OAXACA WINS PLAY-IN GAME; PLAYOFFS OPEN MONDAY

Oaxaca OF Yordanys Linares returns to dugout

The playoff matchups for the Mexican League's fall season have been set after the Oaxaca Guerreros took a 26-30 record and a fifth-place South Division finish to Leon for a wild-card came (necessitated by the Guerreros finishing one game behind the Bravos in the standings) and beat the 26-28 Bravos by a 7-6 score to slip into the Liga's final remaining postseason berth.

It was a disappointing finish to the year for the Bravos, who had led the LMB South in recent weeks despite a makeshift infield and seemed in position to continue playing after the regular season ended.  Instead, Leon will be sitting out the playoffs while Oaxaca celebrates their first postseason appearance since 2015.  It almost didn't turn out that way for the Guerreros, who fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning Saturday after the Bravos' Marco Jaime singled in Felix Pie and Michael Bernal off Oaxaca starter Jose Carlos Medina.

The Guerreros fought back with three runs in the top of the fourth when Jay Austin stroked a leadoff double and scored on a Dustin Geiger single, after which Henry Urrutia belted a homer to right against Leon opener Guillermo Moscoso to give the visitors a 3-2 advantage.  Moscoso settled down to retire the side and post two more scoreless frames before his Bravos teammates came back in the bottom of the sixth.  A Pie solo homer to tie the contest was followed by Medina's exit from the mound in favor of reliever Carlos Felix.  Bernal then greeted Felix with a double, moved to third on a Geiger fielding error of a Brandon Macia grounder, then came in to put Leon ahead, 4-3, on Israel Nunez' infield single.

Leon manager Luis Rivera sent former Oaxaca All-Star Alejandro Soto to the mound for the top of the seventh, a move that immediately backfired when Soto served up a leadoff homer to Julian Ornelas that knotted the game back up.  The score stood at 4-4 until the top of the ninth, when the Guerreros put three runs on the scoreboard off Bravos closer Joe Colon.  Yordanys Linares put Oaxaca ahead for good by whacking a two-run double off Colon with two out and then plated the Guerreros' final run on an Austin single.

The Bravos battled gamely in the bottom of the ninth.  Jaime singled in Antonio Ruiz after Ruiz had been waved to second on a balk called against Oaxaca pitcher Scott Shuman, a call that brought Shuman down from the mound and Guerreros manager Sergio Gastelum out of the dugout for a calm discussion with the umpires that led to Shuman and Gastelum both being elected (Jaime's single came off Ozzie Mendez).  Eduardo Arredondo then hit a fielder's choice grounder to first that got Jaime called out at second for the first out of the inning.  Arredondo was replaced by pinch-runner Luis Medina, who advanced to third on a Quincy Latimore single and scored on a Cedric Hunter sacrifice fly to center to bring Leon to within a run, but the game (and season) ended when Erick Casillas was brought in from the bullpen to replace Mendez and struck out Niko Vasquez swinging to send the Bravos and 3,489 in the stands at Parque Domingo Santana home wondering what might have been.

The wild finish climaxed a fall schedule in which the placement of teams in the LMB South remained in doubt until the final days.  Defending champion Yucatan (32-24) slipped into first place on the final day of the regular season Thursday when the Leones took a 7-4 win at Quintana Roo while Leon outlasted Mexico City (31-24) by a 9-8 count on Latimore's RBI single in the bottom of the tenth.  Puebla slipped down the stretch by dropping all three games of a series at Oaxaca to come in third at 29-27, two games ahead of Leon and three up on Oaxaca.

The LMB North playoff field had already been determined heading into last week's final series, but three more games were required for seeding purposes.  While Monclova (42-14) easily won the division, Tijuana (35-21) had to win seven of their last ten games to come in second by a game-and-a-half over Monterrey (34-23) while Dos Laredos (33-24) ended up in fourth after losing 10-5 in Monclova Thursday while the Sultanes prevailed in a 10-9 slugfest that took 12 innings to complete in Tijuana to break a deadlock with the Tecos for third.  Unlike Oaxaca in the South, fifth-place Aguascalientes (25-30) was too far behind Dos Laredos to force a wild-card game.

With the regular season in the taillights, the playoffs will open with four games Monday night.  Puebla will be at Mexico City for one LMB South semifinal while Oaxaca visits Yucatan to open the other.  Monterrey hosts Tijuana in a North semi series and Monclova will open at home against Dos Laredos.  All playoff series will be best-of-7 affairs throughout the postseason.


CAMPECHE'S ROSARIO OVERTAKES BETANCOURT FOR BAT CROWN

Fall bat champion Olmo Rosario of Campeche

It's been a tough couple years for Campeche Piratas outfielder Olmo Rosario.  The 38-year-old Dominican received a 50-game suspension prior to the 2017 season after testing for amphetamines during the previous year, leading to his release from the Tijuana Toros.  Rosario eventually signed with Leon in late May 2017 but was released by the Bravos three weeks later after batting just .174 over 13 games.  He was picked up by Campeche almost another three weeks and went on to hit .378 with five homers in 30 games, good enough to be brought back for another year in the Walled City.

Rosario turned in a good Spring season for the Piratas, hitting .319 with nine homers in 56 games, but he really stepped things up in the Fall campaign to win the Mexican League batting championship with a .408 average.  Rosario finished the season with a 14-game hitting streak (including a .600 average over his final ten games) to bring his season average up 48 points from .360 on August 19 to sneak past Oaxaca's Yuniesky Betancourt's .406.  Betancourt was hitting .417 on September 1 but collected just six hits over his final five games to drop into second in the batting race.  Yelson Asencio of Mexico City came in a distant third at .386.

Felix Perez of Monclova belted two homers last Thursday in the Acereros' final game against Tijuana to finish with 19 longballs over 55 games to win his second consecutive home run title after sending 15 balls to the street in Spring to lead the LMB.  Perez finished ahead of Oaxaca's Dustin Geiger (15) and Leandro Castro of Saltillo (14).  Both Perez and Geiger were traded in the Fall midseason while Castro was signed by the Saraperos as a free agent in May a month after being released by Dos Laredos.  Perez tied with teammate Francisco Peguero for the Liga RBI title with 60 apiece (Puebla's Delmon Young was third with 56 ribbies) while Dos Laredos' Johnny Davis stole 28 bases in 34 attempts to beat out Monclova's Cade Gotta (25) and Tony Campana (24) of Aguascalientes in that category.

Brazilian Andre Rienzo pitched one scoreless inning in relief for Monclova last Tuesday against Dos Laredos to finish the season with a 0.76 ERA, easily the lowest among qualifiers in the loop.  Acereros manager Pedro Mere only brought Rienzo out of the bullpen twice since his last start on August 26 against Aguascalientes to rest the 30-year-old righty for the playoffs.  Terance Marin of Dos Laredos finished second to Rienzo with a 2.12 ERA while Aguascalientes' Francisco Del Rosario was third at 2.24.

Marin returned to organized baseball after pitching in Taiwan in 2017 and finished the LMB's Fall season on a high note by winning five of his last six starts to tie with Monterrey's Edgar Gonzalez and Patrick Johnson for most wins with seven each.  Gonzalez will be well-rested for the playoffs after not having pitched since a September 4 victory at Durango while Johnson has been held out since a September 2 loss at Puebla.  Seven more pitchers finished with six wins.

Orlando Lara of Campeche (who himself hasn't pitched since September 1) took his first strikeout title with 64 in 61.1 innings to record the most ponchadas among Liga hurlers, with Monterrey's Jose De Paula (61) finishing second while Leon's Guillermo Moscoso and Enrique Oquendo (58) tied for third.  Wirfin Obispo on Monterrey only pitched once in relief last week and even though he didn't record a save, the Sultanes closer ended the calendar with 14, enough to lead the LMB.  Joe Colon (Leon), Chad Gausin (Yucatan) and Josh Lueke (Monclova) each had eleven saves to tie for second.

The Tijuana Toros led the Mexican League attendance with 252,668 fans attending 27 home games for an average of 9,358, which was higher than any full-season Class AAA team north of the border (Charlotte of the International League was next at 8,980).  Monterrey was second in the LMB with an average of 7,616 while Yucatan came in third at 6,985 but the Fall schedule was not kind to most Liga teams at the turnstiles.  Seven of the LMB's 16 teams drew fewer than 3,000 people per opening, with Campeche's 855 average bringing up the rear and Tabasco not a lot better at 1,151 per night.


LMB TO DROP TWO-SEASON FORMAT, TUESDAY GAMES IN 2019

Although a press release from the Mexican League last week has termed their two-seasons-in-one-year experiment a "success," apparently it wasn't successful enough as a format to keep around for a second year.  The LMB announced it will abandon this year's approach of two separate 57-game regular seasons with full playoffs starting in late March and finishing in October to return to a single-season format.  However, as often seems the case with the Liga, it won't come without complications.

On the surface, the move seems a wise one.  The LMB will play two halves for a total of 120 games per team for the regular season.  Similar to other leagues in Mexico, teams will be awarded points on the basis of where they finish in the standings each half, with the accrued totals determining playoff seeding. The number of games will be most since the Mexican League played a 120-game schedule in 2001 but since Minor League Baseball's two other Class AAA leagues had 140-game schedules this year, the six-game increase is not a big deal (especially with a month's worth of playoff games being eliminated).  However, the LMB Assembly of Presidents' decision to drop Tuesday as a game day south of the border is going to have far-reaching consequences.

Mondays have been travel days for years in Mexican baseball and that will not change.  However, the Liga has decided to create a second consecutive off-day each week before teams play between Wednesdays and Sundays, starting with a two-game series and concluding with a three-game set.  The result will be tighter travel schedules, more days during the season when ballparks are closed and a schedule stretching from March into November, which is when the playoffs will conclude.  Even the playoff format will be expanded from the current eight teams to twelve participants, with the top two finishers in each division getting a first-round bye while the next four teams battle it out to advance to the division semifinals (effectively adding another layer to the playoff format to make it a four-tiered process to win a pennant).

The moves appear to be a shot across the bow of the winter Mexican Pacific League, whose season traditionally begins in mid-October.  The LMP has already had to scramble for players to begin their upcoming 2018-19 season because the current Mexican League playoff system stretches into October, with the MexPac increasing the number of foreign players allowed per team from six to 12 this winter.  Next year's Mexican League playoff format would stretch about a full month into the LMP's season, severely curtailing the availability of domestic talent for the winter circuit.  Some observers believe the extended Mexican League season in 2019 is in response to the MexPac seeking to expand into current LMB markets, such as Monterrey and Tijuana.  The latter has had winterball teams in the past, but none were long-lasting.  In fact, the former Tijuana Potros hold a rather unenviable distinction of twice winning pennants (1987-88 and 1990-91) but not being allowed to compete the following winter due to what was termed "unfair competitive practices."  Following their second DQ, Tijuana joined the financially-troubled Guaymas Ostioneros and left the MexPac, leaving the league with an eight-team lineup ever since.

As always, the most affected people with the Liga's reformatting may be the players, who have never unionized and enjoy few rights in Mexican baseball.  In a country where the per capita income is generally between US$10,000-14,000 per year (depending on your source), many players perform year round because jobs that can bring in US$3,000-5,000 per month are very far and few between.  The new LBM format could seriously curtail a player's availability to continue earning money between November and February, especially if Liga teams (who own a player's rights in Mexico) decide to make a player unavailable for winterball because of "exhaustion," something often used by Major League Baseball organizations for their minor league players.

No official response has come out of the Mexican Pacific League's new offices in Guadalajara but it's hard to imagine LMP president Omar Canizales doing nothing.  We shall see.

Bullpen, Hensley key to Mazatlan's CS success

While the Mazatlan Venados have certainly had their share of offensive heroes after three wins in as many games at the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic, the greatest share of credit for the success of the Mexican Pacific League champions this week may go to the team's relatively anonymous bullpen.

It's pretty hard to ignore how Sebastian Valle has the CS lead with five RBI's after whacking two doubles in Tuesday's 9-3 trouncing of Cuban champs Ciego de Avila, going 2-for-4 in the only game he's played; Esteban Quiroz (.444), Cyle Hankerd (.400) and Justin Greene (.385) are all among the tournament's top ten batters with Yuniesky Betancourt (.333) and Chris Roberson (.308) also faring well at the plate.  The Venados are second among the five CS teams with a .260 average.

Mazatlan's three starting pitchers thus far (Hector Rodriguez, Eddie Gamboa and Alejandro Soto) have all had fair showings, combining for a 3.91 ERA over 16.1 innings, but the Venados bullpen has been almost lights-out. Steven Hensley, who finished the regular season with 22 saves, one behind Los Mochis' record-tying closer Andres Avila, leads the CS with two saves after two scoreless outings.  Hensley is only part of the story, however.

Venados manager Juan Jose Pacho brought 14 pitchers to the Dominican Republic and he has not been afraid to use them.  After bringing in three relievers in Monday's win over host Escogido, Pacho called in five men from the bullpen Tuesday against Ciego de Avila before waving in seven during Wednesday's win against Venezuelan pennant-winners Aragua.  The result among the ten men who've trotted in from the pen is an ERA of 1.69, with Jake Sanchez' two-run eighth Wednesday against Aragua the only hiccup over 10.2 innings in 15 combined appearances from non-starters.  Arturo Barradas has a CS-best two holds in two hitless times on the mound, Esmailin Caridad has only allowed one walk in two trips and Terance Marin (a starter before Mazatlan added him as a reinforcement) pitched two shutout innings with three strikeouts against the Dominicans in Monday's opener.

After Thursday's bye, the Venados will close out the round-robin first stage Friday at 2:30PM Eastern against Puerto Rico's storied Santurce Cangrejeros.  Regardless of Friday's outcome, Mazatlan's three wins have already punched their ticket to Saturday's semifinals.

Opportunistic Greene, Venados beat Dominicans, 3-2, in Caribbean Series opener

Mazatlan centerfielder Justin Greene (pictured) singled and scored twice, including the eventual game-winner, as the Venados opened their schedule at the 2016 Caribbean Series with a 3-2 win over Dominican champion Escogido Monday in Santo Domingo.  The game was hard-fought throughout with strong pitching on both sides, but it was defensive miscues by the host Leones that held the door open for the Venados win.

Mazatlan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Cyle Hankerd stroked a leadoff single up the middle, moved to second on Yuniesky Betacourt walk, advanced to third on Olmo Rosario's fielder's choice grounder to shortstop (with Betancourt getting forced at second) and came in to score when Esteban Quiroz' tapper back to the mound drew a throwing error from Escogido pitcher Greg Reynolds.

The Venados added a run in the third after Greene punched a one-out grounder that eluded Leones shortstop Pedro Lopez for an infield single.  The former Chisox and Arizona farmhand then streaked to third when Chris Roberson's soft liner landed safely in right field for a single.  After Hankerd walked to fill the bases, Betancourt hit a grounder to Leones third baseman Pedro Ciriaco, who had to settle for throwing to second to force Hankerd after having no play to make against Greene, who'd streaked across home plate to make it a 2-0 game.

Escogido came back with a pair of runs against Mazatlan starter Hector Rodriguez in the bottom of the third inning when Leury Garcia lined a ball to right center field that eluded both Greene in center and Jeremias Pineda in right for a two-run, inside-the-park homer to tied the score up.

Another boo-boo by the Leones defense led to Mazatlan's winning run in the top of the fifth. Greene and Roberson led off the frame with back-to-back singles off Reynolds, who was then pulled in favor of Edgar Garcia.  Betancourt then hit a double-play grounder to Lopez at short, who made the toss to Garcia at second to force Roberson but Garcia then threw the ball past first baseman Diory Hernandez, allowing Greene to cover ground and scamper home for the Venados' third and final run of the game.

It was then left to the Mazatlan bullpen to hold the Leones at bay the rest of the night, with closer Steven Hensley getting pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes to hit a grounder to Hankerd at first for the final out of the night, earning Hensley the save and the Venados the win.  Rodriguez allowed two runs on Garcia's homer over five innings, striking out five for the win, while Terance Marin contributed two no-hit innings in relief for Mazatlan.  Reynonlds suffered the loss for Escogido and was carged with all three Venados runs over four-pus innings.  Greene and Roberson each had two hits for Mazatlan while rightfielder Zoilo Almonte went 2-for-4 for the Leones, who went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

In Monday's other Caribbean Series opener, Venzuela's Aragua Tigres held off Santurce of Puerto Rico, 2-1, as Jose Martinez' second-inning triple scored Felix Perez and Dariel Alvarez to back up Freddy Garcia's six innings of one-run pitching.

The Venados will be back Tuesday at 2:30PM Eastern time when they take on Ciego de Avila, the defending Cuban National Series champion who currently hold the best record in the 16-team circuit.

MexPac Playoff Scoreboard: THU, Jan. 14, 2016

Fans were treated to two close games Thursday night in Mexican Pacific League semifinal action, with attendees at Mazatlan's Estadio Teodoro Mariscal getting a bonus of heart-stopping, run-scoring plays in the ninth AND tenth innings as Carlos Valencia (pictured for the second day in a row, a BBM first) continued to swing a heroic bat for the Obregon Yaquis, although not in his expected fashion of late. The Navojoa-Mexicali was another knucklebiter, just not quite as dramatic.

Obregon 5-8-1, MAZATLAN 4-9-2 (10)
W-Judy (1-0).  L-S. Valenzuela (0-1).  T-3:36.  A-7,849.
This may have been the wildest game of the 2016 playoffs thus far, as one infield error lifted Mazatlan into a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the contest into overtime and  another infield error pushed the winning run across the plate for Obregon in the top of the tenth. This was not a textbook win for the Yaquis but it did put them in the driver's seat of their series with the Venados.
With Obregon leading, 4-3, in the bottom of the ninth, Mazatlan's Esteban Quiroz lined to third baseman Alfredo Amezaga for the second out, but Amezaga's throw to double up baserunner Jeremias Pineda at first instead sailed into right field and Paul Leon motored in from third with the tying run.  In the top of the tenth, Venados first baseman Cyle Hankerd misplayed a two-out Carlos Valenica grounder, allowing Alex Liddi to come steaming in from third for the Yaquis. Closer Josh Judy pitched a 1-2-3 tenth to nail down the win for Obregon.
Justin Greene had three hits for the Yaquis while Olmo Rosario had a trio of singles for the Venados, who now trail Obregon, 3 games to 1.  Game Five is Friday in Mazatlan.  The Venados will start 2015-16 ERA champ Alejandro Soto while Arturo Lopez gets the nod for Obregon.

NAVOJOA 3-7-1, Mexicali 2-9-0
W-Solis (1-0).  L-Marin (0-1).  T-3:11.  A-9,681.
Jesus Castillo bashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and that was all the Mayos would need for the win.  Mexicali put the first two runs of the game on the board in the second when Chris Roberson doubled in Yuniesky Betancourt with the game's first run; Roberson then came in on an error by Navojoa second baseman Carlos Orrantia.  Quincy Latimore and Carlos Moncrief were on base two innings later when Castillo went deep on Aguilas pitcher Terance Marin, who'd been working on a shutout before being rudely interrupted.
Marin had an otherwise flawless outing over six innings, small solace to a hurler who's been dogged by hard luck during the postseason and was tagged for the loss.  Tomas Solis earned the win with a good start for the Mayos, letting in one earned run over five frames of work.
The series is now tied at two games apiece.  Game Five is Friday night in Navojoa, when the Mayos send Juan Oyervides to the mound against the Aguilas and Javier Solano in what looks to be a great matchup.

MEXPAC PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD: Friday, 1/1/16

Pitching was the order of the night for Friday's slate of Game One play in the Mexican Pacific League's first round of playoffs.

Javier Solano of Mexicali and Mazatlan's Walter Silva (pictured) both turned in top-notch starts for their teams while Navojoa's Eddie Gamboa and Jalisco's Terance Marin acquitted themselves decently, especially Marin.  However, the night ended with the swing of the bat from one of Mexico's most solid veteran second basemen, Obregon's Carlos Valencia.

MAZATLAN 4-7-1, Navojoa 1-5-0
W-Silva (1-0). L-Gamboa (0-1). T-2:46. A-12,436.
Cyle Hankard's two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a scoreless tie as the Venados went on to win Game 1.  Walter Silva pitched 7.1 shutout innings for Mazatlan, scattering three Mayos hits and striking out seven Mayos batsmen.  Quincy Latimore singled in Nate Tenbrink with Navojoa's lone run in the eighth, after Silva had already exited.

MEXICALI 2-6-0, Jalisco 1-5-1
W-Solano (1-0). L-Marin (0-1). T-2:28. A-14,917.
Javier Solano showed why he's a prime LMP Pitcher of the Year candidate by dominating Jalisco for the Aguilas, tossing seven innings and allowing one run on four hits, including an Alex Liddi solo homer in the fourth.  Xorge Castillo's RBI double in the second brought in what would prove to be Mexicali's winning run. Terance Marin had a solid start himself, going seven frames and giving up two runs on six hits for Jalisco.

OBREGON 7-10-1, Los Mochis 4-9-0
W-Adrian C. Ramirez (1-0). L-Avila (0-1). T-3:32. A-11,567.
Carlos Valencia blasted a three-run walkoff homer against Caneros closer Andres Avila in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Yaquis an opening win.  D'Arby Myers scored from second on J.C. Linares' single for Los Mochis' go-ahead run in the top on the tenth.  Valencia earlier clubbed a two-run homer and added an RBI single.  Sebastian Valle socked a solo homer for the Caneros.

NOTE: BBM is posting final scores of each game immediately following the final pitch on both Facebook and Twitter throughout the playoffs and Caribbean Series.