JALISCO WINS FLAG, IN PANAMA FOR SERIE DEL CARIBE

Jalisco Charros pitcher Marco Tovar

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

LMP Championship Series MVP Dariel Alvarez

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

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

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

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

2019 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALL TIMES EASTERN

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


TOBIS FALL IN LATIN AMERICAN SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Nicaragua's Leon Leones: 2019 LAS champions

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

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

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

2018-19 LIV pennant winners Acayucan Tobis

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

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


AMLO PROMISES VERACRUZ ANOTHER LIGA TEAM...THIS YEAR

Three LMB baseball fans from Veracruz

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

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

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

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

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

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

YAQUIS TOP MOCHIS IN GAME 7, VS. JALISCO IN FINALS

After dropping the first two games of their Mexican Pacific League playoff semifinal series in Los Mochis, the Obregon Yaquis fought back and won the final two tilts of the set (also on the road) to beat the Caneros, 4 games to 3, reaching the championship series against Jalisco, who topped Mazatlan in five contests in the other semi matchup.  As might be deduced, however, the Yaquis didn't win the easy way.

Obregon Yaquis pitcher Francisco Rodriguez

Obregon was able to tie the series at two games apiece by winning last Monday and Tuesday.  In Game Three at Nuevo Estadio Yaquis, Jose Aguilar lined a single to center field off Andres Avila to score Yordanys Linares from second in the bottom of the tenth inning for a walkoff 4-3 win over the Caneros.  Obregon carried a 3-0 lead into the top of the ninth before Rudy Amador, Esteban Quiroz and Leandro Castro each socked solo homers off Yaquis closer Maikel Cleto to tie the game and set the stage for Aguilar's heroics in the next frame.  Obregon knotted the series one night later with a 2-0 shutout over the Caneros with Francisco Rodriguez and three relievers combining on a 3-hitter.  Rodriguez, who pitched for the Los Angeles Angels in 2010 and 2011, gave up two hits in 5.1 frames for the win as Victor Mendoza's two-run single in the bottom of the first against Mochis starter Danny Rodriguez provided all the scoring Obregon would need.  The Caneros regained the series lead on Wednesday with a whitewash of their own, a 4-0 triumph behind the pitching of Ariel Pena (who scattered three hits and struck out 10 over six innings) and three relievers.  Diory Hernandez' RBI double in the bottom of the fourth broke a scoreless tie and Saul Soto rapped a two-run single to give Los Mochis a 3-0 lead while Jonathan Jones added a leadoff homer one inning later for insurance.  Hernandez and Quiroz had three hits each for the winners while Dustin Martin had two of the Yaquis' five hits.

The series shifted to Los Mochis, where the Caneros needed just one win to punch their ticket to the finals.  They never got it, as Obregon won Friday's Game Six by a 4-3 count to tie the semis at three games each.  The Yaquis scored all four of their runs in the top of the first off Yoanis Quiala, who gave up a two-run double to Mendoza in a 32-pitch inning.  Los Mochis plated three scores of their own in the third off Yoanner Negrin with Quiroz providing the key blow with a two-run single.  Negrin settled down and eventually earned the win while Quiala absorbed the loss.  Santiago Gutierrez pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit relief in defeat for the Caneros after replacing Quiala in the second.  The Yaquis, who missed the postseason the previous two winters, advanced to the finals by winning Saturday's Game Seven, 6-2, as Rodriguez tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball for his second win in five nights.  Obregon built an early 3-0 lead against Caneros starter Jaime Lugo, although the first two were unearned via a wild pitch and an error, and steadily pulled away.  Linares, Julio Valdez and Isaac Paredes combined for six hits, four runs and two RBIs to account for all the Yaquis' scoring as Obregon capped their series comeback with two consecutive wins away from home.

Jalisco Charros infielder Jose Amador

The Yaquis will face a well-rested opponent in the Jalisco Charros, who reached their first LMP title series in five winters after beating Mazatlan in five games.  After Jalisco won the first two games in Mazatlan, the Venados won a rain-delayed Game Three, 7-3, in Guadalajara.  The contest was tied at 2-2 Monday night before rain forced the game to be carried over to Tuesday, when Mazatlan posted four runs in the fifth as Ramon Rios and Asael Sanchez had run-scoring singles and Edson Garcia contributed a two-out, two-run single off Jalisco hurler Manuel Flores.  Rios finished with three hits (two of them doubles), two runs and two RBIs in what would be the Venados' lone win of the series.  The Charros' Japhet Amador powered a two-run homer off Irwin Delgado in the second. 

Jalisco then won the next two games at home, starting with Wednesday's 6-3 triumph thanks to a five-run bottom of the first (four scores coming with two out, two on an Agustin Murillo fly ball to right that was muffed by Edson Garcia, allowing Amador and Henry Urrutia to cross the plate.  Jalisco's Orlando Lara pitched six innings and allowed one run for his second win of the series while batterymate Gabriel Gutierrez socked a solo homer off Venados starter Konner Wade in support.  Sebastian Valle and Anthony Giansanti both went deep for Mazatlan.  The Charros closed out their semi in Thursday's Game Five, 10-6, as Jalisco overcame an early 2-0 deficit by scoring runs in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.  Jose Amador (no relation to Japhet) paced the 15-hit Horsemen attack by going 3-for-5 with a pair of two-run homers while Murillo also belted a longball for the winners.  Valle and Giansanto homered again for Mazatlan in defeat while Rios added three hits and two ribbies.

After Obregon and Jalisco closed out their Final Four wins, both took part in a reinforcement draft Saturday.  The Yaquis took a pair of second basemen in Los Mochis' Quiroz and Mazatlan's Rios while the Charros took starting pitchers Manny Barreda from Culiacan and Los Mochis' Quiala.  Quiroz is perhaps more versatile than Rios, with about as many games at third base and shortstop as at second, and he would give Yaquis manager Sergio Gastelum more options.  Barreda was not chosen in the previous two reinforcement drafts despite finishing second to Jalisco's Elian Leyva, the LMP Pitcher of the Year, with a 2.65 ERA.  He started one game for the Anzoategui Caribes in the Venezuelan League semifinals last week, getting rocked by the Caracas Leones for four runs on six hits in 1.1 innings, but returned to North America after the Caribes were eliminated.

The MexPac championship series will open Monday night in Guadalajara at 9:15 Eastern as the Charros host Obregon.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Championship Series
Game 1  Monday, January 21 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco
Game 2  Tuesday, January 22 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco
Game 3  Thursday, January 24 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon
Game 4  Friday, January 25 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon
Game 5  Saturday, January 26 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon*
Game 6  Monday, January 28 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco*
Game 7  Tuesday, January 29 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco*
*-if necessary.  All times Eastern.


MANNY RODRIGUEZ REPEATS AS LMP MVP, LEYVA PITCHER OF YEAR

LMP Most Valuable Player Manny Rodriguez

Jalisco Charros second baseman Manny Rodriguez has been selected as the Mexican Pacific League's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and the third time in his winterball career.  The 36-year-old Guasave native earned 74 of 117 votes, or 63.25% of ballots cast by journalists covering the LMP.  Los Mochis outfielder Leandro Castro came in a distant second with 15 votes (12.82%), followed by league batting champ Francisco Peguero of Hermosillo with 13 votes (11.11%), Obregon slugger Jesus Valdez (11 votes, 9.40%) and Navojoa's LMP home run king Jovan Rosa (4 votes, 3.42%).

Rodriguez was eighth in the MexPac with a .313 batting average and led the loop with 52 RBIs, his 80 hits were one behind Hermosillo's Jasson Atondo, he tied Castro for third in the LMP with 13 homers and matched Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez with 41 runs scored (ten behind leader Alonzo Harris of Navojoa).  With his third MVP trophy, the Jalisco team captain now trails only the legendary Hector Espino, who won six such awards over his MexPac career.

LMP Pitcher of the Year Elian Leyva

The LMP league office has named other award-winners for the 2018-19 regular season, including Rodriguez' teammate Elian Leyva as Pitcher of the Year.  Although the Cuban-born Leyva did not receive a single MVP vote, the Charros' right-hander led or tied for the circuit lead in several pitching categories including wins (6), earned-run average (2.02), strikeouts (67) and WHIP (1.08).  He became only the fifth man in MexPac history to cop the Pitching Triple Crown and the last since Francisco Campos of Mazatlan turned the trick in 2003-04.  Leyva, who was called to rest last week by the Atlanta Braves before MLB spring training opens next month, easily outdistanced the POY field with 90.60% of votes cast on 106 of 117 ballots cast by cronistas, while Culiacan's Manny Barreda and Jaime Lugo of Navojoa each picked up four votes and another Mayos pitcher, Marco Carrillo, earned the final three.

LMP Reliever of the Year Casey Coleman

Culiacan closer Casey Coleman earned 99 of 117 votes (84.62%) to win Reliever of the Year honors after leading the LMP with 22 saves, breaking the Tomateros' old mark of 21 set by Jose Silva in 2007-08.  Coleman turned in a microscopic ERA of 1.24 while striking out 37 batters and walking only five over 36.1 innings pitched in 34 appearances.  The ex-Cubs pitcher, whose grandfather and father both pitched in MLB All-Star games during their respective careers, far outdistanced his nearest competitors; Mazatlan's Brandon Cunniff and Los Mochis's Jose Valverde (himself a former MLB All-Star) each picked up seven votes.

LMP Rookie of the Year Jasson Atondo

Continuing the trend of non-competitive awards balloting, Hermosillo second baseman Jasson Atondo received 92 of 117 votes (78.63%) to walk away as this winter's Rookie of the Year.  Besides leading the MexPac with 81 hits, Atondo finished second to teammate Francisco Peguero in batting with a .351 mark after topping the table for a number of weeks before a late-season fade.  Atondo also finished fifth in runs scored with 39.  Navojoa pitcher Jose Isidro Marquez, son of the Mexican League's all-time saves leader, finished second to Atondo with 10 votes (8.55%), followed by Los Mochis middle reliever Daniel Duarte's eight votes (6.84%) and seven votes (5.98%) for Obregon setup man Jesus Aguamea.

LMP Manager of the Year Sergio Gastelum

The voting was much closer for Manager of the Year, which was eventually won by Obregon's first-year skipper Sergio Gastelum, who received 40 of 107 votes to come in at 37.04%.  Gastelum led Oaxaca to a surprise appearance in the Mexican League's Serie del Rey last fall in his managerial debut before the Guerreros fell to Monterrey in the title set and his work with the Yaquis implies that his initial success as a dugout boss with the Guerreros was no fluke.  Gastelum replaced Oscar Robles early in the 2018-19 season with the Yaquis at 3-6 and went on to lead Obregon to a 34-23 record over the 57 games he managed as the Tribe posted the best overall record in the LMP regular season and qualified for the postseason for the first time in three years.  Hermosillo skipper Bronswell Patrick came in second to Gastelum with 29 votes (26.85%), Jalisco manager Roberto Vizcarra was third with 18 votes (16.67%) and Culiacan's now-former manager Robinson Cancel was fourth by picking up 12 votes (11.11%).  Los Mochis helmsman Victor Bojorquez, who has done some great work for the Caneros himself, placed fifth with nine votes (8.33%).


ACAYUCAN TOPS XALAPA FOR LIV CROWN; BOTH QUALIFY FOR L.A.S.

Acayucan Tobis outfielder Yadir Drake

The Acayucan Tobis defeated the Xalapa Chileros, 7-2, Sunday afternoon at Estadio Emiliano Zapata in Oluta (an Acayuca suburb) in the seventh and deciding game of the Veracruz Winter League championship series.  No details of the game were available at BBM's post time. 

The victory gives the Tobis their second consecutive winterball league title and third in the past four seasons.  Acayucan won the Veracruz State Baseball League pennant last year in that circuit's second and final campaign under the guidance of former Brewers pitcher Narciso Elvira, who founded the loop in 2016 after the original LIV shut down operations due to financial difficulties.  Elvira's LVEB also struggled to make ends meet before the reconstituted LIV returned this winter under the leadership of sisters Regina and Fabiola Vazquez Saut.  Many baseball veterans played in the league this winter after Elvira's circuit relied almost entirely on younger (and less-expensive) players for two years, although the LIV retained the LVEB's practice of scheduling games only on weekends.

The Tobis and manager Felix Tejeda, a former Dodgers farmhand and Campeche Piratas reliever, found themselves in a tough spot right off the bat by dropping the first two games of the series at home, losing a 7-5 contest to Xalapa on January 5 and allowing two runs in a heartbreaking 8-6 loss on January 6.  Acayucan fought back the following weekend by scoring five runs in the top of the ninth inning in a 11-5 road victory over the Chileros on January 11 but found themselves on the brink of elimination one day later after absorbing an 8-1 defeat.  The Tobis stayed alive and sent the series back to Acayucan by plating five runs in the first inning en route to a resounding 14-4 win in Xalapa as Heber Gomez blasted a grand slam while Yadil Mujica, Rogelio Noris and Eliseo Aldazaba combined for nine hits, five runs and three RBIs to narrow Xalapa's advantage in the best-of-7 set to one game.

The Tobis tied the series at three game apiece Saturday with a 4-1 Game Six win in Acayucan's Estadio Luis Diaz Flores.  The Mexican League's 2017 batting champion, Yadir Drake, had a big night for the Tobis by driving in fellow Cuban Yadil Mujica with the game's first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, doubling in another run in the bottom of the third and launching a solo homer to left in the seventh.  Eleven-year LMB veteran Yancarlo Angulo produced Xalapa's lone run of the game in the top of the ninth by  Tobis starter Jorge Quinones got the win by pitching 5.1 shutout innings while holding the Chileros to two hits.  Rookie Daniel Lobata took the loss for Xalapa.

According to the Latin American Series website, both the Tobis and Chileros will move on to co-host the event's eighth edition.  The six-team, 18-game tournament is scheduled to be played in four ballparks in the state of Veracruz.  The LAS is considered one tier below the Caribbean Series among international winterball events.  The Tobis and Chileros will play league champions from Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama and first-time entrant Argentina.  Curacao, which sent their top team last year, is sitting out this winter's tournament, hence the invite to the LIV runners-up.

Three games will be played on opening day Saturday: Xalapa vs. Panama at Beisborama 72 in Cordoba (a former LMB ballpark) at 1PM local as well as a 2PM doubleheader at Veracruz' Beto Avila Park with Colombia vs. Nicaragua followed by Acayucan vs. Argentina.  The title game is scheduled for February 1, most likely at Beto Avila Park, another former Liga venue with the largest capacity of the four facilities at 7,782 seats. and the site of the first Serie Latinoamericana in 2013.  The 27-year-old stadium served as home this winter for the LIV's Veracruz Rojos, who narrowly missed the postseason.

Caribbean Series to open Wednesday; Crucial LMB meeting in Houston set; Xalapa 0-3 in Latin American Series

Mexicali begins CS play tonight

The Mexican Pacific League champion Mexicali Aguilas have held a couple practices at Estadio Tomateros in Culiacan in preparation for their Wednesday night Caribbean Series opener against the Caguas Criollos, Puerto Rico's Roberto Clemente League kingpins.  

The Aguilas had a 37-31 overall record in the MexPac, finishing fifth in the first half schedule and fourth in the second half before going 12-7 in playoff series wins over Navojoa, Hermosillo and Los Mochis.  Mexicali posted 113 playoff runs on the scoreboard for an average of 5.9 per game, so scoring hasn't been a problem.  An already-potent daily lineup featuring LMP batting champ Luis Juarez, Yuniesky Betancourt, C.J. Retherford and Chris Roberson has been augmented by reinforcements Jason Bourgeois, Sebastian Valle, Agustin Murillo and Ronnier Mustelier.  Their starting pitchers were a bit inconsistent at times in the postseason, although manager Roberto Vizcarra appears to have addressed that concern by bringing in Hector Daniel Rodriguez, Tyler Alexander, Barry Enright and Manny Barreda as reinforcements to go with holdovers Javier Solano and Miguel Pena.  The Eagles' bullpen appears to be in great shape, with Sergio Romo added to share the closer's role with Jake Sanchez.

Caguas finished third in the five-team Roberto Clemente League during the regular season, going 19-21 in the seven-week regular season prior to topping Mayaguez and Santurce in the playoffs, winning 9 of 14 postseason contests.  The Criollos' everyday lineup featuring infielders Ruben Gotay and Andrew Velazquez, outfielders Rusney Castillo and Jorge Padilla plus catcher Rene Garcia.  Caguas' team batting average of .249 with 11 homers over 40 regular season games won't scare anyone, but it was a down winter for batters in Puerto Rico, with four teams finishing the regular season with ERAs below 3.00.  The Criollos came in fourth at 2.78, well below Santurce's incredible 1.78 team ERA.  Former MLBer Joel Pineiro has been added to a staff that includes another reinforcement, Pitcher of the Year Adalberto Flores, whose 0.95 ERA for Santurce led the Clemente League, along with the circuit's saves leader, Ricardo Gomez (15 saves with a 1.66 ERA). Having won their 17th Puerto Rican pennant, Caguas has had some powerful teams in the past with three Caribbean Series championships, but this year's edition appears somewhat nondescript.  However, never count out a team with good pitching and it does look like the Criollos do have that.

Game time in Culiacan is set for 8:00PM MST (0300 UTC) following opening ceremonies scheduled for 6:30 local time.  Hector Daniel Rodriguez gets the start for Mexicali while Adalberto Flores will likely get the nod from Caguas manager Luis Matos. 

Mexican League to hold important presidents' meeting in Houston 

While the Caribbean Series will be getting underway in Culiacan, the Mexican League will hold an Assembly of Presidents meeting Wednesday in Houston, far from the Liga offices in Mexico City and the kind of scrutiny that past meetings have received from Mexico's baseball writers.  The LMB meeting's venue and timing do not seem coincidental after their January meeting in the D.F. brought the troubled league attention that they would rather not have after president Plinio Escalante resigned or was fired (depending on whose version one chooses to believe) while rumors swirled that the Liga will either split into two eight-team loops or shut down altogether for 2017.

The primary issue between the two warring factions of owners and/or team presidents is the number of Mexican-American players each club will be allowed to carry this year.  One faction of so-called Old Guard owners want to limit the number of such players (who do not count as "foreigners" against the six-man cap in that category) to nine while the opposing New Breed owners want no restrictions on Mexican-American players.  The imbroglio has led to Escalante's exit and the exclusion of Reynosa Broncos team president Eliud Villareal (whose franchise is in flux while seeking a new home) from discussions to give the Old Guard, led by Monterrey owner Jose Maiz, an 8-7 advantage in voting among team presidents.  However, this issue is just a tipping point in a longstanding clash between the Old Guard and New Breed regarding the overall philosophy of how the LMB should be structured and operated.

If the Liga does indeed split into two divisions or even separate leagues, it would likely be along these lines:

Old Guard - Campeche Piratas, Durango Generales, Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monterrey Sultanes, Oaxaca Guerreros, Quintana Roo Tigres, Saltillo Saraperos, Tabasco Olmecas.

New Breed - Aguascalientes Rieleros, Laguna Vaqueros, Monclova Acereros, Puebla Pericos, Reynosa Broncos, Tijuana Toros, Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, Yucatan Leones.

Underneath all this is the uncertain status of the Durango franchise (which may end up sharing Estadio Monterrey with the Sultanes after ballpark renovations promised in Durango when the team initially moved there from Carmen have not materialized), the somewhat lame-duck status of the Reynosa club (Villareal originally moved the team to Leon, only to face ballpark issues similar to Durango's, and now reportedly wants to move the team to Nuevo Laredo but instead finds himself and his franchise in limbo), declining attendance throughout much of the LMB (while the western LMP has prospered at the gate with no restrictions on Mexican-American players) and an overall murky future with nobody replacing Escalante at the helm.  

The Mexican League is currently at best described as a "hot mess" and it remains to be seen if any accord can be reached in Houston with both sides of the debate apparently entrenched in their positions.

Xalapa Chileros go winless at Latin American Series in Colombia

Speaking of leagues with uncertain futures, the shutdown this winter of the Veracruz Winter League and the resulting rise of the Veracruz State Baseball League has concluded with the latter's Xalapa Chileros being swept in three games at the Latin American Series in Monteria, Colombia.

The Chileros were one of six former LIV teams to take part in the new LBEV, which was organized by former Brewers pitcher Narcisco Elvira in the wake of the decision among LIV owners to not operate in 2016-17.  The LBEV played a one-month, weekends-only regular season schedule of ten games per team, followed by a two-weekend playoff with four teams playing best-of-3 series.  Clubs were allowed to field only players from the state of Veracruz.  While Elvira deserves credit for keeping winterball alive in his home state, there appears to have been a sense of impermanence to the new organization which resulted in the LAS being moved in early January from Xalapa, where it was planned to be staged as Mexico's turn in the four-nation rotation came up in 2017, to Colombia.  The results from the fifth annual tournament, in which champions from what are considered AA leagues (whereas Caribbean Series leagues are regarded as AAA in quality) convene, were likely not envisioned by Elvira, who also managed the Chileros in the LAS.

In losing all three games, Xalapa was outscored by a 19-3 margin.  The Chileros opened the tournament on Thursday, January 26 with a 3-1 loss to the Panama City Metros in which Xalapa shortstop Kevin Flores (a veteran of several Mexican League seasons) had his team's only hit, wasting a strong outing from starter Tony Cordoba, who allowed one run on five hits in five innings.  That was followed by a 7-2 loss to Nicaraguan champion Chinandega on January 27.  The Chileros did outhit the Tigres, 11 to 8, but former Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera socked a homer for the winners as Rene Coss absorbed the loss for Xalapa.  Cordoba was inserted into the batting order as a designated hitter and had two safeties for the Veracruzanos.  The Chileros wrapped up their round robin schedule January 28 with a 9-0 blanking at the hands of Colombian League champs (and LAS hosts) Monteria.  Flores and third baseman Eduardo Santos each had two of the Mexican club's five hits. Chinandega shut out Monteria, 4-0, one day later to claim the LAS title for Nicaragua.

Overall, the Chileros hit only .181 as a team, collecting a total of 17 hits in three games, while Xalapa pitchers registered a 4.32 ERA to finish fourth in that category.  It was an inglorious conclusion to the season for the LBEV, whose future is uncertain.  Baseball has a long and proud history in Veracruz, which was home to 1940's baseball magnate Jorge Pasquel, but this was not a winterball season that will be looked upon fondly in the future.

Three teams ticketed for CS; Generales to Monterrey(?); LAS underway

THREE WINTERBALL CHAMPS CROWNED

Three of the five national winterall champions who will converge on Culiacan next week for the 2017 Caribbean Series have been determined.  Puerto Rico's Caguas Criollos will be joined in the Sinaloa city by Venezuela's Zulia Aguilas and the Granma Alazanes of Cuba.

Caguas defeated Santurce, 5 games to 3, to win the championship series and pennant for Puerto Rico's five-team Roberto Clemente League.  The Criollos had to go 12 innings to beat the Cangrejeros, 6-5, on Henry Blanco's walkoff RBI single.  Another former MLBer, Joel Pineiro, earned the win in relief.  Prior to the game, the Creoles retired the number 7 worn by their former catcher Ivan Rodriguez, one of three recent Cooperstown inductees.  Caguas has won 17 flags in the Puerto Rican League, winning the Caribbean Series in 1954, 1974 and 1987 (the latter two were played in Mexico).

Zulia topped Lara, 5-2, Wednesday to end the Venezuelan League finals with a 4-games-to-1 victory over the Cardinales.  Mitch Lively, a former Giants farmhand who saved eight games with a 1.72 ERA for Reynosa of the LMB last summer, pitched seven innings for the Aguilas and allowed one run on two hits for the win as Jose Pirella contributed a two-run homer and Endy Chavez went 2-for-2 with an RBI.  Chavez and Caguas' Blanco were teammates on the 2013 Seattle Mariners.  The championship is Zulia's first since 2000 and sixth overall.  The Aguilas were CS winners in 1984 and 1989.

Granma (which is not a city but Cuba's national newspaper...think Pravda in Spanish) won this winter's Cuban National Series final by completing a four-game sweep of Ciego de Avila Monday with a 3-2 win. Longtime star Alfredo Despaigne was the first of three Alazanes batters to reach base on a walk in the eighth inning of the deciding game, breaking a 2-2 tie by scoring on a sacrifice fly.  Granma has been a member of the Serie Nacional since 1977-78, but this is their first Cuban title.  Security is expected to be on hand in Culiacan to help discoourage potential player defections.

In other CS-related league playoffs, the Licey Tigres and the Cibaenas Aguilas are tied at four gamies apiece in their best-of-9 Dominican League final going into Saturday night's deciding game.  The Aguilas beat Licey, 7-3, Saturday as Orlando Sixte drove in three runs for Cibaenas while Irwin Delgado allowed two runs in 6.1 innings pitched.  The Carolina Gigantes finished first in the LiDom regular season with a 27-23 record but were knocked out of pennant contention during the first playoff stage in which the top four finishers in the six-team loop played an 18-game round robin format.  Cibaenas advance with a 14-4 record, five games ahead of second-place Licey at 9-9.

And you've probably read somewhere that the Mexican Pacific League championship series between Mexicali and Los Mochis is still being played, with Mexicali holding a 3-2 series lead over Los Mochis going into Game Six at Mochis Saturday night

The Caribbean Series gets underway on Wednesday, February 1 at Culiacan's Estadio de los Tomateros.


GENERALES TO MONTERREY INSTEAD OF DURANGO?

The turmoil that has marked the Mexican League offseason appears to be taking another turn, with rumors floating that the would-be Durango Generales (who are the used-to-be Carmen Delfines) may end up spending the 2017 season sharing Estadio Monterrey with the Sultanes.  As noted in previous BBM missives, Delfines owner Virgilio Ruiz Isassi had planned to shift to Durango due to declining attendance in Ciudad del Carmen, a city of fewer than 200,000 in the southern state of Campeche.  However, promised renovations to Durango's 8,000-seat Estadio Francisco Villa to reach LMB ballpark standards have not materialized and now Ruiz is said to have been discussing the possibility of moving the team to Monterrey instead with Sultanes owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz.

Contrast that with the problems the proposed Leon Bravos have been having with their proposed move from Reynosa, where the Broncos consistently struggled with small crowds due to violence related to drug cartels operating in the city across the USA border from Brownsville, Texas.  Owner Eliud Villareal's transfer of the team to Leon was approved by the Liga Assembly of Presidents last November but, as in Durango, the newly-rechristened Bravos (the name used by Leon's earlier LMB franchise) are running into problems with the 3,000-seat Estadio Domingo Santana, where promised upgrades have likewise failed to occur.  Villareal has reportedly sought to instead move the Broncos to Nuevo Laredo, another city on the Texas border with cartel problems but with a nicer ballpark than Leon's (albeit one sitting out of town), but has not received any support from the Presidents since his initially-planned move to Leon was approved.

In fact, although Ruiz has been accorded a seat and vote among the Presidents, Villareal has been kept out of meetings among the governing body altogether.  The reason?  Ruiz has sided with the "Old Guard" group of owners led by Maiz seeking to limit the number of Mexican-Americans per team (anywhere from three to six, depending on the source) and otherwise keep things where they've been, while Villareal has aligned with "New Breed" owners wanting no limits on Mexican-American players (who do not apply to the LMB's six-man limit on foreigners) and otherwise representing change in how the circuit moves forward.  After Plinio Escalante resigned, or was fired, from his league presidency, Maiz' group of eight owners have been able to outvote the seven "New Breed" owners in matters thanks to Villareal's exclusion.

A previously unscheduled Presidents' meeting is said to be set for next Wednesday, interestingly in Houston and not at Liga headquarters in Mexico City.  Wherever they convene, these men are presiding over a mess that threatens to split the LMB into two leagues or division or even shut down the Liga entirely in 2017.


LATIN AMERICAN SERIES UNDERWAY

The "other" international pro baseball winter tournament opened earlier this week and while Mexico is being represented as usual, it's been anything but a usual season for what are considered AA-level teams based in the state of Veracruz.

The fifth annual Latin America Series, an event featuring champions from Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama along with a Mexican representative, began Thursday in Monteria, Combia's 11,000-seat Estadio 18 de Junio. The Panama Metros topped Veracruz' Xalapa Chileros, 3-1, in the tourney opener Thursday, followed by a 5-2 win for Nicaragua's Chinandega Tigres over the host Monteria Leones.  That the Chileros are representing Mexico is not unusual in itself, but how they (and the LAS itself) got from Xalapa to Monteria is.

The Veracruz Winter League (aka the LIV) was formed in 2005 and operated with six teams last season, four in Veracruz and two in Chiapas, with Acayucan winning the title and playing in the 2016 LAS in Managua, Nicaragua.  However, a combination of LIV financial problems and political turmoil in Verazruz during the offseason led the circuit to suspend operations for this winter.  In its place, former pitcher Narciso Elvira (a Veracruz native who had a cup of coffee with the 1990 Milwaukee Brewers) created the Veracruz State Baseball League, aka the LBEV, arose to take its place.

All six of the new circuit's teams are from within Veracruz State and all players are required to be Veracruz natives. The LBEV played a weekend-only regular season with a mix of prospects and LMB veterans, followed by a January four-team playoff from which Xalapa defeated Minatitlan in the championship series for a berth in the LAS.  Among the Mexican League veterans playing for the Chileros in Monteria are infielders Kevin Flores, Heber Gomez and player-manager Francisco Rivera, catcher Humberto Sosa, outfielders Eliseo Aldazaba and Eduardo Arredondo, and pitchers Rodolfo Aguirre, Abraham Elvira and Jose Cobos.

The series itself had been slated to be played in Xalapa's 5,000-seat Parque Deportivo Colon as part of a rotation among participating countries similar to the Caribbean Series format.  However, the venue was shifted from Xalapa to Sincelejo, Colombia on January 21 for unclear reasons before the LAS was moved again two days later to Monteria after the Leones beat Sincelejo in the Colombian League title series.  The four teams will play a three-day round robin with a championship game between the two sides with the best first-round records set for Sunday.

Acayucan eliminated from Latin American Series

The Acayucan Tobis are done in Nicaragua.  After finishing the three-game opening round robin with a 1-2 record, the Veracruz Winter League champion Tobis lost to Colombia's Barranquila Caimanes, 1-0, in a tiebreaker for third place at the Latin American Series in Managua's Dennis Martinez National Stadium.

For the second day in a row, the Tobis found themselves on the short end of a pitcher's duel.  This time, Caimanes starter Ronald Ramirez who stymied the Mexican side, tossing 6.1 scoreless innings while giving up just three hits and walking two.  Interestingly, none of the 19 outs Ramirez where strikeouts.  In all, Acayucan could only muster five hits, although the last would add some last-minute drama.

Barranquilla scored the game's only run in the top of the eighth when Gerson Jimenez whacked a double, scooted over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ramirez (batting for himself) and then, after holding on Steve Brown's fly ball for the second out of the frame, came in when Fidel Pena's broken-bat hit off a Jon Sintes landed just beyond the grasp of the Acayucan shortstop.

Trailing by a run, the Tobis made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when ex-MLB outfielder Karim Garcia socked a one-out triple off Caemanes reliever Luis Liria.  Liria then plunked Carlos Pedrosa to give the Tobis runners at the corners with one out, but Pedro Diaz grounded to second for a game-ending double play, also ending Acayucan's chances to keep playing.

Once again a quality start from a Tobis hurler was squandered after longtime LMB pitcher Sergio Lizarraga (pictured) actually outpitched Ramirez, allowing no runs on three hits and a walk while whiffing six Barranquilla batters in as many innings.  Omar Espinosa, who gave up the Jimenez double in the eighth, took the loss. Erick Gonzalves pitched one inning and got the win for Barranquilla.

The Tobis dropped an identical 1-0 contest to the host Rivas Gigantes on Thursday, creating the Friday tiebreaker game which came as a surprise to this writer, who'd seen no games scheduled Friday on the Latin American Series website, which includes regulations stating in the case of a tie for third place (as there was between Acayucan and Barranquilla), the winner of the earlier round-robin match between the two squads would get the nod.  The Tobis opened the LAS last Tuesday with a 9-3 win over the Caimanes.  Go figure.

Tobis lose 1-0, drop to 1-and-2 at Latin American Series

The Veracruz Winter League pennant-winning Acayucan Tobis lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Nicaraguan host Rivas Thursday night to wrap up their Latin American Series first round with a 1-2 record, tied for third with Colombia's Barranquilla Caemanes. According to tournament regulations, the Tobis advance to Saturday's semifinal game by virtue of their series-opening 9-3 win over the Caemanes on Tuesday.

For the second day in a row, Acayucan wasted a great pitching performance as Jorge Luis Ibarra put in seven shutout innings of mound work, allowing six hits and striking out four.  Likewise, The Gigantes benefitted from a solid start as Jonathan Aristill went six scoreless innings and striking out five while giving up five hits.

The scoreless draw was broken up in the bottom of the eighth when Rivas pinch-hitter Darrel Campbell (pictured) manufactured a run by singling off Tobis reliever Jose Luis Perez, moving to second on Ivan Marin's sacrifice bunt, stealing third and coming in on Ofilio Castro's groundout in what proved to be the only score Rivas needed as the Tobis went scoreless against Gigantes closer Jose Saenz in the top of the ninth to end the contest.

Acayucan finished with six hits on the night as DH Carlos Pedroso picked up a double and a pair of singles.  Jimmy Gonzalez and former Mexican League star and Dutch WBC player Yurendell de Caster each had two hits for the Gigantes.

Rivas finished the round-robin stage with a 2-1 record to tie for first with the Panama City Nacionals, who lost 4-1 to Colombian champions Barranquilla Friday. Panama City earns the top seed and a free pass to Sunday's title game by beating the Gigantes earlier in the week.  After an open date Friday, Rivas and Acayucan will meet again Saturday at Dennis Martinez National Stadium in Managua after playing Thursday night in Rivas' home ballpark because the Managua facility was unavailable.

Tobis stumble in 8th, lose 4-2 to Panama City in LAS

Juan Grijalva (pictured) gave the Acayucan Tobis a masterful seven-plus innings of pitching, but a four-run eighth inning for the Panama City Nacionals broke open a scoreless game as the Nacionals went on to beat the Tobis, 4-2, Wednesday at the Latin American Series in Managua, Nicaragua.

Grijalva and Nacionals starter Eliecer Navarro locked into a classic pitcher's duel as the game remained scoreless through seven frames, but after serving up a one-out Jorge Bishop double in the eighth, Grijalva was pulled in favor of former MLB hurler Manny Corpas (ironically a Pamananian).  Corpas gave up a single to Javier Dominguez that brought Bishop in with the first run of the contest, then walked Rodrigo Vigil and got Jean Carlos Rodriguez to hit a grounder that became the second out of the inning when Dominguez was forced out at third.  Rodrigo Orozco then singled to center field to bring in Vigil while an error on the play allowed Rodriguez to come in all the way from first with the third run of the inning.  Edward Thomas then singled in Orozco to make it a 4-0 game before the inning mercifully ended.

Acayucan came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, one on a Karim Garcia solo homer and the other on Jose Castaneda's RBI single, but Panama reliever Franquelis Osorio struck out Pedro Diaz to end the inning and the Tobis rally.  Osorio then pitched a scoreless ninth to nail down the win for the Nacionals.

Despite a superb outing in which he scattered three hits and charged with one run allowed while striking out six in 7.1 innings, Grijalva was saddled with the loss for the Tobis.  Navarro was even better for Panama, going seven shutout stanzas and giving up just two hits and one walk in picking up the win.  Osorio earned the save with 1.1 scoreless innings and three strikeouts.

With the win, Panama City went to 2-0 to clinch at least a berth in Saturday's semifinal with the possibility of a semi bye and a slot in Sunday's LAS championship game.  The Tobis are now tied with the Nicaraguan host Rivas Gigantes for second with 1-1 marks while Colombia's Barranquilla Caimanes bring up the rear at 0-2 after Rivas topped Colombian champ Barranquilla, 4-1, in Wednesday's nightcap.

Acayucan will wrap up their first stage schedule tonight when the Veracruz Winter League champs square off with the host Gigantes at 7:30PM ET in Rivas, as the LAS makes a preplanned one-day shift of venues before returning to Managua's Dennis Martinez National Baseball Stadium Saturday and Sunday.  Panama City and Barranquilla meet in the day's first game.

Tobis open Latin American Series with 9-3 win over Colombian champs

It was a good day for veteran ballplayers Tuesday as pitcher Jasiel Acosta (pictured) turned in a good start and Pedro Diaz went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the Veracruz Winter League champion Acayucan Tobis to a 9-3 clobbering of Colombia's Barranquilla Caimanes in the opening game of the 2017 Latin America Series in Managua, Nicaragua.

The Colombian League champions took an early 1-0 lead when Efraim Contreras scored on a single to right field by Adrian Sanchez in the bottom of the first, but Acayucan broke through with two scores in the top of fourth when Cuban product Joan Carlos Pedroso came in on a Sergio Perez sacrifice fly and Diaz scored the go-ahead run on Jose Castaneda's single.  Diaz is a 20-year LMB corner infielder who played in Tabasco last summer.

The Tobis took a 4-1 lead in the sixth as Pedroso plated a run on a Castaneda sacrifice fly while Diaz doubled and later scored on Daniel Sanchez' hit to right, but Barranquilla closed the gap to one with runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh frames.  Acayucan then put the game away with five scores in the top of the ninth, paced by RBI singles from another pair of vets, ex-Padres minor leaguer Adan Velazquez and Christian Zazueta, bringing the count to 9-3.

Acosta, a 33-year-old lefty who's spent the past 15 summers in the Mexican League and was a teammate of Diaz' in Tabasco last year, got the win after putting in 5.2 innings of work against the Caimanes, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk, striking out four.  Randy Consuegra was tagged with the loss for the Caimanes after giving up up two runs on five hits a a pair of free passes over 4.1 innings.  After the game, Mexico's ambassador to Nicaragua, Lic. Miguel Diaz Reynoso, came into the Acayucan locker room to congratulate manager Jose Angel Chavez' team on their win.

The Tobis play their second game Wednesday when they take on the Panamanian League titlist Panama City Nacionals, who scored three times in the top of the tenth to beat the host Rivas Gigantes, 6-3, in Tuesday's nightcap.  Jose Grijalva will get the start for Acayucan, who can clinch a berth in Saturday's semifinal with a win.

Tobis win LIV crown, berth in Latin American Series

The Acayucan Tobis defeated the Xalapa Chileros, 2-1, Tuesday night to clinch the Veracruz Winter League championship series, 4 games to 1, and punch their ticket to next week's Latin American Series at Dennis Martinez National Stadium in Managua Nicaragua.  This marks the first pennant in the ten-year LIV history of the Tobis, a Tabasco Olmecas farm team, while breaking a string of four straight pennants for the Los Tuxtlas Brujos under manager Pedro Mere.

In Tuesday's deciding game, Jose Castaneda put Acayucan on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning by doubling in Pedro Diaz with the first run of the tilt.  Luis Fonseca tied it up at 1-1 by belting a solo homer for Xalapa in the bottom of the fourth.  The teams then swapped zeroes until Castenda cracked a bases-empty homer of his own in the top of the ninth off Chileros reliever Jon Sintes to put the Tobis on top, 2-1.  Raul Barron then tossed a scoreless ninth for Acayucan for the win and the flag.

Veteran Cristhian Presichi, who homered for Mexico against Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, won the LIV regular season batting title with a .420 average for the first-place Paso de Ovejas Campesinos, who finished with a 19-10-1 record (two games up on Acayucan's 15-10-1 mark) while Tuxtla Gutierrez' Carlos Rodriguez tied for the league lead with 7 homers and led the circuit with 32 RBI's.  Campesinos hurler Angel Araiza and the Tobis' Juan Grijalva topped the loop with 4 wins each, Los Tuxtlas' Joel Payamps turned in an 0.82 ERA and Raul Carrillo of Palenque posted 39 strikeouts.

The fourth Latin American Series will open in Managua on Tuesday, January 26 at 1:30PM local time when Acayucan faces either the Lorica Caimanes or Monteria Leones, who are locked up in the Colombian League title series (the Caimanes lead, 3 games to 1).  Nicaraguan host Rivas Gigantes will take on the Panamanian champs in the nightcap.  The Panama Nacionales lead the Metrolotican Aguilas, 2 games to 1, in their best-of-five battle for that berth.

The four teams will play a three-day, six-game round robin next Tuesday through Thursday.  After a day off on Friday, January 29, the second and third seeds will play a semifinal game on the 30th for the right to play the top seed Sunday the 31st for the Serie Latinoamericana crown.  Colombia's Monteria Leones the defending champion. The 2017 event will be held in Xalapa.

CAMPESINOS LEAD VERACRUZ WINTER LEAGUE, TEN GAMES LEFT

The Paso de Ovejas Campesinos have a one-game lead over the Acayucan Tobis in the Veracruz Winter League standings with ten games left in the regular season.

The 12-6-1 Campesinos have six players batting .314 or better, including DH Ruben Agramon's .385 and veteran 1B Cristhian Presichi at .377.  LF Marcos Vechionacci hits .347 and provides pop with five doubles, five triples and a pair of homers in 19 games.   Five Paso de Ovejas pitchers have two wins apiece.  Roberto Ramirez (2-0/2.05) has been the most effective.

Acayucan has two outfielder hitting over .360: Daniel Nunez is raking at .367 while Jerry Puentes has a .364 average.  Longtime Mexican League hurler Jaciel Acosta is the 10-6-0 Tobis' number one pitcher with a 3-0 record and 14 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.  Juan Grijalva has gone 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA and has recorded 11 whiffs over 10.1 frames.

The Xalapa Chileros are third in the LIV standings at 9-9-1 and the defending champion Los Tuxtlas Brujos hold the fourth and final playoff berth with a 9-9-0 mark.  Manager Pedro Mere's Brujos are loaded with veterans like RF Luis Terrero, 1B Emmanuel Valdez and DH Karim Garcia.  The 7-12 Chiapas Tucanes are fifth while the Pelanque Guacamayas bring up the rear at 5-10-0.

Winter league ball has been played in Veracruz for decades, although this edition dates only to 2005.  The LIV has four teams in the state of Veracruz and two in Chiapas.  Unlike the independent Mexican Pacific League, all LIV teams are affiliated with Mexican League franchises.  The 30-game regular season opens December 1 and closes January 3, followed by two best-of-five semifinal series and a best-of-seven Championship series with Game 7 (if needed) scheduled for January 20.

The postseason winner will advance to the Latin American Series against fellow winter league champions from Colombia, Panama and host Nicaragua, with games slated in Managua between January 28 and February 2.  Colombia's Monterio Leones are the defending champions after defeating the Urraca Indios of Panama, 1-0, in the title game.  Los Tuxtlas has represented Mexico in all three Serie Latinoamericas, winning the inaugural event at Veracruz in 2013.  Xalapa will serve as host in 2017.