ORANGEMEN HOLD OFF MOCHIS, WIN 1ST HALF CROWN

Hermosillo pitcher Elian Leyva

    Schedule makers have rarely been as prescient as those who cobbled together the Mexican Pacific League's first-half schedule for the 2022-23 season. As luck (or “something”) would have it, that first half came down to its final day on Sunday before a champion could be crowned and given the 10.0 playoff points that come with finishing in first place.

    The Hermosillo Naranjeros, who had led the LMP standings most of the season, showed a 20-14 record and a one-game lead over 19-15 Los Mochis heading into Sunday's showdown between the two clubs at Estadio Sonora. If the Caneros prevailed, they'd have vaulted into a tie for first with the Naranjeros and the first-half championship by virtue of having more wins than losses against the Orangemen. In fact, the Mex Pac standings were so tight that a four-way tie for first was mathematically possible, which would've led to calculators (or slide rules for stubborn traditionalists) being brought out to determine just who DID finish first.

    Fortunately, the mathematicians have been spared as the Naranjeros recorded a 6-1 win over Los Mochis in front of 10,808 spectators. Hermosillo starter Elian Leyva, who has become one of the top pitchers in Mexican baseball, turned in a solid performance over six innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out nine Caneros and throwing 63 strikes on his 95 pitches to even his record at 2-2.

    The game was tighter than the final score implies, however, as the score was knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when veteran Tomas Solis replaced starter Luis Miranda on the mound for Los Mochis. It took three pitches for slugger Roberto Ramos to send a Solis delivery over the right-center field wall to give Hermosillo the lead and the Naranjeros went on to score four more runs in the frame, two coming in on a Jose Carmona single off another reliever, Miguel Vazquez.

    After that, it was left to ex-Padres starter Cesar Vargas and former Mets prospect Thomas McIlraith to shut down the Caneros on one hit over the final three innings to clinch first place and the points. Roel Santos, Ramon Mendoza and Jasson Atondo each had two hits for the winners (Atondo contributing an RBI single in the fourth to give Hermosillo a 1-0 lead). Isaac Rodriguez' game-tying single in the fifth was one of three hits on the night for the Caneros' leadoff hitter and second sacker. Miranda allowed his first run of the season in his seventh start on Atondo's single but it was Solis who took the loss for Los Mochis.

    Elsewhere in the winter circuit Sunday, Guasave snuck past Navojoa, 2-1, on Erisbel Arruebarrena's walk-off RBI single to overtake Los Mochis for second place (and 9.0 points) with a 20-15 record. The Mayos finished the half at 16-19 and in a three-way tie for sixth with Mexicali and Monterrey. Monterrey scored five times in the seventh as Alex Liddi stroked a two-run double to beat Mexicali, Mexicali, 8-3.

    Mazatlan and Obregon joined Los Mochis in a tie for third with 19-16 records. The Venados dropped a 5-0 shutout against visiting Jalisco (15-20) as U-23 World Cup star Alemao Hernandez blanked the Deer over five innings while Obregon snuck past Culiacan (14-21) by a 5-4 count when Juan Carlos Gamboa scored all the way from first on Allen Cordoba's walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth to send 10,228 fanaticos at Estadio Yaquis home happy.

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela leads the batting race with a .385 average, well ahead of Jalico's Fernando Villegas (.348) and veteran third baseman Rudy Amador of Los Mochis (.341). Anthony Giansanti of Mexicali has nine homers to lead four other players with six longballs apiece. Obregon's 1-2 puch of Yadir Drake and Victor Mendoza share the RBI lead with 26 each, one more than Christian Villanueva of Jalisco. Hermosillo's Jose Cardona stole his first base in seven games to take a one-pilfer lead over Randy Romero of Mazatlan, 15 to 14. Romero swiped five bases in one seven-game stretch earlier this month.

    It remains crowded at the top of the pitching wins list with a cast of thousands (okay, okay, a cast of seven) showing four victories each. Among those hurlers, Nico Tellache of Guasave (1.66) and Juan Pablo Oramas of Hermosillo (1.69) trail only Los Mochis' Luis Miranda (0.24) in the ERA derby after the latter allowed his first run Sunday in Hermosillo. Oramas' Naranjeros moundmate, Touki Toussaint, leads the LMP with 41 strikeouts, just ahead of the 40 by Matt Pobereyko of Guasave while Culiacan vet Manny Barreda is third with 39 whiffs. Colombian closer Elkin Alcala of Mazatlan had two saves last week to bring his season total to 12, followed by the 10 of Guasave's Brandon Koch and Jake Sanchez of Mexicali.

    With everyone's slate wiped clean, six weeks of second-half action will begin Tuesday night with the first of five three-game midweek series.


LMB AWARDS: TOROS' PEREZ NAMED MVP FOR 2022

Mexican League 2022 MVP Felix Perez

    Tijuana Toros designated hitter Felix Perez has been named the Mexican League's Most Valuable Player for 2022. He becomes the second consecutive Tijuana player to be accorded MVP honors after outfielder Leandro Castro won in 2021 and first Cubano to win it since Monterrey's Michel Abreu in 2012. Perez was also named the Liga's Comeback Player of the Year.

    Perez, who celebrated his 38th birthday last week, is a Cuba native who played three seasons for his hometown Isla de la Juventud Toronjeros in the Cuban National Series before defecting from the island nation in 2008. He subsequently signed with Cincinnati and spent five seasons in the Reds system between 2010 and 2014, including two years in AAA Louisville, batting a combined .281 with 33 homers and 241 RBIs in 532 games.

    The 6'2” lefty hitter known as “El Nino” south of the border made his LMB debut in 2015 with Monterrey and hit over .300 for the Sultanes two years before signing with the Rakuten in Japan's NPB for the rest of the 2016 campaign, hitting .238 in 24 games. Perez returned to Mexico for good in 2017 and has also spent time with Aguascalientes and Leon before coming to Tijuana this year after only batting .200 with three homers over 17 games for the Bravos in 2021.

    Perez made the most of his first season in the border city in 2022 by hitting .323 with 38 homers and 109 RBIs over 87 games and missing just three contests for the Toros, who finished the regular season under manager Homar Rojas with an Liga-best 62-28 record before falling to rival Monterrey in the LMB North finals. Perez tied Saltillo's Rainel Rosario for most homers, was second to Rosario's 116 ribbies, finished in the top ten for total bases, slugging percentage and on-base+slugging and came in eleventh with 73 runs scored.

    Beyond the numbers, Toros sports manager Ricardo Williamson says the veteran Perez served as a team leader and mentor to younger TJ players. “He is a very important pillar for veterans and young people for their journey in baseball,” Williamson states. “He pushed others to be better. He is a great player and a great human being of good mood and happy.” Toros press officer Armando Esquivel confirmed Williamson's assessment of Perez. “He was an immediate leader,” said Esquivel. “There are natural leaders and Felix was integrated from the first days. He teamed up and was one of the most appreciated.”

    Other Mexican League postseason honorees include Yucatan skipper Roberto “Chapo” Vizcarra as Manager of the Year after leading the Leones to the 2022 pennant, Monterrey closer Neftali Feliz (24 saves) as Reliever of the Year, Sultanes starter Yohander Mendez (7-0, 2.78 ERA) as Pitcher of the Year, Veracruz pitcher Luis Marquez (9-1, 2.38) as Rookie of the Year and Union Laguna center fielder Edgar Robles (.990 fielding percentage) as Defensive Player of the Year.


LIGA RELEASES 2023 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

Tabasco Omecas to host 2023 LMB All-Stars

    The Mexican League has announced its official schedule for the 2023 regular season. “Play ball!” will first be heard on Thursday, April 20 at Estadio Domingo Santana when the current champion Yucatan Leones visit the Leon Bravos.

    The regular season will open for the remaining 16 teams one night later (including when the Quintana Roo Tigres are welcomed by their longtime rival Mexico City Diablos Rojos at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium in the nation's capital) on Friday, April 21. The rest of the Friday night inaugurals will be Tijuana at Veracruz, Aguascalientes at Monclova, Saltillo at Guadalajara, Durango at Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey at Union Laguna, Tabasco at Oaxaca and Campeche at Puebla.

    The weekend of the All-Star Game, to be played in Villahermosa, Tabasco, will be from June 16 to 18. The Olmecas finished a surprising 47-37 under manager Pedro Mere in 2022 (who coaxed .311/7/24 numbers over 43 games from ex-MLB star Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval), while playing home games at makeshift Estadio Angel Toledo Meza in Macuspana while renovations were being done on Parque Centenario de Febrero 27 in Villahermosa.The latter was opened in 1964 and served as home to Tabasco's Mexican League teams from 1975 until the federally-funded facelift began in late 2021. The ballpark will seat 16,500 spectators when it's reopened next year to house a team that averaged 1,911 in attendance for 2022.

    As in 2022, the LMB schedule will be 90 games per team (equivalent to 810 games in total for the regular season), and when the postseason is added there will be about 900 matches in all. The same competition system of 2020 and 2021 will be maintained, with a continuous season (no first or second halfs) and six qualified teams per divison based on the percentage of won and lost will qualify for the postseason.

    The regular circuit campaign will end on Sunday, August 6. The postseason will begin on August 8 in the South Zone and on August 9 in the North Zone. The “lucky loser” system will be used again in which winners of each of three first round series in each division will be joined in their respective Division Semifinals by a fourth club that fared the best among the three losing teams.

    In all, there will be four playoff stages, all in a best-of-7 format:
DIVISION FIRST ROUND (1v6, 2v5, 3v4) between August 8 and 16
DIVISION SEMIFINALS between August 18 and 27
DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS between August 28 and September 6
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP (Serie del Rey) between September 8 through 16

    Here is a link to the complete Mexican League schedule for 2023:
    https://bit.ly/3XfMn1l

CHARLES IN CHARGE: LEONES SLUG WAY TO 2ND ROUND

Yucatan DH/1B Art Charles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monclova RHP Josh Lowey

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

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

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

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

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

RENOVATIONS APPROVED FOR NAVOJOA BALLPARK

Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria

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

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

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

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

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