winters for Culiacan in the Mexican Pacific League between 2008-09 and 2014-15 He started twice in the 2013 Caribbean Series and had a 0.66 ERA with no decisions.

Lopez is part of the Diamondbacks radio team as an analyst on their Spanish broadcasts so the Verdes Grande will play in a ballpark that he knows well, since at Chase Field they’ll play the first round of next year’s WBC against the United States, Colombia, Canada and one more national team to determine. Mexico played at Chase Field in two previous WBC tournaments.

To best face the international competition, Lopez will form a “multidisciplinary team, including advanced analytics and sports consulting personnel” according to a FEMEBE press release.The most recent outing by Mexico’s National Team at a professional level was their disastrous performance in last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where the team lost to host Japan and the Dominican Republic in the first round before an embarrassing 15-2 knockout round defeat at the hands of Israel while also running afoul of Olympics officials after manager Benji Gil and several team members who’d played winterball for him in Culiacan had a picture taken of them wearing Tomateros apparel in violation of Olympic Village rules.

Mexico's best showing in a World Baseball Classic was at the inaugural event in 2006, where they played at Chase Field prior to eliminating the United States in Anaheim and took sixth place. At the most recent WBC in 2017, Mexico went 1-2 in Group D play at Guadalajara and just missed playing an extra game against Venezuela for second place after a tiebreaker ruling regarding an earlier loss to Italy went the way of the Italians, creating much controversy among the host team and their fans (who only came out 1,783 strong for Venezuela’s 4-3 win over Italy after an average of 14,058 had attended the previous six games).

YASIEL PUIG SIGNS WITH VERACRUZ AGUILAS

Yasiel Puig comes to Veracruz

     One-time major league All-Star outfielder Yasiel Puig has signed a one-year contract with the Veracruz Aguilas of the Mexican League for the 2021 season. Puig verified the signing via Twitter last week and has already reported to the Aguilas' spring training camp. Terms were not disclosed, although it's believed the Cuban product had been seeking $25,000 per month in talks with LMB teams in Veracruz, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Monclova. The maximum salary for Liga players is said to be $10,000 per month.

    On his Twitter account, Puig's translated statement read, “Thank you Mexico for being here once more in my life. Thank you Aguilas of Veracruz for this opportunity and for opening your arms to me. This wild horse is grateful and happy to play the field once again!” Puig was nicknamed Wild Horse by longtime Dodgers radio announcer Vin Scully during his time with the Los Angeles team.

    Puig did not play in 2020 but had a productive MLB season in 2019, when he swatted 24 homers and drove in 84 runs while batting a combined .267 for Cincinnati and Cleveland (where he landed in a midseason three-way trade that netted the Reds future Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer). He was ready to sign a free agent deal with Atlanta last year, but a positive test for the Wuhan virus scuttled his 2020 season.

    The 6'2” 240-pounder from Cienfuegos has hit 132 homers and hit .277 over 861 MLB games in a career dating to his 2013 debut with the Dodgers. He finished second to the late Jose Fernandez of the Marlins in Rookie of the Year balloting that season and appeared in the All-Star game in 2014. 

    Puig burst on the baseball scene as a 17-year-old member of Cuba's bronze medal team at the 2008 World Junior Championships. After a couple winters playing with his hometown Elefantes in the Cuban National Series, he attempted to defect in the Netherlands while playing in the 2011 World Port Tournament. Instead, he was caught and forced to sit out the 2011-12 CNS season.

"Tastes great!"..."Less filling!"

    According to Wikipedia, Puig attempted to defect to Mexico no fewer than 13 times between 2009 and 2012 in order to become a legal resident and sign with an MLB organization. That journey included an arrest at a Cuban safe house, interception by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter near Haiti and one “successful” defection to Mexico that resulted in his detention there by the Zetas drug cartel. Puig was finally able to stay in Mexico long enough to be signed by the Dodgers as a free agent for seven years and $42 million in 2012.

    The volatile 30-year-old has been as controversial as he is talented since his arrival in the big leagues. While most involve actions on the playing field, his latest controversy is of the off-field variety. He's been accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a 2018 Lakers basketball game in a Staples Center bathroom in Los Angeles. Although the alleged incident (after which the Dodgers traded Puig to the Reds) has been investigated by MLB, no police report was ever filed. The woman in question has subsequently filed a lawsuit against him in civil court but Puig is seeking to have the case thrown out. His attorneys claim she'd sent him text messages with heart emojis days after the encounter occurred, in which Puig says the two had a consensual sexual encounter.

    Puig's legal issues have made him radioactive among MLB teams and apparently no offer was made by any team in Asia, so now he's set to play with Veracruz as the latest in a number of relatively high-profile signings of former big leaguers by Mexican League teams. Prior to Puig, Monclova inked infielder Addison Russell and pitcher Bartolo Colon (for a second time), Tijuana agreed to terms with reliever Fernando Rodney and Guadalajara made a deal with first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. 

    El Rincon Beisbolero's Jose Carlos Campos notes that only a handful of the LMB's wealthier clubs are bringing in big names, highlighting the gap between rich teams and underfinanced ones, and speculated that they're able to do so by using money not spent on salaries during last year's canceled season during the abbreviated, 66-game schedule to be used this summer.

LMB TO USE “LUCKY LOSER” SYSTEM IN PLAYOFFS

Xorge Carrillo takes BP in Toros' camp

    The Mexican League announced its playoff format for 2021 last week and it'll be one very familiar to past winterball fans of the Mexican Pacific League. The LMP's old “Lucky Loser” system, which was discarded when the Mex Pac postseason field was expanded from six to eight teams in 2019-20, will be used for the first time in the summer circuit.

    With the LMB expanding to 18 teams due to the additions of Guadalajara and Veracruz to the Liga lineup, the number of playoff qualifiers has been likewise increased from four to six teams per division. Rather than giving the top two regular season finishers a first-round bye while the next four teams played for advancement to their division semifinals, all six clubs will take part in the opening stage. All three series winners will move on, as usual, and be joined by the team that won the most games in losing their opening-round series.

    The shortened regular season will open on May 20 when the defending champion Monclova Acereros host the Monterrey Sultanes in a single game, followed by a full slate of action on May 21. The 66-game schedule will conclude on August 6 with the post season commencing one night later. The playoff date parameters are as follows:

First Round: August 7-15
Division Semifinals: August 17-25
Division Championships: August 27-September 4
League Championship (Serie del Rey): September 6-14

    Playoff teams will be seeded according to their regular season won-lost percentage. In the case of a tie in the standings, records involving games between the teams involved will be the first tiebreaker, followed by runs differentials from their head-to-head matchups. The first round “Lucky Loser” will be determined by a similar criterion, with regular season records and run differentials used as tiebreakers.

Tigres player being tested for virus

    The LMB office has also announced pandemic-related health protocols to be used throughout the season by its 18 clubs. The so-called Diamond Plan will involve the usual edicts of constant handwashing, use of alcohol gels and safe distancing but also add a few wrinkles.

    Each franchise will be required to assign a “Covid-19 Officer” to ensure that the Diamond Plan is carried out. Players must have undergone related testing 48 hours prior to reporting to their respective teams, followed by isolation lasting 48-72 hours, after which they will undero another test.

    In addition, the Diamond Plan established three levels of ballpark access: Level 1 is for essential tasks on the field, Level 2 allows limited access to the playing field for managers and coaches while Level 3 allows media and staff members access to ballparks but not the playing surface.

    Players may not use showers, saunas or whirlpools without social distancing, two buses will be used on road trips instead of one and players will not be allowed to interact directly with fans, who will be required to wear masks at all times except while eating or drinking. At those times, fans will be asked not to speak, sing or shout (breathing is optional under those circumstances, with inhaling the preferred choice).

MEX PAC TO OPEN 2021-22 SEASON ON OCTOBER 5

 

Culiacan title defense begins October 5

   The Mexican Pacific League held a virtual Assembly of Presidents meeting last week and confirmed some dates for their upcoming 2021-22 schedule as well as the order of selection for July's drafts of non-reserved Mexican and import players.

    The regular season is slated to open on October 5 with the return of the popular reciprocal two-game series in which rival teams host each other on consecutive nights before the usual three-game series formats for the rest of the regular season, which will conclude on December 23.

    The eight-team playoffs will open for the first time on Christmas Day and be played in three stages until no later than January 22, 2022. The LMP's heavily-reinforced championship team will then head to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic for the 2022 Caribbean Series.

    This summer's draft of players not on reserve lists of the LMP's ten teams will be held on July 8 in Hermosillo. The draft will be held in two parts: One for Mexican players and one for foreign players. Here is the order of both stages as verified last week by league president Omar Canizalez:

MEXICAN PLAYER DRAFT
1-Los Mochis Caneros
2-Obregon Yaquis
3-Hermosillo Naranjeros
4-Monterrey Sultanes
5-Jalisco Charros
6-Guasave Algodoneros
7-Culiacan Tomateros
8-Navojoa Mayos
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Mexicali Aguilas

FOREIGN PLAYER DRAFT
1-Mexicali Aguilas
2-Los Mochis Caneros
3-Monterrey Sultanes
4-Obregon Yaquis
5-Navojoa Mayos
6-Jalisco Charros
7-Hermosillo Naranjeros
8-Culiacan Tomateros
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Guasave Algodoneros

    Mexicali will have a new face overseeing their draft picks this summer. The Aguilas last week announced the return of David “Chile” Cardenas to the franchise as “sports advisor” to owner Dio Alberto Murillo. “It is with pride to have David back home,” Murillo is quoted as saying, “a connoisseur of baseball on and off the field...we are sure that he will support us at all times to seek that fifth championship for our fans.”

    Cardenas spent six winters as sports manager in Mexicali between 2010-16 after retiring as a pitcher in 2020 and will presumably assume duties previously held by Luis Alfonso Garcia, who was “separated from the position of Sports Manager” in February after two seasons (and two first-round playoff exits). Cardenas oversaw an Aguilas team that reached the second round of the playoffs all six seasons he worked for them while playing in two championship series.

GUASAVE PLAYER HITS 3 HOMERS IN SINGLE GAME

Guasave outfielder Leo German

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

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

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

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

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

New Venados manager Pablo Ortega

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

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

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

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

JALISCO TO JOIN VERACRUZ AS LMB EXPANSION TEAMS?

Salvador Quirarte of Guadalajara

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

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

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

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

Jorge y Bernardo Pasquel

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

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

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

AMEZCUA, MAZON ELECTED TO CARIBBEAN SERIES HALL OF FAME

Former Culiacan catcher Adan Amezcua

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

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

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

Hermosillo president Enrique Mazon

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

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

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