AGS, LAGUNA WIN LAST NORTH SLOTS; PLAYOFFS OPEN

   After Aguascalientes and Union Laguna emerged from a four-way dogfight for the final two playoff berths in the Mexican League's North Division while Puebla and Quintana Roo pulled away from Leon for the last two slots in the LMB South last week, the 2021 postseason got underway over the weekend.

    With six teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs this year and Guadalajara (46-17) and Mexico City (41-23) winning their divisions in commanding fashion, most of the drama was reserved for the lower seedings in the LMB North. Aguascalientes won seven of their last ten games to finish in fifth place at 30-31, a half-game game ahead of 31-33 Union Laguna. Monterrey had been in eighth most of the season prior to a late charge that made it close before closing in seventh with a 30-33 mark, a half-game behind the Algodoneros to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Dos Laredos had been in the hunt before losing six of their last ten to drop below the Sultans into eighth at 30-36.

    Things weren't as tight in the LMB South, where Leon had a puncher's chance to reach the playoffs entering the final three games of the regular season. The Bravos had to win all three of their games while Puebla had to lose all three of theirs to force a one-game play-in. Leon's 8-1 home loss to Aguascalientes and a Puebla doubleheader sweep of Oaxaca last Wednesday served to knock the Bravos (29-37) out of contention. In fact, the Pericos won all three of their games over the Guerreros to finish at 33-33, leapfrogging in to fifth place ahead of 32-33 Quintana Roo (who lost all three to Veracruz to end the regular season).

    With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the playoffs got underway Saturday with six games. In the LMB North, Guadalajara thumped Laguna, 13-4, as Adrian Gonzalez socked a two-run homer and scored three times for the Mariachis. Aguascalientes surprised Tijuana, 6-1, at El Nido behind Henry Rodriguez' two homers and seven innings of one-run pitching by Rieleros' starter Erick Leal. Monclova held on to take a 5-4 victory in Saltillo as Addison Russell's two-run homer and RBI double helped overcome a shaky Bartolo Colon start (5IP/3R/9H/2E).

Yucatan Leones vet slugger Luis Juarez

    In Saturday's LMB South first round games, visiting Quintana Roo walloped Mexico City, 12-2, as all nine Tigres batters had at least one hit, including Alex Robles' two-run double during QRoo's 10-run second inning. Yucatan's uncharacteristic power display (five homers, two by Luis Juarez) keyed a 15-2 swamping of Veracruz in Merida. Puebla's Miguel Guzman scored from third on an eighth-inning Derrick Loop wild pitch to give the Pericos an eventual 2-1 win over Tabasco.

    Sunday's action saw five of the six series tied up at one game each as the previous night's losers came back with wins. Guadalajara topped Laguna again, 7-3, as Christian Ibarra and Johnny Davis belted sixth-inning homers off Cottoneers starter Rafael Pineda. Venerable slugger Luis Alfonso Cruz had three hits (including a homer and double) and scored three runs as Tijuana bounced back with an 8-4 win over Aguascalientes. Saltillo knotted things with Monclova with a 4-2 win with Henry Urrutia's two-run bomb in the eighth breaking a 2-all tie. Yasiel Puig's two-run homer capped a four-run first as Veracruz went on to cop an 8-3 win in Puebla. Mexico City rebounded with a 7-5 triumph over Quintana Roo, thanks in part to Julian Leon's two-run roundtripper. Juan Pablo Oramas tossed six innings of one-run ball as Tabasco beat Puebla, 3-1, to level their set.

    Monday will be a travel day for all series with six Game Threes scheduled for Tuesday night at ballparks for the lower seeds.

HERAS (.401) TAKES BAT TITLE; 8-0 NAKAMURA COPS WINS CROWN

2021 LMB batting champion Leo Heras

   Baja California product Leo Heras finished 2021with a .401 average to become the 16th native son to be awarded a Mexican League batting championship. The Guadalajara outfielder went 63-for-157 to become the first Mexican to cop a batting title since Tijuana's Isaac Rodriguez in the Spring 2018 season. Heras played 46 of the Mariachis' 65 games, or 70.8 percent. Mariachis teammate Niko Vasquez, a Californian played 59 games and finished second at .387 while Cuban Henry Urrutia of Saltillo came in third at .385 over 56 contests.

    Saltillo slugger Rainel Rosario won his second home run title by crashing 20 to edge out Leon's Xavier Batista's 19. Rosario, a Dominican who led the LMB in 2017 with 26 HRs, becomes the second Sarapero batsman to win more than one homer crown (Andres Mora did it three times). Rosario also led the league with 41 extra-base hits and 174 total bases.

    Another Dominican, Leandro Castro, finished with 72 runs batted in over 64 contests for Tijuana to lead in that category. Batista and Mexico City's massive Japhet Amador tied for second with 57 RBIs, well behind Castro (who had a great season in batting .378 for the Toros while leading the loop with 93 hits, including 20 doubles and 14 homers.

    Quintana Roo's Reynaldo Rodriguez stole 21 bases to finish first in that category, just beating out the 20 of Tabasco outfielder Herlis Rodriguez. A first baseman from Colombia, Rodriguez beat his previous personal best of 14 swipes to become the first Tigres player to lead the Liga in steals since Luis Polonia's 48 in 1997.

    Other LMB batting leaders included Guadalajara's Beau Amaral with 65 runs, Veracruz' Jesus Valdez stroked 30 doubles, Durango outfielder Tito Polo legged out 7 triples, Mexico City's Jon Singleton had a .503 on-base percentage and 1.196 OPS over 46 games and Puebla rookie David Olmedo-Barrera's .694 slugging percentage ranked first.

Tijuana's Fernando Rodney won saves title

    Japanese import Masaru Nakamura capped a great Mexican League debut by finishing with an 8-0 record over nine starts, good enough to lead the LMB in both wins and won-lost percentage. Nakamura also finished fourth with a 3.25 ERA, striking out 46 batters on 52.2 innings of work after compiling a 15-17 ledger over all or part of nine NPB seasons.

    Tabasco starter Luis Escobar joins fellow Cartagena product Reynaldo Rodriguez of the Tigres in leading the LMB in an individual category. Escobar's 2.54 mark makes him the fifth Olmecas hurler to win an ERA title, joining former Red Sox pitcher Mike Nagy (1978) and becoming the first Tabasco player to do so since Jean Jesus Alvarez in 1999.

    Two pitchers tied for the strikeouts championship with 69 apiece, with Dos Laredos' Jackson Stephens and Puebla's Jose Valdez sharing the award. Stephens (a former Cincinnati Reds starter) got his K's in 65 innings while walking just 16 while Valdez needed 72 innings, walking 32 opponents in the process.

    Former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney capped a successful first year in Mexico by winning the saves title, securing 16 salvados in 19 chances. Rodney won all three of his decisions and had a 1.80 ERA in 28 appearances. Tabasco' Fernando Salas finally allowed his first earned run in 21 outings to finish with an 0.42 ERA, going 12-for-12 in saves.

    Other LMB pitching leaders included Yucatan's Jake Thompson with a 1.07 WHIP, fellow Leones hurler Radhames Liz had two complete games, Veracruz' Dylan Unsworth and and Aguilas moundmate David Reyes tossed the year's only two shutouts (Unsworth's was a no-hitter), Rafael Pineda of Laguna was tops with 77 innings pitched, Monterrey middleman Norman Elenes led with 38 games pitched and Derrick Loop of Tabasco had 12 holds.

BRAVERMAN: MANY RESPONSIBLE FOR OLYMPIC COLLAPSE

Out 27 columnist David Braverman

    While many Mexican baseball fans have been vocal with their outrage and disgust over their country's 0-for-3 performance at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, it appears that few journalists and broadcasters have joined the chorus. Not so with syndicated columnist David Braverman, whose “Out 27” is one of the most widely read commentaries in Mexico.
 
   Braverman's column last Friday outlined what he believes were the causes of Mexico's collapse during their first foray into Olympic baseball. In this edited Google Translate version of that column, titled “Ostrich of Baseball,” he shares his observations:

    With the great Olympic failure of the Mexican baseball team still fresh in the minds of the fans and the protagonists back with their different teams in the LMB and other leagues, a very small sector of the Mexican baseball press continues to question what the hell happened but even more so, what the main responsible parties will face.

    Give opinions, point out, criticize, always with arguments: that is the true work of the journalist who boasts of being one. The rest is the least and Mexican baseball is full of characters who call themselves journalists or reporters, but whose criteria do not go beyond "looking good" with whom they agree. The same thing happens with narrators and commentators. I deeply respect their admirable work and there are very good ones, but their work will never be journalistic and much less critical when they put on the shirt of the team for which they work. They are part of the promotion and, I repeat, very respectable.

    The poor results in Tokyo were simply the chronicle of a death foretold. Removing those who achieved the Olympic qualification, paying attention to tantrums and stubbornness of those who feel like owners of the bats and balls because they were major leaguers or simply allowing that ridiculous occurrence of publishing a photo of several selectees with the uniform of their winter team are clear samples that it was never understood that they were going to an Olympic Games and the importance of what that represented.

    Of course, everyone involved is to blame. The players disappointed Mexico and only a couple responded on the diamond. The majority created a fiasco ending as the worst offense of the tournament and one of the two worst pitching staffs. In baseball, the statistics don't lie. Managers and coaches never studied their rivals and thought they were going to face poor teams like the Oaxaca Guerreros or the Durango Generales. They were very wrong.

    But for that failure to occur on the field of play there were those who orchestrated it and not just now, but long ago. It was during the management of Javier Salinas, the worst president that the Mexican League has had in its history, when the FEMEBE that Enrique Mayorga inherited after the death of Lieutenant Alonso Pérez handed him the management of the Mexican team.

    Salinas, an illiterate baseball player but a good seller of mirrors, stuck his nose in until he reached the president of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, Riccardo Fraccari, with that unsuccessful attempt by the hesitant called Baseball 5 and other “business”. From then on, there were characters in the LMB who played the tambourine of the relationship with Fraccari at their convenience as well as the management of the team. You can not forget that "Chabelo Tour" of 2019 for two games in Japan and Salinas taking his entire entourage for a walk, of course, in exchange for loyalty.

    The subject had been inherited since his arrival by the current president of the summer circuit, Horacio de la Vega, a chess expert with total ignorance of baseball and a former Olympian who knows the strict doping controls in the event that brings together more than 200 countries every four years. It was precisely the doping that presented problems in assembling the team, especially if we take into account that currently in the LMB the controls are hesitant and the positive tests are paid with financial fines, not with punishments to the player. So imagine the result of the mixture that gives us a total ignorance of baseball with the risk that the players will test positive for Olympic doping.

    With the endorsement of the inoperative baseball federation and the hidden but direct supervision of Edgar González's PROBEIS, the LMB (through its president and sports director Gabriel Medina) removed the manager who had obtained the Olympic berth, Juan Gabriel Castro, to bring in Benjamín Gil and from there form the team fulfilling the whims such as Adrián González, who clearly agreed to play in Mariachis with the condition of going to the Olympic Games. The result? Tremendous disappointment.

    Those responsible for the worst failure of Mexican baseball internationally have names and from my point of view, they have been clearly named in this column, which ends with the following questions:

    Why do some of the members of the Mexican team find it so hard to call failure to failure?

    Finishing in last place being a country with professional baseball all year...isn't that failure?

    Who orders and who executes decisions for the Mexican baseball team?

    Will LMB, FEMEBE and PROBEIS sleep soundly?

    Will those responsible stand up and resign?

    Knowing Mexican baseball for decades and its current reality, the answer to the last question is a resounding NO. It will be the fable of The Ostrich of Baseball.

LMB PRESEASON CAMPS, GAMES UNDERWAY

Bartolo Colon in San Antonio

    With the Mexican League's delayed season openers set for later this month, all 18 teams have opened their training camps in recent weeks and several preseason games have been played, including a pair of contests north of the border in San Antonio, Texas.

    The defending champion Monclova Acereros closed out a two-game series with a 10-0 shutout of the Dos Laredos Tecolotes at Nelson Wolff Stadium last Friday. Former Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon got the start for the Acereros, tossing four innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts. A year after having to work his family's taco stand in California to make ends meet, Henry Omana was one of a number of relievers to come in from the Tecos' bullpen after starter Richelson Pena (a Rangers farmhand for nine summers) allowed three runs over two innings.

    Monclova won the first game in San Antonio last Thursday, 4-3, but had to work a lot harder to do it. Dos Laredos took a opening 2-0 lead in the top of the third on a two-run single by Balbino Fuenmayor, but the Steelers pulled to within a run in the bottom of the sixth via back-to-back doubles by Francisco Espinosa and Danny Espinosa. After the Tecos tacked on a run in the top of the seventh to take a 3-1 advantage, the champions knotted the score thanks to two-baggers from Nah Perio and Jacob Barfield. The final run of the night came in the bottom on the eighth when Monclova's Niko Pacheco scored from third on a Jorge Gonzalez wild pitch.

    In related news, a joint press conference between the Tecolotes and City of Laredo officials was held last month in which both parties expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming season with games being played at both Laredo Ballpark and Parque La Junta in neighboring Nuevo Laredo. There had been speculation that the Tecos would play some home games in other border cities after tense negotiations with the City of Laredo centered on control of concessions, which team owner Jose Antonio Mansur wanted year-round instead of only during baseball season, but an agreement has obviously been arrived upon.

    While Colon took the mound for Monclova last weekend, a number of other former big leaguers are rounding into shape for the 2021 schedule. In Guadalajara, Adrian Gonzalez has been working out with fellow members of the expansion Mariachis and belted a couple of homers during a batting practice session last week. Eyes are on Gonzalez' back, where pains greatly contributed to his exit from Major League Baseball after a stint with the Mets in 2018. El Titan appeared to be swinging pain-free during training camp and at this point, Mariachis manager Benji Gil still plans to alternate Gonzalez and Jesse Castillo between first base and designated hitter following the apparent retirement of a third veteran, Saul Soto.

Javier Robles is Tigres batting coach

    Meanwhile, to the east, ex-Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been training with the LMB's other first-year club, the Veracruz Aguilas. According the the Septima Entrada website, Aguilas sports manager Jesus “Chino” Valdez says “the arrival of the Cuban outfielder has caused a positive impact within the Aguilas.” Writer Thomas Lopez says that during an interview on the Bateo Libre radio progam, Valdez said he held a meeting with Aguilas players before Puig's signing with Veracruz was announced and that the players “perfectly understood the level of character we were receiving. The harmony is very beautiful, a true 'teamwork' and we have not started to play yet.” Valdez rejected speculation that Puig was receiving perks like a personal chauffeur or security at his in-town residence.

    Finally, a longtime Tigres star is in camp with the Quintana Roo team in a new role with the Mexican League club. After briefly appearing in the Indians' system in 1991, Robles went on to spend 21 seasons as a power-hitting shortstop in the LMB (including a 14-year stint with the Tigres in Mexico City, Puebla and Cancun between 1994 and 2007) before retiring as a player in 2012. Now Robles is in his first season as the Tigres hitting coach under manager Adan Munoz, a teammate between 2004 and 2007. “What you learned during 20 seasons, you have to do it now with your players, with the boys,” Robles said. “Support them in whatever they can take care of and given them advice for game time.” The 50-year-old played on seven division champions and four pennant winners with the heritage franchise.

SARAPEROS SIGN 14-YEAR-OLD MERIDA INFIELDER

Jorge Cervantes in Saraperos camp

    Most professional teams in any sport will sign a young, unproven player with an eye to the future, but the Saltillo Saraperos may have outdone themselves with their latest contract. The Mexican League club recently announced an agreement with a 14-year-old native of Yucatan, middle infielder Jorge Cervantes.

    Saraperos sports director Roberto Magdaleno led a virtual press conference last week to announce the signing that was also attended by Cervantes, parents Jorge Cervantes Ramos and Fely Lara Garcia, sister Monserrat Cervantes and paternal grandfather Francisco Cervantes. “I want to thank Jorge's parents on behalf of the board of directors for the opportunity they give us to have their son with us, and even more to come from so far away.

    “We hope to God that with the passage of time, he can make a relevant career with us. A special thanks to Luis Borges for his support and follow-up. Luis is a person who spent a long time in Saltillo keeping a very special affection for the team and the city, a professional as an athlete and a great person who was able to coordinate with (scouting director) Leo Figueroa to complete this important signing.”

    A native of Merida like the young signee, Borges spent the final four seasons of his 17-year LMB career as an infielder in Saltilo after 11 summers with the Yucatan Leones. He's worked as a baseball instructor in recent years for Pittsburgh and in Merida, he had the opportunity to train and observe players and has known the Cervantes family for a long time. “I've known Luis from a very young age,” Borges said. “He's always had skill but above all, the attitude to play baseball. It was a process to know at which point could he get to do it professionally.”

    “Luis has excellent hitting to develop and great projections to be a good player, even for the United States. He is very young, having just turned 14 years old, and we must continue working with him, but he'll go as far as he wants.”

Jorge Cervantes

    The 14-year-old shortstop and second baseman, who's studied the past year at Blas Pascal High School (where his favorite subject is science), said at the press conference, “I'm very excited to be able to belong to this great organization. I was training with Luis Borges in Yucatan for about eight months and was confident that I could be signed. We trained very hard several days a week to achieve this dream.”

    Cervantes had a chance to work out with the Saraperos for three days in training camp and said he settled down in short time. “At first I didn't think about it much,” the teen remarked. “I was nervous batting. I felt a little tense when I saw great players like Kennys Vargas and Manny Rodríguez himself but on the second day, I was letting go and I was calmer.”

    His favorite Major League player at the moment is Fernando Tatis Jr., but also appreciates Randy Arozarena “a lot for his hitting. In my country I have had the opportunity to train with him (Arozarena is a Merida resident during the offseason). He's an icon for everything he achieved in the World Series.”

    Cervantes concluded by saying, “I want to raise the surname Cervantes high. I have to take advantage the confidence that the entire Saraperos board of directors have given me and the support I received from Luis Borges so that they would notice me. This is the beginning of a career and I want it to be worth it.”

BRAVERMAN: MEXICAN PLAYERS GET “INEQUALITY” IN LMB

Out 27 columnist David Braverman

   One of Mexico's most prominent baseball columnists is David Braverman. His “Out 27” column is one of the most widely-read across the country and his name was floated as a potential replacement for Javier Salinas as president of the Mexican League before the Assembly of Presidents selected Horacio de la Vega as the 26^th man to hold that title in November 2019.

    Braverman recently wrote a column decrying what he considers poor treatment of Mexican-born ballplayers within the Mexican League, particularly in roster spots a salaries. The following is an edited Google translation of that column:

    With the LMB mini-season just around the corner and the 18 teams preparing for it, a theme is once again becoming more acute that should not be put aside because it is a recurring one. I am referring to the growing inequality that appears on the rosters of some organizations around the hiring of Mexican players born in Mexico, Mexicans born in the United States and foreigners.

    Taking the preseason roster presented by the Acereros de Monclova as an example, we can see that of 44 players, only 8 of them are born in Mexico; that is, only 18% of the total of their squad. The remaining 82% is made up of Mexican baseball players born across the border (dual nationality) along with Dominican, Venezuelan and American foreigners.

    The issue is not only on the list of players and goes further. This team will be managed by foreigner Pat Listach and among 10 members of its coaching staff, only three were born in Mexico: Martín Arzate, Matías Carrillo and Francisco Villegas. Needless to say, Spanish is practically unspoken in their dugout, something very similar to what has happened in other dressing rooms such as Tijuana or Dos Laredos.

    You may be wondering how all of this affects the Mexican-born player. I tell you, the country's baseball player collects his salary in pesos as a native person with a business activity, is issued a receipt for salary and therefore pays taxes. In the case of foreigners, every player receives their salary in dollars, as agreed from the beginning of the season. The Mexican-American plays as a “Mexican,” bienvenidos, but is paid like an American (in dollars) and I leave there the doubt of how they work in terms of taxes. They are Mexicans like you and me, that is how the Constitution establishes it, but just as they have rights, they must comply with obligations and there is the doubt. Now that if it is about making a player “Mexican,” they tell me that in Castaños, Coahuila, there is the solution.

LMB prospects in Liga Academia game

    Given all this, it is clear that a good number of players born in Mexico are being displaced. Many of them have not played since August 2019 and have had to dedicate themselves to other trades for more than a year. Let's not forget that the LMB teams, in addition to their seasonal rosters, have reserve lists in which many players are simply "stand by" without receiving a salary.

    The Mexican baseball player born in Mexico has to get on his feet and once and for all react and pull in the same direction: stars and rookies, with high or low salaries. They should have formed a union a long time ago, an association that looks out for their interests not by fighting with owners but to give themselves their place both in contractual and salary issues, insisting not to create conflicts but to build profits. Today the players, in addition to salary issues, have no one to defend them or in matters such as fights with umpires, expulsions, fines, etc.

    Gentlemen, you are the raw material of baseball, no one else. Take action.

LMB PLAYOFFS OPEN TUESDAY; TJ, DIABLOS TOP SEEDS

Quintana Roo Tigres reach LMB playoffs

It came down to the final week of the regular season, but the eight-team Mexican League playoff field and matchups have been determined.  The Tijuana Toros have earned the number one seed in the North Division while the Mexico City Diablos Rojos are tops in the LMB South heading into Tuesday's Division Semifinal series.  However, most attention last week was focused on whether the Puebla Pericos would finish close enough to the Quintana Roo Tigres in the overall standings to force a wild-card game for the fourth and final berth in the South.

Saltillo won the second-half title in the LMB North by finishing with a 38-21 record to collect eight playoff points, bringing their season total to 12 and clinching the fourth seed in the division.  Monclova was second at 36-24, picking up seven points for the half and earning the second seed with 13 overall points, but it was third-place Tijuana (35-25) who got the top seed in the LMB North with 13.5 points after the Toros tied for first with Monterrey in the first half. Both teams were awarded 7.5 points and while the defending champion Sultanes fell to fourth in the second half with a 32-26 mark, their 12.5 overall points nudged out Saltillo for the third seed.  Monclova and Tijuana tied for the best season won-lost record in the Liga, both finishing at 75-45 over two halves. Dos Laredos (8 points), Aguascalientes (6.5), Durango (4.5) and Union Laguna (2) finished out of the money, although the Rieleros put up a good fight in August by winning 17 of their final 25 games (including a six-game win streak between August 18-24). While the North lacked playoff intrigue over the last week of the regular season, Puebla had a mathematical chance of forcing a wild-card game against Quintana Roo going into their final series in Mexico City while the Tigres wrapped up in Tabasco.  Although the seventh-place Pericos were 21-32 and had no chance of catching up in points, playoff qualifiers occur when a fifth-place team in the overall standings finishes within the fourth-place club. The Parakeets' window was open because their season record of 55-58 was two-and-a-half games behind 59-57 Quintana Roo in fourth, meaning Puebla had a puncher's chance of forcing the extra game.  Both teams won their openers last Tuesday, however, meaning the Pericos' season was in effect over. Puebla lost their final two games in the nation's capital while the Tigres went on to sweep the Olmecas and clinch the division semis cleanly and are the South's #4 seed with 10 overall points.  

The sun sets on Francisco Campos' career

Yucatan followed a tepid first half by winning the second half with a 40-20 record, giving them 12 points for the year.  Mexico City and Oaxaca tied for the points lead with 13 apiece, but the 67-49 Diablos got the nod for #1 seed by posting a better overall record than the 68-52 Guerreros.  Puebla finished fifth with 8 season points, followed by Leon (6), Campeche (5.5) and Tabasco (4.5). Longtime Campeche pitcher Francisco "Pancho Ponches" Campos officially retired as a player after 25 LMB seasons, all but part of one season with the Piratas.  A converted catcher, the Guaymas native was put on the Reserve list one day after his July 2 win over Union Laguna, a 12-5 triumph in which the righty became the 14th hurler to record 200 Liga career wins. Campos is the only man to ever win the Pitching Triple Crown in both the LMB and Mexican Pacific League. The playoffs open with a full slate of games.  In the LMB North semifinals, Monclova will be in Monterrey and Saltillo will visit Tijuana while the LMB South semis have Yucatan playing in Oaxaca and Quintana Roo traveling to Mexico City.  The latter is a resumption of Mexican baseball's most storied rivalry with the added twist of the Tigres reportedly being open to a possible offseason move from Cancun to Mexico City, where they played over four decades and won eight pennants.  Game Two will be played Wednesday at the same venues. All Mexican League playoff series are best-4-of-7 matchups. Home field advantage in the Serie del Rey championship finals will likely go to a North team, as Monclova (75-45), Tijuana (75-45) and Monterrey (72-46) all finished with better regular season records than South leader Mexico City (67-49).  On the other hand, Saltillo (66-53) would've been fourth overall in the LMB South behind the Diablos, Oaxaca (68-51 and Yucatan (66-52). The Tigres finished 62-57 for the year, assuring them a Game Seven away from home at every step.

MAYORA WINS BAT TITLE, HARRIS FALLS ONE HR SHY OF 40/40 CLUB Durango's Daniel Mayora stayed hot at the end of the season while Leon outfielder Felix Pie's slide wrapped up with a 4-for-17 run at the plate over his final five games as Mayora pulled away to win the 2019 Mexican League batting title by ten points over the ex-Oriole.  Mayora went 16-for-31 over his last ten appearances to finish with a .391 average along with a career-high 19 homers and 93 RBIs for the Generales. Conversely, Pie hit .200 in HIS last ten outings to come in at .381 after sporting a .403 average as recently as August 10.  Despite his late-season fade, the 18-year pro veteran (a three-time Futures Game pick while a Cubs minor leaguer) had career highs in batting, homers (22) and RBIs (80). Monclova's Francisco Peguero finished third in the batting table with a .380 average.

Oaxaca's Alonzo Harris dives into home

Monclova first baseman Chris Carter had a monster first year in Mexico, belting 49 homers and driving in 119 runs to lead the LMB in both categories.  The ex-National League home run champ also led in slugging percentage (.709), on-base-plus-slugging-percentage (1.1581), bases on balls (115) and strikeouts (156) and didn't miss a game all season.  Carter also scored 113 runs for the Acereros but saw his average drop to .293 after going 3-for-17 over his last seven games. The massive Californian would be a front-runner for MVP honors if Oaxaca outfielder Alonzo Harris hadn't turned in one of the best all-around offensive performances in recent Liga seasons. A 30-year-old Mississippian who spent six years in the Mets system, Harris hit .343 for the Guerreros while belting 39 homers and stealing 45 bases, just missing becoming the first 40/40 player in Mexican League history.  The 2017 Atlantic League Player of the Year while playing with York, Harris led the LMB with 131 runs scored while his 117 RBIs were second only to Carter in that category.  He also topped the circuit with 324 total bases, his .691 slugging percentage was also second to Carter and his 45 steals trailed only former teammate Johnny Davis' 54 swipes.  Davis' contract was sold to Tampa Bay on August 29 and he finished with the Rays' AA Southern League affiliate in Montgomery. All in all, it was a good year for batters in the Mexican League, even though the bats cooled down a little.  Ten of the LMB's 16 teams hit an aggregate .300 or better (with Mexico City leading the way at .323) and all but two teams averaged at least one homer per game as Monclova, Saltillo and Tijuana hit 190+ homers over 120 games. The Acereros averaged an astounding 7.47 runs per game. Accordingly, LMB pitchers may be forgiven if they started wearing suits of armor on the mound.  Tijuana's 4.41 team ERA was nothing to write home about but it was the lowest in the Liga as eleven teams turned in ERAs of 5.41 or higher as just three pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title were below 4.00.  Union Laguna's staff were particularly battered by the new Franklin ball, as the Algodoneros coughed up 12.18 hits and 8.28 runs per contest, both league highs. Numbers like these, taken in perspective, show just what a great year Yucatan right-hander Cesar Valdez had.

Likely LMB Pitcher of the Year Cesar Valdez

Valdez, who previously spent time in MLB with Arizona, Oakland and Toronto, went 15-2 for the Leones to easily lead the Liga in wins while also taking the ERA title with a relatively-microscopic 2.26 ERA along with an equally-low 1.06 WHIP. also best in the league.  Valdez didn't lose his first game until June 28 (nearly three months into the season) and allowed more than two runs just four times in 24 starts after being shelled for five runs on ten hits over five innings in his first start of the year on April 5 at Monterrey. Beginning with the LMB's Fall season last year, Valdez has gone a combined 23-2 for the Leones and the winterball Licey Tigres of the Dominican League.  He also finished fifth in strikeouts with 122 whiffs in 147.2 innings (Leon's Yasutomo Kubo was tops with 154 punchouts) and is the easy choice for Pitcher of the Year. Roman Mendez of Dos Laredos earned saves in his last two outings to finish with 32 to top Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo by two for most in the LMB while Tijuana middleman Jesus Pirela's 30 holds easily led in that category. TOROS TOP LMB IN ATTENDANCE, CROWDS UP FROM FALL 2018

Full house at a Diablos game in Mexico City

Following a moribund Fall 2018 season during which Mexican League attendance fell to alarming levels in some markets during the Fall season, 15 of 16 LMB teams witnessed growth at the game this summer as the average per opening snuck over the 5,000 mark.  However, that increase doesn't tell the complete story as several Liga franchises continue to struggle at the gate. Tijuana led the league in attendance for the second season in a row with 677,464 fans clicking the turnstiles for an average of 11,291 per opening, an increase of nearly 2,000 per game from last Fall's 9,358.  The Toros were the only team in Minor League Baseball to average double figures in attendance this year. Defending champion Monterrey was second at 546,804 for the season, averaging 9,593 per game, while Yucatan was third with an 8,673 average for a total of 520,350 over 60 dates.  Mexico City saw a huge increase in ticket sales with the opening of Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. The Diablos averaged just 2,613 fans per game in Fall 2018 for their final season at Estadio Fray Nano before pulling in 7,156 aficionados at their new state-of-the-art ballpark in 2019, a jump of 274 percent.  

Lots of good seats available in Campeche

Every team but Monclova saw an increase in attendance from last Fall.  The Acereros finished fifth in the league after dipping from a 6,017 average in Fall 2018 to 5,917 this year, a negligible difference.  Even though they finished dead last for the third season in a row (including Spring 2018), Campeche went from a nadir of 855 warm bodies per game last Fall to a 1,743 average over 50 dates this year, more than doubling the number of spectators at Estadio Nelson Barrera.  Across the Liga, attendance totalled 4,603,163 fans over 913 playing dates in 2019 for an average of 5,042 per opening. In comparison to the LMB's average of 3,914 per contest last Fall (1,675,165 over 428 openings in the second short season in 2018), crowds went up 29 percent this year. The LMB office in Mexico City can be justifiably happy with their attendance gains this year, but the 94-year-old loop still has work to do. Overall attendance during the Spring 2018 season was better, with three teams averaging double figures: Monterrey (12,878), Tijuana (10,123) and Yucatan (10,060).  Twelve LMB teams drew better last Spring than they did in the Fall as fan interest plummeted in many Liga cities after the Spring playoffs concluded just days before the Fall season began. The combined attendance numbers for the Spring and Fall seasons in 2018 were 3,785,858 for 920 games, an average of 4,115 per date.  The Spring average of 4,290 shows that while teams at the top were drawing well, those eleven teams pulling in less than 4,000 a night kept the overall totals down. In 2017, the LMB's last full schedule before the two-season format was tried last year, league attendance was 4,042,605 (for an average of 4,695).

Puro Beisbol columnist David Braverman

In his recent Out 27 column posted on Puro Beisbol, David Braverman (one of Mexico's most respected baseball writers) decries the disparity between the Haves and Have Nots of the Mexican League, saying that one result is that fans of Have Not teams have steadily lost interest in spending a night at the ballpark, even in cities with a long history of baseball.  Braverman names Aguascalientes, Durango, Dos Larendos and Union Laguna among LMB North teams as that division's Have Nots, joined by Campeche, Tabasco and Leon in the LMB South. "At the start of the campaign, the owners promise competitive teams, announce hirings and there is optimism," says Braverman.  "But within a few weeks everything changes and fans begin to be absent from the stadiums and, little by little, that communion between team and grandstand is lost...What's next for those losing places?  What's next for a league that can't balance its forces? What follows for those cities where the board has thrown in the towel, putting the franchise on sale?" Braverman points an accusatory finger at embattled LMB president Javier Salinas, saying the Have Nots are "the usual losers in a Mexican League that has refused to progress, that has lived two years in the midst of false promises and cheap verbiage, an absolute baseball illiteracy among the leader and some of his squires."

Columnist Braverman skeptical of incoming LMB president

The announcement earlier this month that former soccer executive Javier Salinas will replace Plinio Escalante as president of the Mexican League has been met with skepticism among a number of Mexican baseball columnists.  Salinas, who will serve as Escalante's vice president until the latter retires following the current season, has spent the past two decades in marketing roles of the Liga MX, Mexico's most popular sports entity with crowds averaging about 27,000 per match, so he's had some earlier success before joining forces with the LMB.

However, Salinas (who has already floated the idea of breaking the LMB baseball season up into two Apertura and Clausura "tournaments" similar to the Liga MX) also has no prior experience in baseball, something that has raised concerns among more than one cronista. Among them is David Braverman, one of Mexico's leading baseball writers whose "Out 27" column is carried by Puro Beisbol, among others.  A recent Braverman offering was less than sanguine about the future of the Mexican League under Salinas, whose name was interestingly never mentioned.  The following is one far-from-perfect translation of that Braverman column (the original in Spanish can be found on the Puro Beisbol site):

In the weeks since the last assembly of the LMB, where the successor of Plinio Escalante for the presidency of the circuit was announced, many comments have begun to emerge about the immediate future of the top summer circuit of our country.

It seems that more than 90 years of existence have not been enough for the tycoons, or at least some of them (including the multiple-team owners), to conscientiously analyze the present and the future of the league without forgetting the past, a long history that no other professional sports league in our country can boast.

And, of course, we do not want to be spoilers and think that only the usual works. But baseball is traditional, and anyone who tries to break it is simply an ignoramus of the King of Sports.

Commencing the talk of baseball in full transition is the idea of ​​changing the format a full season into two "short tournaments" in what is nothing more than a soccer mentality. The difference with soccer is that their two short tournaments span the whole year.  In the LMB, the season runs from late March to early September, around six months in which the regular schedule and the long playoff round are completed. The "brilliant" idea is to make two small seasons with many playoffs, making believe that sponsors will be found to enter baseball and fans will invade all the stadiums.

This simplistic idea is filled with baseball ignorance. Do you think that having two seasons, with the All-Star Game in between, the standings will change so that the interest is greater and people go to the stadiums?  Of course not.  The teams that have worked to arm themselves to the teeth will continue dominating in fan attendance and in the standings and the stragglers will continue staying there, with disappointed fans waiting anxiously to finish the season and praying that the following year will go better.

The poor attendance at most of the stadiums of the LMB, the lack of institutional sponsorships and the pending retirement of Plinio Escalante to leave the presidency caused so much despair among some magnates that many decisions have turned to steam. The arrival of Durango and León, both operating on hope and a shoestring, is just one example.  Of course, they are within their right to do it since they are the owners of the league, although in the group of 16 only a few who actually command and decide.  The LMB is lying in its presentation bulletin of who will replace Plinio, noting that they interviewed several candidates to select the candidate.  There were certainly several but they blocked the path.  Voting or analysis was not in full, in the purest style, with some executives in the Assembly of Presidents who could not and would not comment.

It is a fact: Baseball is behind and the league will function as an advertising agency, something that has already happened in the past with poor results.  Alejandro Hutt, Raul Gonzalez and Jose OrozcoTopete were presidents who came from outside to venture into baseball.  Some current magnates did not live through it, but now they want that experience in the middle of despair.

Another topic that caught my attention was the suggestion that came from Monterrey, where the Sultanes have some soccer fans among their new Directors. An idea was thrown out when proposing the former president of the Mexican Futbol Federation, Justino Compean, to occupy the presidency of the LMB: Why not have two tournaments for two leagues, with promotion and relegation so that poorer teams in Tabasco, Durango, León, Saltillo, Veracruz, Campeche, Oaxaca and others can move up to the LMB “Premier Division?”