MEXICAN BASEBALL FIESTA BEGINS 11TH YEAR

Beto Coyote and friends in Nogales

    The Mexican Baseball Fiesta will return to Tucson for an eleventh year for four nights, beginning this Thursday. The international event mainly comprised of teams from the Mexican Pacific League began in 2011 and completed its ninth year in 2019 before shutting down operations in 2020 due to Wuhan virus health restrictions.

    The MBF involves a partnership with Mexican Pacific League teams, many of which journey to the US for preseason training camps. The event is overseen by Mike Feder, a 30-year minor league general manager (15 of those in Tucson) as President of the MBF, and founder/partner Francisco Gamez, who played ten winters in the Mex Pac, which annually draws many more fans per game than any minor league north of the border.

    Mexican Baseball Fiesta games have an electricity in the air not seen during MLB spring training in February and March with music playing all the time, mascots on the field, fans dancing in the stands and authentic Mexican food like tacos, tortas and burritos instead of hot dogs and peanuts (although those are available at concession stands. Fans follow their teams across the border with such fierce loyalty and pass their love of the game on from generation to generation. It’s not uncommon to see three generations of families enjoying a game together, all wearing replica jerseys of their favorite team.

    From its roots in Tucson, the Mexican Baseball Fiesta has grown throughout Arizona and occasionally into California, Nevada and New Mexico. This year, the Fiesta increased its stay in the Phoenix area with an extra day in Maryvale, where the Hermosillo Naranjeros played single games against a team of Obregon, Navojoa and Guasave players at the Brewers spring ballpark September 23 and 24. That was followed by three doubleheaders in Mesa over the just-concluded weekend at Sloan Park, training camp home of the Cubs.

    The event now moves to Tucson (known to some as “Optics Valley” due to the 150 Tucson companies are involved in the design and manufacture of optics and optoelectronics systems) for seven games between Thursday and Sunday, beginning with an October 6 doubleheader featuring Obregon and Navojoa in the 5:05PM opener followed by a nightcap between Hermosillo and the University of Arizona. 

    In all, four LMP teams (Hermosillo, Obregon, Navojoa and Mexicali) will play in Tucson at Kino Stadium, an 11,500-seat former spring home to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox as well as a Tucson Pacific Coast League team. The facility, which opened in 1998, is now used by the Tucson Saguaros, three-time champions of the independent Pecos League.

    Past ticket sales indicate that about 20 percent of the crowd is from Mexico. A few years ago, the Visit Tucson tourism organization did an economic impact study of the event and determined that the MBF generates over $1.5 million to Tucson's local economy. “We’re excited to partner with this great event for the eleventh year to bring Mexican baseball back to Tucson,” said Felipe Garcia, President/CEO of Visit Tucson. “The popularity of this event continues to grow, and we are proud to be a part of something that both locals and visitors look forward to every October. The Mexican Baseball Fiesta is the true definition of a quality cultural event and a boon to our community and economy.”

MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE TO OPEN SECOND SEASON

     The Mexican League will operate the Mexican Winter League for a second consecutive season in 2022. This year, the LIM will be split into three divisions: North, Central and South. Its objective, according to the LMB, is to promote the young talent of participating clubs.

   LMB president Horacio de la Vega Flores said in a press release, “We applaud the efforts of the organizations that are part of the LIM in 2022. Likewise, we thank the authorities of the Yucatan State government, their host municipalities, as well as the municipality of Poza Rica, Veracruz, promoters of the development of our young talents.

    “Alejandro Kirk, today a baseball star in the Major Leagues, was forged in this circuit a few seasons ago. Fans will appreciate the players who will shine in the near future, players who will be a source of inspiration, zeal and professionalism of those who came before them and who are currently figures of Mexican baseball.”

    The LIM's ten teams (including four combining players from two LMB clubs) and their home venues for the upcoming campaign are:

North Division
Monclova Acereros (Monclova Stadium), Monclova, Coahuila
Monterrey Sultanes (Estadio Monterrey), Monterrey, Nuevo León
Unión Laguna Algodoneros (Estadio de La Revolución), Torreón, Coahuila

Central Division
Mexico City Diablos Rojos/Oaxaca Guerreros (Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú), Mexico City, DF
Puebla Pericos (Estadio Hermanos Serdán), Puebla, Puebla
Veracruz Aguilas/Leon Bravos (Estadio Heriberto Jara Corona), Poza Rica, Veracruz

South Division
Aguascalientes Rieleros/Tijuana Toros (Campo Aureliano Centeno), Valladolid, Yucatan
Durango Generales (Campo Juan Rivero Alonzo), Tizimín, Yucatan
Guadalajara Mariachis/Tabasco Olmecas (Parque Miguel Hidalgo), Progreso, Yucatan
Yucatan Leones (Parque Eliseo Gómez), Umán, Yucatan

    Games in the North and Central divisions will begin on October 12 and one day later in the South. The regular season will close on November 27 in the South while in the North and Central, the schedule concludes on November 28. North and Central division clubs will play 24 games each while those of the South play a total of 28 contests.

    Central Division games will be played from Wednesdays through Sundays, with the exception of the fial game between Puebla and the Veracruz/Leon team on Monday, November 28. Games in the South will be held Thursdays to Sundays while in the North Division, games will be played without a set pattern with a maximum of two days of rest per team.

    In the Serie del Principe (Prince's Series) the champion will be defined and the best of five games will be crowned between December 3 and 8, closing at the ballpark of the highest-ranked seed. The title matchup will be determined by the top two teams based on the percentage of wins and losses, regardless of which division they belong to. In case of a tie, a run-differential formula will be used. If a team from the South Division reaches the Serie del Principe, they would play in Merida's Kukulcán Park, home of the 2022 King's Series (Serie del Rey) champion Yucatan Leones.

    The rosters will be made up of a maximum of 28 players from the LMB Reserve Lists, as well as players authorized by the Liga office and in the process of signing. The age limit is 25 years, with a maximum of six free agents, among which there may be three foreigners.

    The current defending champions of the LIM (Liga Invernal de Mexico) are the Monclova Acereros, who defeated the Puebla Pericos in five games for the 2021 pennant.

SALON DE LA FAMA 2023 BALLOT ADDS 11 NAMES

    The Salon de la Fama's Pre-candidate Nomination Assembly was held last Friday to implement the voting ballots for the Election of the new immortals of Mexican baseball for its 2023 induction ceremonies in Monterrey.

    Eleven baseball players to be added to the final ballot were announced together with eight unnamed candidates who are being carried over from the last vote in 2020, thus integrating a ballot with fourteen candidates in the Mexican Baseball Players Category and a new Card with five candidates in the Mexican Players Category with a minimum of 7 seasons in Major Leagues. Of the 19 names on the ballot, a maximum of five will be elected.

The eleven ballot newcomers selected were:

Players in Mexican Baseball Leagues: Miguel Flores, Germán Jiménez, Noe Munoz, Miguel Ojeda, Mike Paul, Roberto Ramirez, Javier Robles.

Mexicans with 7+ Years in the Major Leagues: Juan Gabriel Castro, Karim Garcia, Rodrigo López, Ismael Valdez.

    The Nomination Assembly was made up of Electoral Committee president Antonio de Valdes, Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega, Mexican Pacific League president Carlos Manrique, Salon de la Fama director Francisco Padilla Davila and Salon historian Horacio Ibarra.

    Results of the balloting will be announced in February 2023. The most recent election resulted in a Class of 2021 that included players Matias Carrillo, Vinny Castilla, Eduardo Jimenez, Isidro Marquez and Jose Luis Sandoval; veteran William “Bonnie” Serrell and journalist Jorge Menendez Torre.

MEXICO CLINCHES SUPER ROUND AT U-23 WORLD CUP

Mexico pitcher Alemao Hernandez

    The World Baseball Softball Confederation's U-23 Baseball World Cup started last Thursday in Mexico. Twelve national teams comprised of players aged 24 or under (special dispensation for players who were 23 when last year's BWC was postponed) are taking part in tripleheaders at Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora and Estadio Yaquis in Obregon. The two six-team groups are competing in seven-inning, round-robin first stage games through Monday night, plus last Thursday's rained-out group A contest between Cuba and the Dominican Republic rescheduled for this Tuesday. Host Mexico won three consecutive games after dropping their opener to clinch a berth in the Super Round.

    Mexico got off to a bad Group A start with a 5-1 upset loss to the Czech Republic last Thursday in Obregon despite holding the Czechs to two hits. One of those was a bases-loaded double by Marek Chlup off Mexican starter Saul Castellanos in the top of the third that drove in three runs. Fabricio Macias singled and later scored from third on a Brandon Valenzuela groundout in the sixth for the lone Mexican score with 2,233 watching at Estadio Yaquis.

    Mexico came back Friday night with a 5-0 shutout over Cuba as 1,651 looked on in Obregon. Alemao Hernandez picked up the win by tossing 5.1 innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts during the combined whitewash. It was a 2-0 until Macias belted the first pitch in the top of the seventh for a homer while Reivaj Garcia's two-run single capped the scoring for the night. Cuba starter Bryan Chi was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in 5.2 innings.

    The Mexicans won Saturday's game against the Dominican Republic, 8-2, thanks to a six-run sixth inning that broke open a 2-2 contest. Kevin Zamudio sliced a two-run double while Valenzuela chipped in with a two-run single in breaking the game open. A gathering a 2,714 watched as Keven Lamas hit an early homer in support of starter Alejandro Chavez, who tossed five innings of two-hit, two run ball against the Dominicans.

Mexico outfielder Fabricio Macias

    Mexico then punched its ticket to the Super Round with a 3-0 win over Taiwan on Sunday. Javier Salazar scored from third on a first-inning wild pitch after singling earlier in the frame. Macias made it a 2-0 lead in the fourth by doubling to deep left, to bring in Lamas from second and Valenzuela completed the scoring in the fifth by singling and then motoring around to score on an Agustin Ruiz double to left center. Juan Tellez scattered three hits over four innings for the win as 2,177 took in the contest at Estadio Yaquis.

    The top three finishers in each group will advance to the Super Round in Hermosillo while the bottom three converge in Obregon for the Consolation Round starting on Wednesday. Each team will carry their first-round record into the next stage, where they'll play games against the three teams arriving from the opposite group. The tournament concludes on Saturday in Hermosillo when the third and fourth place Super Round finishers meet in the Bronze Medal game at 1:00PM local time, followed by a Gold Medal game between the top two Super Round finishers at 7:30PM.

WBSC U-23 BASEBALL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE/RESULTS

Thursday, September 23
Taiwan 7, Germany 0 (Zhuang-Chen Zhong-Ao 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 9 strikeouts)
Colombia 7, Panama 1 (Elkin Alcala allowed 1 run on 4 hits in 7-inning complete game)
Cuba vs. Dominican Republic in Obregon rained out, rescheduled for September 28
Nicaragua 6, South Korea 4 (Luis Montealto doubled, homered and had 5 RBIs)
Czech Republic 5, Mexico 1 (Marek Chlup had 2 hits, including 3-run 2B in top of 3rd)
Venezuela 9, Netherlands 4 (Roberto Perez belted a 3-run homer in win)

Friday, September 24
Dominican Republic 8, Germany 4 (Francis Florentino, Fabian Sandro both hit 2-run Hrs)
Panama 13, Nicaragua 6 (Panama 7 runs in top of 8th, Abraham Rodriguez 2-run HR)
Taiwan 4, Czech Republic 1 (Chen Sheng-Ping's 2-run double keyed 4-run top of 1st)
South Korea 8, Netherlands 7 (Jung Min-Kyu walkoff run from 3rd on error in bottom of 8^th)
Mexico 5, Cuba 0 (Alemao Hernandez 5.1 shutout innings on 2 hits with 4 strikeouts)
Venezuela 3, Colombia 2 (Roberto Perez singled, doubled and scored 2 runs)

Saturday, September 25
Germany 6, Czech Republic 4 (David Grimes had two-run double in top of 3^rd)
Panama 5, South Korea 2 (Adrian Montero went 3-for-4, scored 2 runs and had an RBI)
Cuba 2, Taiwan 1 (Yuddiel Gonzalez' 2-run homer in bottom of 7th was enough for win)
Colombia 10, Netherlands 0 (Luis Moreno allowed 3 hits, had 7 K's in 6-inning shutout)
Mexico 8, Dominican Republic 2 (Kevin Zamudio's 2-run double aided 6-run 6th)
Venezuela 6, Nicaragua 3 (Juan Fernandez' 2-run HR keyed 3-run top of 3^rd)

Sunday, September 26
Cuba 10, Germany 3 (Marlon Vega allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 5 innings pitched, struck out 8)
Netherlands 4, Panama 1 (Tyriq Kemp hit 2-run homer during 4-run 4th for Dutchmen)
Dominican Republic 2, Czech Republic 0 (Jordan Sandoval hit 2-run HR in mercy rule win)
Colombia 10, Nicaragua 0 (Jordan Diaz socked 2-run HR, added RBI double in shutout)
Mexico 3, Taiwan 0 (Juan Tellez and two relievers combined on a three-hit shutout)
Venezuela 3, South Korea 0 (Roberto Perez' 2-run double aided 4 pitchers in 2-hit shutout)

Monday, September 27
Game 25: Cuba vs. Czech Republic (Group A) in Obregon
Game 26: Nicaragua vs. Netherlands (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game 27: Dominican Republic vs. Taiwan (Group A) in Obregon
Game 28: Panama vs. Venezuela (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game 29: Germany vs. Mexico (Group A) in Obregon
Game 30: Colombia vs. South Korea (Group B) in Hermosillo

Tuesday, September 28
Game 3: Cuba vs. Dominican Republic (rescheduled group A) in Obregon

STANDINGS (through Sunday, September 26)
GROUP A: Mexico 3-1, Cuba 2-1, Dominican Republic 2-1, Taiwan 2-2, Czech Republic 1-3, Germany 1-3.
GROUP B: Venezuela 4-0, Colombia 3-1, Panama 2-2, South Korea 1-3, Nicaragua 1-3, Netherlands 1-3.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE ROAD TRIP: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

    For the next ten weeks, BASEBALL MEXICO will be taking an updated virtual road trip to all ten Mexican Pacific League cities. We'll start in Monterrey, then cut across to Mexicali and head south through Mazatlan before wrapping up our online journey in Guadalajara.
    The Mexican Baseball Road Trip (which touched down in all 24 cities in both the LMP and Mexican League) was first carried in the old VIVA BEISBOL column and repeated during BBM's first year in 2009. Each stop on our Mex Pac tour will include some revised text:

Downtown Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

    Our Mex Pac Road Trip begins in Monterrey, home of the Sultanes (who also field a summer team in the Mexican League), capital of the state of Nuevo Leon, the leading city in northern Mexico and the industrial center of the nation. Monterrey sits in the Sierra Madre Oriental foothills and was founded in 1596 by Diego de Montemayor, but it wasn’t until after the War of Independence in the 1820’s that it started blossoming as an important business center.

    Present-day Monterrey is home to over five million metropolitan residents and is Mexico’s second-largest city behind Mexico City. Although daytime high temperatures regularly hit the 90's during summer, winters are actually quite pleasant, with daytime highs usually in the low 70's between November and February.

    Visitors will not be impressed by the factories, traffic and smog they’ll encounter here, but Monterrey’s city center is actually quite pleasant, with a combination of colonial elegance and modern architecture and statues. The heart of Monterrey, many say, lies in the Plaza Zaragosa (also known as the “Macroplaza”), which was created by the demolition of six complete city blocks in downtown Monterrey. The crown jewel of the Macroplaza is the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, or MARCO, a museum that is considered a “don’t-miss” experience for art lovers visiting Monterrey. While not as beautiful on an overall basis as some of the more colonial cities in Mexico’s south, Monterrey has much to offer those willing to look past the industrial congestion that creates the city’s wealth.

    Home to three past Little League World Series champions, Monterrey is also in some aspects the center of Mexican baseball. It is home of the Salon de la Fama, the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, which was originally opened in 1971 at the Cuauhtemoc Brewery grounds. After its 2012 closure at the behest of the brewery, Mexico City billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu provided over US$18 million in funding for a beautiful new facility that opened in 2019. Over 200 immortals from Mexican baseball are enshrined there.

Estadio Monterrey, home of the Sultanes

    In nearby El Carmen sits the Mexican Baseball Academy, where all 16 LMB teams share funding for the 100 young domestic athletes hoping to develop into pro ballplayers. The complex consists of 56 dormitory rooms, four baseball fields, four batting cages, a computer room, weight room, cafeteria, infirmary and a plaza where players can congregate. In the past, the Academia has operated an eight-team rookie league during the winter.

    The Monterrey Sultanes are one of the Mexican League’s flagship franchises and have won ten LMB championships since their founding in 1939. The Sultanes added a Mexican Pacific League team in the 2019 expansion, which has yet to reach the playoffs in two seasons. Both teams play home games in Mexico’s largest ballpark, the 22,000-seat Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey. It was the first venue in the country to have hosted Major League Baseball regular season games in 1996.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Ramon Arano, Pitcher

Ramon Arano at his peak with Diablos

    Ramon Arano is one of only two men to have pitched in six different decades in professional baseball history (the other is Hub Kittle), and is the only man to have won 300 or more games in one minor league. While Arano never reached 20 wins in a season, the workhorse hurler won 10+ games 18 times and holds LMB career record with 334 wins, 57 shutouts, 297 complete games and 4,773 innings pitched.

    The diminutive Arano made his Liga debut for Poza Rica in 1959, going 8-9 with the Petroleros with a 4.47 ERA. He spent the next three seasons with Veracruz, including a disastrous 1960 campaign in which he was mainly used out of the bullpen and lost all five of his decisions with a sky-high 6.53 ERA. Arano turned things around in 1961, turning in an 11-3 record to lead the LMB in winning percentage for the pennant-winning Aguilas. He then reeled off 46 wins over the next three campaigns and made his only journey to play pro ball north of the border at the end of the 1962 campaign with Oklahoma City of the American Association, going 1-1 with a 9.82 ERA in three appearances.

    Following a mediocre 9-8 season with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1965, Arano went on another three-year skein of effective pitching between 1966 and 1968, showing a 48-32 record with 400 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA each season. An injury-shortened 1969 saw him go 5-7 before yet another three-year run of double-digit victories despite pitching for three teams (the Diablos, Saltillo and Cordoba) in that span. After another shortened year with the Cafeteros in 1973, Arano went on an eight-year tear of solid pitching.

    Between 1974 and 1981, Arano won between 12 and 19 games every season while consistently registering sub-3.00 ERAs, winning 19 games in both 1978 and 1979. He spent the strike-split 1980 season with Reynosa and won 14 games for the Broncos and turned in a 14-5 mark for the Diablos Rojos in 1981.

Pitching for Veracruz at age 62

   Arano bounced around a bit after that, although he did go 11-9 for Veracruz as a 44-year-old in 1984. He retired in 1986 before coming back in 1995 with the Aguilas, throwing one game in 1998 with Cordoba, and finally made one three-inning appearance in 2001 as a 62-year-old pitching coach for Veracruz.

    In all, Arano played in a total of 32 seasons (a Mexican League record) with eight teams. He also played winterball in the Mexican Pacific League for 15 seasons, compiling a decent 89-84 record with a solid 2.81 ERA and a no-hitter. Among his career highlights, Arano shut out Cleveland 4-0 in a 1967 exhibition game, but he saved the best for the following year. In a game in Mexico City, Arano beat Jim Bouton and the New York Yankees, 5-3, striking out Mickey Mantle twice.

    Arano, a Veracruz native who passed away in 2012 at age 72, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. His nickname as a player was "Don Pantalones" (loosely translated, "The Man Who Wears the Big Pants"), a good name for the winningest pitcher in Mexican baseball history.

Rosters set for LMB/LMP All-Star benefit series

Rosters and coaching staffs for this weekend's two All-Star benefit games in Culiacan and Monterrey have been set.  The two contests, set up as fundraisers in response to last week's deadly earthquakes in Mexico, are being co-sponsored by the Mexican and Mexican Pacific leagues and will feature players who've performed in both circuits.  Rather than being set up as an LMP-vs-LMP series, fans in both cities will see 28 players wearing Equipo Rojo (Red Team) unforoms going up against 28 members of Equipo Verde (Green Team).  Original plans were for players of both teams to essentially swap uniforms between games but it's unknown whether that is still going to happen.

Whatever jerseys these guys wear, fans in both cities will see some of Mexico's top baseball talent on the diamond.  Although many of the country's best players are still playing in MLB or Japan's NPB, there will be several current and past Liga and MexPac all-stars congregating under either Rojo manager Pedro Mere, fresh from leading Tijuana to their first LMB pennant, or Verde skipper Daniel Fernandez, presently Mazatlan's helmsman and one of the greatest players in Mexican history.  The most prominent players include pitchers Danny Rodriguez, Walter Silva, Edgar Gonzalez, Pablo Ortega and Alejandro Soto; infielders Jesse Castillo, Agustin Murillo, Saul Soto, Esteban Quiroz, Jorge Cantu, and Carlos Gastelum; outfielders Carlos Figueroa and Eduardo Arredondo plus designated hitters Jose Amador and Luis Alfonso Garcia.

Here are the two rosters:

EQUIPO ROJO
Pitchers (12) - Marco Carrillo (OBR/MTY), Fabian Cota (MOC/MXC), Hector Galvan (HMO/MVA), Edgar Gomez (MXI/YUC), Edgar Gonzalez (CUL/MTY), Esteban Haro (NAV/SAL), Nicolas Heredia (MXI/MTY), Oswaldo Martinez (OBR/MXC), Tomas Melgarejo (MOC/MTY), Luis de la O (NAV/SAL), Walter Silva (MAZ/LEON), Manuel Valdez (HMO/QROO).
Catchers (2) - Fernando Flores (NAV/CAM), Erick Rodriguez (MAZ/OAX).
Infielders (8) - Jesse Castillo (NAV/AGS), Yosmany Guerra (NAV/CAM), Antonio Lamas (CUL/MVA), Samar Leyva (MAZ/OAX), Agustin Murillo (JAL/MTY), Esteban Quiroz (MAZ/YUC), Saul Soto (MOC/AGS), Ricardo Valenzuela (OBR/MXC).
Outfielders (5) - Carlos Figueroa (JAL/MXC), Missael German (MXI/MTY), Alejandro Gonzalez (NAV/OAX), Jose Orozco (CUL/TAB), Jose Urena (OBR/MXC).
Designated Hitter (1) - Luis Alfonso Garcia (HMO/MXC).
MANAGER - Daniel Fernandez (MAZ/MXC).
COACHES - Francisco Campos (CUL), Matias Carrillo (MAZ/TIJ), Darrell Sherman (CUL).

EQUIPO VERDE
Pitchers (12) - Rafael Cordova (HMO/LAG), Manuel Flores (JAL/VER), Santiago Gutierrez (MOC/SAL), Jose Lopez (MXI/LAG), Claudio Marquez (CUL/QROO), Ozzie Mendez (NAV/DUR), Pablo Ortega (OBR/QROO), Adrian Ramirez (MAZ/QROO), Danny Rodriguez (CUL/SAL), Edwin Salas (JAL/AGS), Alejandro Soto (MAZ/YUC), Salvador Valdez (CUL/TAB).
Catchers (2) - Jose Felix (OBR/MVA), Alex Flores (HMO/LAG).
Infielders (8) - Rudy Amador (MOC/MVA), Jorge Cantu (JAL/TIJ), Alberto Carreon (JAL/PUE), Jon Del Campo (MXI/PUE), Juan Carlos Gamboa (MOC/MXC), Carlos Gastelum (HMO/QROO), Jesus Lopez (JAL/MXC), Ramon Rios (MXI/MTY).
Outfielders (5) - Eduardo Arredondo (OBR/LEON), Jesus Fabela (MAZ/MXC), Sergio Garcia (MOC/LEON), Yordanys Linares (MXI/TAB), Francisco Lugo (CUL/LAG).
Designated Hitter (1) - Jose Amador (HMO/MVA).
MANAGER - Pedro Mere (Tijuana).
COACHES - Rafael Casteneda, Enrique Couoh, Trinidad Robles (all Tijuana).

The series will open Saturday at Culiacan's 20,000-seat Estadio Tomateros and conclude Sunday at 27,000-seat Estadio Monterrey, Mexico's largest ballpark.  Tickets to either game will cost as low as 50 pesos each (or about US2.75).

MexPac looking to go national?

There's little doubt that the Mexican Pacific League has become a huge success.  Based in Mexico's western states of Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California Norte, the MexPac has grown into the Western Hemisphere's most highly-attended baseball league outside the Majors, with crowds averaging nearly 10,000 per game last winter.  In comparison, according to Ballpark Digest, the Class AAA International and Pacific Coast leagues drew between 6,000 and 7,000 fans per opening leaguewide in 2016.  In fact, not one minor league team north of the border came close to matching the LMP's record-setting regular season average of 9,688 per night.  Three MexPac franchises pulled in more than 12,000 per game last winter, with Culiacan leading the loop with a 16,316 average over 34 home dates.

By any measure, those are great numbers for an unaffiliated winter circuit.  One question facing LMP league president Omar Canizales and team owners may be what to do for an encore?  "Puro Beisbol" editor Francisco Ballasteros believes he may have an answer:  Turning the MexPac into a national circuit.

The 2014 move of the former Guasave Algodoneros to Guadalajara, which sits nearly 1,000 miles east of the Pacific Ocean, has been an unqualified success.  The summer Mexican League has had teams in Jalisco in the past, but none were nearly as popular as the newest edition of the Charros have been in Mexico's second-largest city, with an average of 8,914 for the 2016-17 regular season.  Credit for the LMP's success in Jalisco must go to Charros team owner Armando Navarro, a man of equal parts ambition, vision and impatience whose efforts in landing last month's World Baseball Classic Pool D and pulling in very good crowds until the final day showed that he's making inroads for baseball in the same city where the beloved Chivas soccer team plays their home games.

By any measure, the Guadalajara gamble has paid dividends for Canizales and company.  But what of Mexico City and Monterrey?  Canizales has mentioned his desire to place a MexPac team in the nation's capital in the past, a notion that might have been laughed at by some at the time but looks much more realistic in 2017.  There's no question that placing an LMP franchise in Mexico City, with its enormous population and longstanding baseball history, would be a coup for the league.  However, unless the MexPac (or Mexican Premier League, a less-regional name that's been floated in some circles) is willing to occupy Estadio Fray Nano after the Mexican League's Diablos Rojos move into their new stadium in 2018, they will need to deal directly with Diablos owner Alfredo Harp Helu and team president Roberto Mansur.  The Diablos own the new 13,000-seat ballpark, thus making any other team playing there a tenant.  While Harp and Mansur may not be opposed to collecting revenues from a winter league team playing 34 regular season games plus playoffs while the Liga is in its offseason, the Diablos have strugged at the gate over the past few seasons and the two proud men may not be enthused to house a team that could perhaps outdraw their own.  Even though the two leagues play non-overlapping schedules, they ARE competitors, a fact that should not be overlooked.

Monterrey may be the easier city to set up shop for winterball.  The 27,000-seat Estadio Monterrey is owned by the government and not the LMB Sultanes, thus lessening possible interleague jealousies regarding negotiations for playing dates and rental rates.  The purchase of 50 percent of the Sultanes by Grupo Multimedios is a potential game-changer as well.  Ballasteros says the media conglomerate is, in fact, interested in placing a MexPac franchise in Monterrey, noting a recent article to that effect in the group's Milenio newspaper.  Longtime Sultanes owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz may or may not object to another baseball team coming into a city he's had sole territorial reign for decades, but Maiz appears to be losing his grip both on the so-called Old Guard ownership group within the Mexican League and the Sultanes in general.  According to Ballasteros, businessman Carlos Bremer has been mentioned as the preferred owner of a Monterrey LMP team.

So how would this all come about?  Ballasteros speculates that current LMP teams in the smaller cities of Los Mochis and Navojoa (both operating in aging ballparks) would be prime candidates to move rather than a simple expansion.  He notes that there have already been discussions between the MexPac and Televisa TV network regarding future ties between the two bodies.  The LMP plays its schedule between the Apertura and Clausa schedule for Mexico's popular Premier soccer league, and Ballasteros says it was Televisa who floated the idea of renaming the loop the Mexican Premier League to give it a national scope.

The overall question has to be where all this discussion will lead in reality.  Ballasteros ends his column on the cautionary note that it should be "taken into account that the LMP is perhaps the professional sports league most reluctant to change in Mexico."  Perhaps it is, but since taking the helm of the MexPac in 2009, Omar Canizales has shown a willingness to change things within the 63-year-old circuit.  The numbers imply that those changes have usually been the right ones.  Keep an eye on this.

Amador goes deep as North beats South, 8-4, in LMB All-Star Game

While there's rarely been much surprise among followers of Mexican baseball when they see the stat line HR-Amador in a box score in recent years, there may have been a raised eyebrow or two among observers reading the box for Sunday's Mexican League All-Star Game in front of 23,421 fans at Estadio Monterrey.

Yes, that WAS an Amador who went yard for the North in the seventh inning off the South's Brazilian-born reliever Tiago da Silva, representing the Carmen Delfines. However, it wasn't 2015 Liga MVP Japhet Amador (who's in Japan this year), but Monclova infielder Jose Amador who launched da Silva's third pitch of the game over the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer as the North went on to clobber the South, 8-4, in a contest that lasted just 2 hours, 49 minutes despite a total of 23 pitchers trotting out to the mound for the two teams.

Jose Amador (pictured above) has done a lot to come out from under Japhet's considerable shadow since the latter signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles during the offseason.  First, Jose (no relation) won Baseball Mexico's MVP award for last winter's Mexican Pacific League season (leading the MexPac with 11 homers and 39 RBI's and batting .323)  prior to embarking on an LMB season during which he's hit .281 with 12 homers in 53 games for the North-leading Acereros.  His Sunday bomb was enough to get him voted the All-Star Game MVP by media.

The North went up 4-0 early with four second-inning runs highlighted by a two-run homer by Juan Apodaca (Tijuana) off former big leaguer Travis Blackley (Puebla).  The South came back in the fifth off when LMP batting champion Jesus Valdez (Yucatan) socked solo homer off Hector Daniel Rodriguez (Saltillo), then plated two more in the top of the seventh when Jose Rodriguez (Puebla) whacked a two-run homer off Tony Pena, Junior (Laguna) to make it a one-run game.

The North had just gone ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh when a pop single to center by Agustin Murillo (Monterrey) off Josh Judy (Quintana Roo) brought in Walter Ibarra (Monterrey) from third.  At that point, South manager Roberto Vizcarra pulled Judy for da Silva to pitch to Amador with Ibarra standing on first base and Zoilo Almonte (Monterrey) on second.  Da Silva seemed a worthy choice, bringing a 1.86 ERA with 15 saves in 16 opportunities for the 19-35 Dolphins heading into the break, but Amador changed that in one swing to extend the North lead from one to four runs in bringing the score to 7-3.  Each team scored once the rest of the way, but this one was decided by Amador.

Josh Lowey (Monclova) had been on the mound when the North scored their first four runs in the second and was awarded the win while Orlando Lara (Puebla), who was yanked by Vizcarra so Blackley could pitch to Apodaca, was tagged with the loss.  Ibarra and Ivan Terrazas (Mexico City) each had three hits for the North, including a double for Terrazas, while Valdez had three safeties for the South.

Before the All-Star Game, Quintana Roo third baseman Alex Liddi outlasted Tigres teammate Esteban Quiroz, 4-3, in the final round to take top honors in the Home Run Derby.  Liddi, a fomer Mariners prospect who has represented Italy in the World Baseball Classic, launched 12 homers over three rounds, some of them tape-measure shots that cleared the outfield fences easily.

Rosters announced for LMB All-Star Game

The Mexican League's All-Star Game in Monterrey is a week away and player rosters for both teams have been released.  The North team will be managed by Homar Rojas, skipper of the Monclova Acereros, who won the North title last season, while the South will be managed by Roberto Vizcarra, who is the helmsman for the defending champion Quintana Roo Tigres. Vizcarra took over last May when Jerry Royster was fired and led the Tigres to their sixth Liga pennant since 2000 and twelfth overall by beating Monclova in the title series.

Here are the 31-man player rosters for both All-Star teams, plus coaching staffs:

NORTH DIVISION
Pitchers (15) - Hector Ambriz (Tijuana), Alejandro Astuga (Laguna), Lorenzo Barcelo (Aguascalientes), Dustin Crenshaw (Laguna), Barry Enright (Tijuana), Edgar Gonzalez (Monterrey), Arcenio Leon (Monclova), Josh Lowey (Monclova), Wirfin Obispo (Monterrey), Tony Pena Jr. (Laguna), David Reyes (Mexico City), Hector Daniel Rodriguez (Saltillo), Atahualpa Severino (Monterrey), Jason Urquidez (Tijuana), Fabian Williamson (Monclova).
Catchers (2) - Eliezer Alfonzo (Mexico City), Juan Apodaca (Tijuana).
Infielders (8) -Jose Amador (Monclova),  Emmanuel Avila (Mexico City), Juan Carlos Gamboa (Mexico City), Cyle Hankerd (Mexico City), Diory Hernandez (Aguascalientes), Walter Ibarra (Monterrey), Agustin Murillo (Monterrey), Saul Soto (Aguascalientes).
Outfielders (6) - Zoilo Almonte (Monterrey), Justin Greene (Saltillo), Mario Lisson (Saltillo), Felix Perez (Monterrey), Chris Roberson (Monterrey), Ivan Terrazas (Mexico City).
Manager - Homar Rojas (Monclova).
Coaches - Adulfo Camacho (Aguascalientes), Luis Fernando Mendez (Mexico City), Julio Cesar Miranda (Monclova), Noe Munoz (Saltillo), Juan Francisco Rodriguez (Saltillo).

SOUTH DIVISION
Pitchers (15) - Armando Aguilar (Yucatan), Raul Barron (Quintana Roo), Travis Blackley (Puebla), Esmailin Caridad (Quintana Roo), Chad Gaudin (Puebla), Antonio Guzman (Tabasco), Josh Judy (Quintana Roo), Orlando Lara (Puebla), Mario Meza (Yucatan), Fernando Nieve (Oaxaca), Jose Pina (Veracruz), Armando Rodriguez (Tabasco), Ivan Salas (Campeche), Tiago da Silva (Carmen), Jose de la Torre (Campeche).
Catchers (2) - Alan Espinoza (Veracruz), Cesar Tapia (Puebla).
Infielders (8) - Daric Barton (Puebla), Irving Falu (Oaxaca), Carlos Gastelum (Quintana Roo), Alex Liddi (Quintana Roo), Esteban Quiroz (Quintana Roo), C.J. Retherford (Campeche), Henry Alejandro Rodriguez (Carmen), Jose Manuel Rodriguez (Puebla).
Outfielders (6) - Nyjer Morgan (Puebla), Enrique Osorio (Veracruz), Alex Romero (Veracruz), Dave Sappelt (Campeche), Jesus Valdez (Yucatan), Jorge Vazquez (Quintana Roo).
Manager - Roberto Vizcarra (Quintana Roo).
Coaches - Martin Arzate (Quintana Roo), Isidro Marquez (Campeche), Willie Romero (Yucatan), Gerardo Sanchez (Quintana Roo), Armando Valdez (Quintana Roo).

For those keeping count, host Monterrey will be represented by eight players (including the Sultanes' entire starting outfield) while Puebla and Quintana Roo will each send seven players north for the weekend.  At the other end of the spectrum, Reynosa will have no players nor coaches at the All-Star Game.  Granted, the Broncos have lost 15 straight ballgames and have the worst record in the Liga at 12-35, but even 14-34 Veracruz will have four players on the South team.  Instead of all 16 teams being represented next weekend, Reynosa players like first baseman Max Ramirez (.324, 5 homers) and outfielder Nick Van Stratten (.315 and a .302 hitter over his MiLB career) will have to watch the June 5 game at Estadio Monterrey on TV.

Escalante to stay two more years as Liga president

The Mexican League's Assembly of Presidents met in Mexico City Monday to discuss a number of issues the league is facing in 2016.

Perhaps the most pressing was replacing league president Plinio Escalante (pictured), who announced his retirement effective at the end of the upcoming season after sitting behind the big desk since replacing Alejandro Hutt in 2007.  The dilemma essentially solved itself when Escalante agree to serve two more years in office, moving his exit down the road to 2018.  Although the LMB has tended to sputter along during Escalante's reign while the while the Mexican Pacific League has exploded in both attendance and presence in recent years, the Yucatecan has provided a measure of stability during his nine years at the helm at the Liga's Mexico City headquarters.  Escalante met with LMB directors for two hours Sunday night hammering out details of his extension prior to Monday's announcement.

Introduced at Monday's session was Javier Balseca Gonzalez, the Mexican League's new director of marketing and merchandising.  Balseca, who was hired to the post in January, gave a presentation to Liga leaders whose 16-team league drew 3.87 million fans in 2015 for an average of 4,565 per opening. Conversely, the AAA International League pulled in 7,199 per contest while Pacific Coast League teams welcomed 6,508 people through the turnstiles per night.  The Mexican Pacific League led all non-MLB leagues in the hemisphere with a regular season average attendance of 9,670.

The team presidents also discussed moving the date of the Liga's 2016 All-Star Game in Monterrey, which was originally scheduled for May 29, a date that coincides with Mexican soccer's Premier Division championship game.

Finally, Laguna Vaqueros CEO Carlos Gomez del Campo told his peers the Torreon-based team is in the process of finding new partners, a topic that was tabled until the Assembly's September meeting in Oaxaca. The next such gathering is scheduled to take place May 27 in Monterrey during All-Star Weekend but, as noted above, that may change.

NEW SALON SITE, FACILITY APPROVED

Four years after the Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma brewery booted the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame from their grounds in Monterrey, the issue of where the pantheon would resettle has finally been solved.

The Mexican League website recently announced that a new Salon de la Fama will be erected at Monterrey's Fundidora Park.  An agreement states the Salon will largely by funded by Mexico City Red Devils owner Alfredo Harp Helu, who said that while sites in Mexico City and Oaxaca had also been considered, it was decided to keep the museum in Monterrey.  At the signing, Harp called it "a day of celebration for baseball in our country."  Thanking Harp for his role in bringing the facility back to a new life and keeping it in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon governor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon added, "We must recognize the great men and glories of baseball here."  Other dignitaries in attendance were Mexican League president Plinio Escalante, Mexican Pacific League leader Omar Canizales and Salon de la Fama director Francisco Padilla Davila.

According to architect Daniel Lopez Salgado, the new Salon de la Fama will feature domes and be split into three major areas:  a large room for both temporary and permanent displays, interactive rooms featuring a Mexican baseball time tunnel and an archive room.  There will also be an auditorium and batting cages, with underground parking beneath the entire facility.  No projected completion date has been given.

The Salon de la Fama has existed in some form since 1939, but it was not until 1973 that the original permanent museum in Monterrey opened to the public and remained open until the brewery closed it down 38 years later.  All display items have been kept boxed in storage since.