Tigres sweep Tabasco, hold third in South with 3 games left

Two-time All-Star infielder Abel Martinez

It's been a long season in Cancun.  While many tourists may rejoice in that, the Quintana Roo Tigres would not likely share the sentiment.  Ever since Carlos Peralta, son of team founder Alejo Peralta, sold the Mexican League legacy franchise last winter to a small group of investors led by former Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela, little has seemingly gone right for the Tigres.  Off the field, Valenzuela's two partners bailed out on him, leaving the former Dodgers All-Star and wife Linda to go it alone in a city that has never really warmed to the team, with attendance at just over 3,000 per game in 2017.

On the field, several well-paid veterans were dispatched during the offseason but the newcomers that first-year GM Fernando Valenzuela, Jr. replaced them with have mostly failed to pick up the slack.  Manager Roberto Vizcarra, who led the Tigres to pennants in 2013 and 2015, was fired last month as a result but neither he nor new skipper Hector Hurtado have had much to work with.  Quintana Roo is last in the LMB in batting average (.264) and runs per game (3.91) and while the pitching has been better, only wily veteran Pablo Ortega is among the top 20 in ERA (12th at 3.17).  The 10-8 Ortega is also the only Tigres pitcher to reach double figures in wins.

Into this bleak picture, however, some late-arriving hope has arrived in the form of a seven-game winning streak, including sweeps last week of series against LMB South Division leaders Yucatan and South cellar-dwellars Tabasco at home in Estadio de Beisbol Beto Avila.  With three games left in the regular season, the Tigres have a 48-54 record.  In any other season, being six games under .500 gives little reason for optimism but in the crazy 2017 Liga campaign, it's good enough for Quintana Roo to take over third place in a South Division where only two of eight teams have winning records. Veracruz has dropped into fourth at 46-57 while Leon is fifth with a 43-59 mark, virtually assuring the Tigres a playoff berth at a time in which it appears the team may be peaking.

The Tigres wrapped up their home schedule Sunday with an 11-inning win over Tabasco, 5-4, in front of a season-high 6,309 fans.  Quintana Roo starter Kameron Loe was reached for four runs on nine hits over five innings, but five relievers combined to hold the Olmecas scoreless on two hits for the next six frames until 21-year veteran Abel Martinez lined a walkoff single up the middle off Tabasco reliever David Gutierrez to score Brian Hernandez from third in the bottom of the eleventh.  It was sweet revenge for the 40-year-old Martinez, who was released by Tabasco on June 6 despite a .313 average and spent the next month jobless until the Tigres came calling on July 4 and signed him.

While the Tigres have won seven in a row, Yucatan has struggled a bit of late at the top of the division.  Although the Leones have clinched the top postseason seed in the LMB South with a 61-41 record, the Merida club lost three of their last five games of July before embarking on a five-game losing skid to begin August until beating Campeche, 2-1, Sunday.  The Piratas had won seven of their last nine games.  The Lions host the Tigres for three games at Estadio Kukulcan Monday through Wednesday to close the regular season.  Second-place Puebla (55-52) will be at home to face fifth-place Leon (43-59) for three games.  The defending champion Pericos have picked up the pace under new manager Tim Johnson and clinched second but it's do-or-die time for the Bravos, who are two-and-a-half games behind fourth-place Veracruz (46-57) and need to finish within three games of the Aguilas to force a play-in game for the fourth and final seed in the South.

Things are only a little less muddled in the LMB North, where Tijuana (74-33) has clinched the division with a six-and-a-half-games lead over Monterrey (67-39).  The Sultanes are trying to hold off Monclova (66-39) for second, but regardless of who finished where, the two teams will open the playoffs against each other.  Who will Tijuana play in the first round?  That would be the Aguascalientes Rieleros (63-44), who won two of three over the Acereros in Monclova over the weekend, including a doubleheader sweep Saturday during which former MLB reliever Jose Valverde picked up saves in both games to bring his season total to 25.  Union Laguna (57-49) has not been eliminated from postseason contention but the Vaqueros need to sweep a home series against Durango (43-63) with the Rieleros dropping all three home games against Saltillo (42-63) to sneak into a play-in game.  Mexico City (55-51) will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season after qualifying for the postseason 33 straight times.  The Diablos Rojos' demand to remain in the LMB North despite closer geographic proximity to LMB South teams now looks dubious; the Red Devils would be a half-game ahead of Puebla for second place in the South.

Former Durango outfielder Yadir Drake will back into the LMB batting title with a .385 average, just barely qualifying with exactly 300 plate appearances (the threshold was 299.7) before heading off to Japan at the end of June.  Only Monterrey's Daniel Mayora (.375) had a chance but Mayora hasn't played since July 20 with no explanation or transaction accompanying his absence.  Mayora had batted 17-for-40 (.425) with a homer and nine runs scored for the Sultanes in nine games after coming over from Durango, where paychecks are a rare treat, before disappearing from the lineup.  No word on when his visage will adorn milk cartons.

Saltillo's Rainel Rosario knocked out four homers last week to take the Liga lead with 25 for the season, one more than Tijuana's Corey Brown.  Rosario has a modest eleven-game hitting streak going, including two 3-hit games and five 2-hit nights, to bring his average up from .320 to .335 in that span.  The former Cardinals and Red Sox farmhand has also driven in 21 runs during his hit streak to overtake Yucatan's Ricky Alvarez for the RBI lead, 103 to 102.  Conversely, Alvarez has gone nine games without driving in a run for a total of 27 ribbies in 40 games with the Leones after bringing in 75 runs in 66 games for Laguna prior to the controversial June 20 trade that sent him to Merida.  Justin Greene of Monclova has had the stolen bases title locked up for some time, swiping two last week to bring his season total to 48, well ahead of former Saltillo teammate Christian Zazueta's 30 steals.

Although there've been some strong pitching performances in 2017, the list of candidates for Pitcher of the Year appears to be narrowed to two: Mexico City's Octavio Acosta and Nestor Molina of Veracruz.  A former Mets minor leaguer, Acosta beat Tijuana last Thursday to bring his record to 14-1, assuring him of the LMB wins title with no other hurler within three victories of him.  He also lowered his ERA to 2.99 (tenth in the circuit) with a strong outing against the potent Toros at Estadio Fray Nano, which is not a pitcher's park, and his 102 strikeouts rank sixth.  Molina was touched for five runs on seven hits over six innings last Thursday in Oaxaca, losing his second straight game to fall to 11-3 while his ERA went up from a phenomenal 1.54 to a merely remarkable 1.78.  Molina is tied for second in wins with five other pitchers and his 118 strikeouts are second only to the 138 of Monclova's Josh Lowey.

Acereros closer Chad Gaudin saved two games last week and now has 29, one more than Monterrey's Wirfin Obispo.  Obispo drilled Tijuana's Cyle Hankerd with an eighth-inning pitch and while Hankerd did finish the game, he'll be out of the Toros lineup with a resulting injury.  Some Tijuana observers believe Obispo deliberately hit Hankerd, stirring up bad blood between the two franchises that has existed since the Toros eliminated the Sultanes in the LMB North finals with a team laden with Mexican-American players (who do not count against the six-foreigner limit), a bone of contention with Monterrey owner Pepe Maiz that grew into a major offseason schism threatening the Liga's very future.

The biggest regular season-ending series?  They're all big for one reason or another, so here they are:  Mexico City at Monterrey, Saltillo at Aguascalientes, Durango at Union Laguna, Monclova at Tijuana, Leon at Puebla, Oaxaca at Veracruz, Campeche at Tabasco and Quintana Roo at Yucatan.  There will be no traditional Monday travel day so the schedule is slated to end Wednesday night.  Any seeding tiebreakers would be played Thursday.  If a play-in game is needed, they'd be played on Friday (or Saturday if a tiebreaker is first required).  The opening-round division semifinals will begin Sunday.

Mexican League Standings (through games of August 6)
LMB NORTH: Tijuana 74-33, Monterrey 67-39, Monclova 66-39, Aguascalientes 63-44, Union Laguna 57-49, Mexico City 55-51, Durango 43-63, Saltillo 42-63
LMB SOUTH: Yucatan 61-41, Puebla 55-52, Quintana Roo 48-54, Veracruz 46-57, Leon 43-59, Campeche 42-61, Oaxaca 40-65, Tabasco 36-68

Rieleros take 2 of 3 from Sultanes in weekend home series

Baseball in Aguascalientes has never been an easy sell.  The central Mexico city of about a million metropolitan area residents first fielded a Mexican League franchise in 1975 and local fans were rewarded with a pennant three years later when the Rieleros defeated Union Laguna in five games to win the LMB championship, but the game itself has always held a somewhat peripheral existence there.  The original Rieleros lasted 25 seasons before moving to Puebla after the 1999 campaign to become the current incarnation of the Pericos.  The Cordoba Cafeteros moved to Aguascalientes in 2004 and the Rieleros II put in four seasons before the team was moved to Nuevo Laredo and became the reconstituted Tecolotes following the 2007 season.

The third iteration of the Rieleros appeared in 2012 as an expansion team and are in the midst of their sixth LMB season.  That 2012 team surprised everyone by finishing second in the North Division with a 59-49 record and advancing to the title series before losing to Veracruz in seven games.  Since then, however, Aguascalientes has failed to qualify for the playoffs the past four season while annually finishing in the bottom half of the attendance tables with crowds usually in the 3,000 range.  Then you have curious decisions such as the one in which reigning Liga RBI champion Diory Hernandez was released by the team last month despite a .300 batting average after 23 games before getting hurt in late April.  Hernandez was signed Saturday by Union Laguna and had five hits (including a homer) over the weekend for the Vaqueros.  Oops!

Even so, this year's edition of the Rieleros has been more competitive than in recent seasons and if their recent home series against Monterrey (holders of the best record in the league) is any indication, Aguascalientes may host its first playoff game in five years when the postseason opens in ten weeks.  The Rieleros won their first two games against the Sultanes to briefly pass Mexico City for fifth place in the LMB North before dropping Sunday's finale, but their 30-27 record is good enough for a fifth-place tie with the Diablos, two games behind Laguna for the fourth and final playoff berth.

The set opened Friday with a 7-3 Rieleros win as Monterrey starter Javier Solano was chased after allowing six runs on eight hits over five innings.  Ags catcher Carlos Rodriguez, who's hitting .316, launched a three-run homer off Solano in the third to open a 5-1 lead and the Railroaders never looked back.  Saturday's game resulted in another 7-3 win for the Rieleros, this time off LMB wins leader Angel Castro, who was pulled with one out in the sixth after allowing six runs on seven hits and four walks after allowing a three-run bomb by third baseman Jose Vargas that broke a 3-3 tie.  Aguascalientes came back to Earth Sunday in a 10-5 loss to the Sultanes as Luis Juarez' two-run homer keyed a four-run Monterrey seventh, but the point was made that the Rieleros can't be overlooked this year.  Attendance was up at 9,000-seat Estadio Alberto Romo Chavez, too, with more than 13,000 attending the series and more than 4,000 on hand for each game.  Although the Sultanes are one of the Liga's better road draws, overall turnstile numbers are up in Aguascalientes this year.

The Rieleros have an interesting roster with veterans like Rodriguez, 1B Jesse Castillo (who's having an MVP-type season), ageless DH Carlos Soto and recent acquisition OF Dave Sappelt, batting .355 since signing as a free agent a month ago.  Pitching is not a team strength, with Merritt the top pitcher in a mediocre rotation, but the addition of Jose Valverde (who has 288 career saves in MLB) has definitely bolstered the bullpen.  Valverde (pictured) has a pair of wins and eight saves to go with a 2.43 ERA.  No other reliever in the Liga boasts his credentials.  It's a little premature to start printing playoff tickets, but to write off Aguascalientes as an also-ran for a fifth straight year would come at one's own peril.  This is not a bad team.

Even with the series loss, Monterrey still leads the MB North at 38-17, four and a half games ahead of 34-22 Tijuana in second.  The Toros are starting to feel a little heat from 33-23 Monclova and 32-25 Union Laguna, while Aguascalientes and Mexico City are on the playoff position periphery.  Among the North's eight teams, only Durango and Saltillo are below .500 and the Generales are playing well enough to make some teams ahead of them nervous.

Conversely, the LMB South is a trainwreck once you get past division leaders Yucatan.  The Leones are cruising along at 34-20, which would put them second in the North, but nobody else is even break-even.  Quintana Roo is second at 26-27, a half-game ahead of 27-29 Puebla and two games up on surprising Veracruz, who hold fourth at 25-30.  At present, five LMB South teams are in contention for three remaining playoff berths behind Yucatan, with only Tabasco and Leon out of the picture for now.  The Olmecas and Bravos have had their respective shares of off-field miseries as well, with the Bravos facing a possible in-season expulsion over their apparent failure to pay league fees this year after the franchise moved there from Reynosa (which was a basket-case franchise last year as well).  More on that later this week.

Durango's Yadir Drake (.397) has seen his batting average drop below .400, but is still leading LMB hitters, eight points ahead of Chris Roberson of Monterrey.  Drake is part of a three-way logjam for the home run lead with Tijuana teammates Alex Liddi and Corey Brown, all showing 14 roundtrippers.  Drake has hit five homers since May 26.  Ricky Alvarez productive year for Laguna continues, with the first sacker topping the circuit in RBIs (62) to augment his .339 average and 11 homers.  Saltillo outfielder Justin Greene stole three bases over the weekend to reach 30 swipes for the campaign, twelve steals ahead of Mexico City's Carlos Figueroa.  Figueroa, a Diablos outfielder, carries 220 pounds on his 5'8" frame, conjuring an image that doesn't invoke a typical speedster, but he's only been caught three times in 21 attempts.

Among pitchers, Oaxaca's Irwin Delgado held Yucatan to one run over seven innings Sunday to earn his eighth win of the year.  The 8-2 Delgado has won his last four starts to tie Monterrey's Angel Castro for most triumphs in 2017.  Delgado's 2.29 ERA is second only to Veracruz' Nestor Molina's 2.09 figure in that category while his 74 strikeouts are seven up on Monclova's Josh Lowey in the K Derby.  After a workmanlike but unheralded eight years of pitching in the LMB, Delgado (a 5'9" lefty) is in the driver's seat for Pitcher of the Year honors.

The top two upcoming midweek series are both in the North, with Monclova visiting Aguascalientes for three games while Laguna hosts Tijuana in Torreon.  Next weekend will feature defending champion Puebla traveling to Cancun for a set with the Tigres with second place in the South on the line.  Another series that might not have raised an eyebrow weeks ago will be in Tijuana starting Friday when the Toros welcome Durango.  TJ was a preseason favorite among some while Durango was a candidate to not even reach the starting gate, but the Generales have won 7 of their past 10 games and are 19-20 away from home.  In short, Toros skipper Pedro Mere has a couple of tough series ahead this week.

MEXICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS (as of 5 June 2017)

LMB NORTH: Monterrey 38-17, Tijuana 34-22, Monclova 33-23, Laguna 32-25, Aguascalientes 30-27, Mexico City 30-27, Durango 25-32, Saltillo 24-31.

LMB SOUTH: Yucatan 34-20, Quintana Roo 26-27, Puebla 27-29, Veracruz 25-30, Oaxaca 24-31, Campeche 24-32, Tabasco 20-35, Leon 19-37.

NOTE: For unknown reasons, I'm not being allowed to post anything in the comments section below articles on BBM. I'm not ignoring anyone but I can't reply either. If you've got a question or comment you'd like a response to, just contact me directly at BaseballMexico @ live.com. I really do answer. -Bruce