CULIACAN, JALISCO RISK MISSING LMP PLAYOFFS

Gracias y Adios, Chapo!

    With nine games remaining in the 2022-23 regular season, most of the intrigue over the Mexican Pacific League's final week will be at the bottom of the standings rather than the top. Two Mex Pac powers of recent winters, Culiacan and defending champion Jalisco, are in danger of missing the postseason altogether this season after meeting in a thrilling LMP championship series last January that required the maximum seven games to decide.

    How times have changed.

    Now, instead of their usual jockeying for playoff seeding over the last ten days of the schedule, both the Tomateros and Charros are fighting to simply keep playing when the first round opens in January. If the regular season had ended yesterday, the two clubs would be out of the running due to a projected total of 8.5 playoff points and a ninth-place finish for Culiacan while Jalisco projects to a last-place overall finish with 7.5 playoff points. Their respective front offices have noticed, with manager Benji Gill barely avoiding his ouster in Culiacan while the axe fell on Roberto Vizcarra in Guadalajara days ago.

    The two teams played each other over the weekend in Guadalajara with the Charros sweeping all three games over the Tomateros as over 25,000 fans were in the stands between Friday and Sunday. Jalisco broke out the brooms Sunday with a dominant 8-1 win over the visitors as starter Yoennis Yera scattered three hits over seven innings of one-run pitching with six strikeouts. Veterans Jose Aguilar and Agustin Murillo each had two hits and scored twice for the winners while Alexis Wilson singled in Joey Meneses with Culiacan's lone run in the top of the second as new Jalisco manager Gil Velazquez went to 3-0 after his hiring on Friday.

    Gil Velazquez? This being the “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” world of Mexican baseball, the season-long struggle for the Charros proved too tempting for Jalisco ownership to resist firing manager Vizcarra last Friday, less than a year after leading the team to their second pennant in four years and Caribbean Series appearance (both times under his leadership). Velazquez, who was canned himself in Mexicali after this season's first half, was named the new Charros manager before the series opener on Friday night. Along with ex-MLBers Vinny Castilla and Tony Perezchica, Velazquez was named as a coach for Mexico in next year's World Baseball Classic under manager Gil. All were named by team general manager Rodrigo Lopez, a former Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher.

    Meanwhile, in the more rarefied air at the top of the standings, Hermosillo holds a one-game lead over Los Mochis despite dropping a 6-2 game at Navojoa Sunday while the Caneros pounded out a 12-8 decision over Monterrey at home. Both teams are playoff shoe-ins due to finishing in first and third, respectively, in the first half. Obregon and Mexicali are tied for third in the second-half standings three games behind Los Mochis. The Yaquis came in second in the first half and have punched their ticket to the quarterfinals but Mexicali (who finished seventh) will have to maintain their current spot to hold off Mazatlan, Monterrey and Navojoa among the middle-tier teams fighting for postseason seeding berths.

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela is batting .369 and, barring a precipitous late collapse at the plate, stands to beat out Los Mochis teammates Yasmany Tomas (.336) and Justin Dean (.329) for the batting title. Tomas socked three homers last week to bring his season total to 10, tying him with Mexicali's Anthony Giansanti and Jesse Castillo of Jalisco for the league lead.Tomas has also brought his RBI total to 52 to take a commanding lead over Obregon teammates Victor Mendoza (45) and Yadir Drake (41). Jose Cardona of Hermosillo and Mazatlan's Randy Romero are tied for the stolen bases lead at 20 swipes each, five ahead of the 15 pilferages by Los Mochis' Dean.

    Among pitchers, the numbers for wins leaders remain unchanged from last week as Hermosillo's Wilmer Rios' seven victories are one more than the six apiece for Nico Tellache (Guasave), David Reyes (Mexicali) and Juan Tellez (Mazatlan). Los Mochis' Luis Miranda rebounded from two bad starts to post seven shutout innings at Obregon last Wednesday to lower his ERA to 1.02, ahead of Braulio Torres-Perez of Mazatlan at 1.33 and Guasave's Matt Pobereyko's 1.94 mark. Pobereyko's 60 strikeouts trail only the 62 of Culiacan's Manny Barreda while Gusave moundmate Gino Encina's 56 K's rank third. Elkin Alcala of Mazatlan hasn't posted a save since December 9 but his 17 still lead the LMP, with Guasave's Brandon Koch's 14 and the 13 each of Joe Riley (Monterrey) and Jake Sanchez (Mexicali) good for the next three slots on the list.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS
Hermosillo 16-7 (10.0), Los Mochis 15-8 (7.0), Obregon 13-10 (8.0), Guasave 11-12 (9.0), Mexicali 12-11 (5.0), Culiacan 10-13 (3.5), Monterrey 10-13 (4.5), Navojoa 10-13 (5.5), Mazatlan 9-14 (6.0), Jalisco 9-14 (4.0). Note: First-half playoff points in parentheses.

REMAINING REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Dec. 20-21-22: Los Mochis at Mazatlan, Mexicali at Guasave, Culiacan at Hermosillo, Navojoa at Obregon, Jalisco at Monterrey.
Dec. 23-24: No games scheduled
Dec. 25-26-26: Obregon at Culiacan, Guasave at Navojoa, Monterrey at Mexicali, Hermosillo at Los Mochis, Mazatlan at Jalisco.
Dec. 27-28-29: Navojoa at Mazatlan, Mexicali at Hermosillo, Los Mochis at Guasave, Jalisco at Obregon, Culiacan at Monterrey.


MANNY RODRIGUEZ RETIRING AFTER MEX PAC SEASON

Manny Rodriguez (l) and Amadeo Zazueta

    One of Mexico's best (and most popular) ballplayers over the past two decades will hang up his mitt at the conclusion of the current Mexican Pacific League season at age 40.

    Jalisco Charros second baseman Manny Rodriguez was honored during a pregame ceremony Saturday night in Guadalajara, where the Charros hosted Culiacan in a crucual weekend series for both clubs. Rodriguez is in his ninth season for the Charros, all as team capitain, after playing eight winters for his hometown Guasave Algonoderos before the franchise was sold and shifted to Guadalajara in 2014.

    He's never played for another Mex Pac team and has compiled a very respectable. 295 batting average over 17 seasons with 123 homers and 611 RBIs in 1,037 regular season games. Rodriguez was a member of title-winning Jalisco teams in 2019 and 2022 and is a three-time LMP Most Valuable Player. His 233 doubles are second only to Hector Espino in league annals while he ranks fifth on the all-time Mex Pac list with 595 runs scored.

    Receiving applause from over 9,000 fans at Estadio Pan Americano as well as members of both teams, Rodriguez addressed those assembled: “I would like to thank my family and my teammates. Thank you very much for so much support to all the fans. Thank you for being here. I have no words. Thank you, Culiacan Tomateros, for so many years of competition and respect. I admire you and I wish you all the best. I did not know how this farewell was going to be and it exceeded all my expectations. Thank you very much, Jalisco.” 

    Rodriguez had received a Culiacan jersey with his number 13 moments earlier from Tomateros manager Benji Gil, who himself escaped involuntary “retirement” weeks ago after a meeting between Culiacan players and ownership reversed the ex-MLB infielder's firing.

    Born Jose Manuel Rodriguez (but known as “Manny” to fans south of the border), the 5'10” 187-pounder played for Chillicothe of the indepedendent Frontier League in 2004 and 2005, batting an even .300 with 17 homers in 114 games over two years for the Paints (and leading the loop with a .380 average in 2005), before signing with Saltillo of the Mexican League in 2006.

    He hit .344 in 55 games for the Saraperos that year and then batted .333 in his first winter for Guasave in 36 games. He's gone on to top the .300 mark nine times in the Mexican League, where he has a career .307 average with 149 homers over 1,037 games while playing in four All-Star Games and winning Comeback Player of the Year in 2014. Rodriguez represented Mexico in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2017 World Baseball Classic.

    After hitting .250 with six homers in 48 games for Saltillo last summer, Rodriguez has a .181 average with one homer for the Charros over 19 contests this winter.


VERACRUZ AGUILAS TO HOST THREE GAMES IN LA PAZ

Estadio Arturo C. Nahl, La Paz

    The Mexican League's Veracruz Aguilas will face the Puebla Pericos de Puebla in the so-called "Baja Series" between March 31 and April 2 at Arturo C. Nahl stadium in La Paz, Baja California Sur, prior to the start of the 2023 regular season. The Aguilas will host the event and serve as home team.

    Friday's official presentation of the Baja Series was headlined by Gilberto Garciglia, General Director of La Paz' Instituto Sudcaliforniano del Deporte, representing the Governor of Baja California Sur; Aguilas general director Hector Fitch, Pericos sports manager Enrique Lopez and members of the event's organizing committee, where they gave details of what they hope will become a tradition for the people of Baja California Sur.

    According to a press release from Veracruz, all three games will be of high caliber, as several players will have the opportunity to show their talent to the fullest to seek a place with both the Aguilas and Pericos for the 2023 Mexican Baseball League season. "We are very excited to be able to come and play,” said Fitch. “We have a great rival in the Pericos so what better way to start the preseason with some games in La Paz?

    "The players are very excited to be able to come to La Paz for the preseason, to be able to live with the children and with the people. A big part of being here is seeing the new prospects and making a mark here."

    In addition to a full Veracruz roster headed by stars such as Alexi Amarista and Jesús "Cacao" Valdez, the press release states, Veracruz team mascot Pachi Aguilar will also attend La Baja Series to infect the children of Sudcalifornia with his “jarocha joy.”

    La Paz has a team called the Delfines (“Dolphins”) that competes in the Northern Mexico League during the summer after being awarded a franchise in 2019, becoming the first city in Baja California Sur to field a professional ballclub. However, the LNM's shaky fiancial situation following the withdrawal of formal Mexican League support and the arrival of the Wuhan virus in Mexico led to a two-year hiatus for the loop between 2020 and 2021.

    Play in the Liga Norte resumed this year as the Ensenada Marineros won their fourth pennant since 2012 by defeating San Quintin, 4 games to 1, in the championship series. A second BC Sur team, the Los Cabos Bucaneros, has been added to the LNM. The Delfines and Bucs will open the 2023 season on April 27 in La Paz at Estadio Arturo C. Nahl, a 4,200-seat ballpark opened in 1967 and renovated a number of times over the years.

VERACRUZ' UNSWORTH TOSSES NO-HITTER VS. DIABLOS

Dylan Unsworth during his no-hitter

    Veracruz pitcher Dylan Unsworth only arrived this year in the Mexican League and has already ensured that his name is registered in the record books by launching a no-hitter last Friday in an 8-0 Aguilas home victory over the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in Estadio Beto Avila.

    In just his second game in the LMB, the 4,229 fans in attendance saw a golden outing from the South African pitcher, who pitched the full route and took a perfect game into the seventh inning. After walking Juan Carlos Gamboa on five pitches with one out, "El Tiburon" did not allow another baserunner and handcuffed the Diablos to achieve the Liga's first no-no of the 2021 season and number 96 in the history of the summer circuit.

    The former Mariners farmhand, who was about to not come to Mexico due to the complicated logistics to travel from South Africa to Veracruz due to the pandemic, became the seventh pitcher of the Eagle to toss a no-hit, no run game, joining a list inaugurated by Hall of Famer Martín Dihigo in 1937.

    The Aguilas opened the scoring in the second inning off Mexico City starter Sasagi Sánchez when, with one out on the board, Héctor Gómez belted a homer right field to put Veracruz in front, 1-0. The Eagles again damaged the Diablos pitching in the fifth inning when Alexi Amarista stoked his fifth double of the season to send Kevin Flores and Alonso Gaitan home. Yasiel Puig then singled to left and brought in Amarista for Veracruz 'fourth run.

    In the fifth inning , the Aguilas put together a three-run frame as Alexei Amarista slashed a two-run double and later scored on a Puig single. One frame later, Alex Ortiz hit his first double of the season and drove in Héctor Mora. Then, with Puig at bat, Diablos reliever Armando Araiza uncorked a wild pitch to allow Amarista run from third to home plate, scoring the seventh run.

Unsworth being mobbed after final out

    In the top of the seventh, Unsworth lost his perfect game bid when Juan Carlos Gamboa reached base on a five-pitch walk. However the Aguilas defense supported their pitcher and avoided any damage the rest of the way. The Veracruz nine scored once more in the eighth inning, courtesy of Ortíz 'single to right, which plated Kevin Flores with the final tally of the night. Ortiz finished with three hits and three RBIs in the contest.

    It was a masterful performance by Unsworth, a 28-year-old righty who pitched in the Dodgers chain as well as in Venezuela and Australia following his release by Seattle in 2017. He only required 75 pitches over nine innings (58 of them strikes) for a complete game last ended 20 minutes shy of three hours even with Veracruz 'eight-run outburst in which 15 Aguila batsmen reached base via hit or walk. Sasagi took the loss for the Diablos after allowing four runs on five hits over 4.2 innings of work.

VERACRUZ AGUILAS NO-HITTER HISTORY
Martín Dihigo (1937) vs Nogales
Leroy Gaines (1940) vs Chihuahua
Anastacio Velázquez (1974) vs Chihuahua
Héctor Madrigal (1983) vs Ciudad Juárez
Leobardo Meza (1993) vs Laredo
Julio Hernández (1995) vs Diablos Rojos
Dylan Unsworth (2021) vs Red Devils

FINAL OLYMPIC BASEBALL QUALIFIER MOVED TO PUEBLA

Hermanos Serdan Stadium, Puebla

    The World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) revealed last Thursday that the Final Baseball Qualifier for the Olympic Games, to be played in Tokyo, will take place from June 22 to 26 at Estadio Hermanos Serdan, home of the Mexican League's Puebla Pericos.

    The qualifying tournament was originally going to take place in Taiwan at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, but safety concerns were raised over an increased outbreak of the Wuhan virus across the island nation that led to the cancellation of a week's worth of games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The WBSC determined that the final qualifier would instead take place in Mexico (particularly in Puebla) due to its strategic location.

    "The Olympic baseball qualifiers will have a safe and successful conclusion in Puebla, at the home of the Pericos of the Mexican Baseball League," WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said in a press release. He added “The 'Road to Tokyo 2020' of baseball is already established, and for this I would like to extend the deepest gratitude of the entire WBSC family, to the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador; director of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE) Ana Guevara; to the authorities of the State of Puebla and the owner of the Puebla Pericos club. "

    For his part, Pericos owner and team president José Miguel Bejos said, “We are very proud to host this important tournament and to welcome these teams. The work carried out in recent years allows us to showcase Puebla and the Pericos, and to stand out as one of the best organizations in the world. "

    The five teams that will compete in the last Olympic baseball qualifier include Australia, The Netherlands and Taiwan, while the other two teams will come out of the Baseball Qualifier of the Americas, a playoff that begins May 31 in Florida. The winner of that qualifier will punch their ticket to Tokyo while the second and third place teams will join the final playoff in Puebla.

    So far, four teams have qualified for the Olympics: Japan, Israel, Korea and Mexico.

    The tournament organizers will later announce the details about the allowed capacity in conjunction with what the corresponding authorities determine.

CANTU FIRST MEXICAN WITH 100 HRS IN BOTH MLB AND LMB

Cantu hitting first HR for Diablos in 2019

    Mexico City Diablos Rojos veteran slugger Jorge “El Bronco” Cantu opened a special section for players who have also played in the Mexican League by becoming the first Mexican to hit 100 home runs during the regular seasons of both MLB and the LMB.

    The historic blast came in the ninth inning of last Wednesday's game in Oaxaca against the Guerreros. With two teammates on board, Cantu smashed the ball over Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos' right field wall for the final score to the game that his Mexico City Diablos Rojos won, 5-1.

    After playing eight seasons in the Major Leagues with five different teams with which he hit 104 home runs, Cantú returned to Mexico and fulfilled a promise he'd given to Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez, former president of the Mexico City Tigres, that he'd play with the Bengals when his MLB days were over. Following two-and-a-half seasons with Quintana Roo between 2013 and 2016 (plus a one-year a stint in South Korea), Cantú was sent to Toros de Tijuana after having hit 63 home runs with the Tigres.

    With the Toros, he hit 24 more longballs between 2017 and 2018 before he reached an agreement with the Diablos, a club with which in 2019 he socked 12 more home runs to end the season with his LMB home run total at 99. The season in which he hit the most home runs was 2013 when he hit 31, only six less than that season's home run champion, Carmen's Rubén Mateo (who belted 37).

    The 39-year-old Cantu was born in the border city of Brownsville, Texas but grew up across the border in Reynosa. He was spotted by a Tampa Bay scout as a 16-year-old high schooler while playing in Mexico City during a Junior Olympics tournament in 1998 and offered a contract with the Rays. After signing, he made his pro debut with Class A Hudson Valley one year later and eventually reached the Majors with Tampa Bay in 2004, primarily as a second baseman.

    Cantu went on to some good seasons with the Rays (socking 28 homers and driving in 117 runs in 2005) and the Marlins (45 roundtrippers and 195 RBIs between 2008-09) before wrapping up his MLB career with San Diego in 2011. His 2014 season with the KBO's Doosan Bears saw him hit .309 with 18 homers in 111 games, but he came back to Mexico for good in 2015.

    Last Wednesday's roundtripper against the Guerreros will be recorded as the first of the season for Jorge Cantu but with another two months left in the Liga's abbreviated 66-game schedule for 2021, it likely won't be his last.

VERACRUZ TO RETURN TO MEXICAN LEAGUE IN 2021?

Will Mexican League baseball return to Veracruz?

Although nearly all the attention in the Mexican League's Mexico City office has been focused on when (or if) their 2020 season will get underway due to the indefinite delay because of the Wuhan virus, a group of businessmen in Veracruz are looking ahead to 2021 as their target for bringing the port city back into the LMB fold.

The El Fildeo website reports that Liga president Horacio de la Vega says that investors have approached him about the possibility of Veracruz returning to the circuit for the first time since the 2017 season, after which Rojos del Aguila owner Jose Antonio Mansur moved the franchise to the border cities of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and Laredo, Texas, renaming them the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. The Tecos are the only team in professional baseball shared between two countries.

“Veracruz is a large city,” de la Vega told El Fildeo. “We have had contact with businessmen there. The Aguilas have a great baseball tradition, not only in the city of Veracruz but from many other parts of the state.” He also said the effort comes from “businessmen and possibly the government who want to reactivate a team with the tradition that Veracruz has had.”

Media reports indicate that the person most interested in bringing the Mexican League back to Veracruz is Regina Vazquez, who (along with sister Fabiola) owns the Acayucan Tobis of the Veracruz Winter League, which the two sisters led in 2018-19 before it went silent last season due to lack of funds for meeting payroll, among other expenses. The Vazquez sisters reportedly asked Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for federal pesos last winter so they could operate the LIV, but the request was not granted. They are daughters of a prominent Veracruz politician and have both been active in local and state politics as well.

However, de la Vega insists his main concern is determining the future of the current Mexican League season. “The first thing is to play the 2020 season. Within this transitional time in many things, we can explore different possibilities for Veracruz, but it's not something the Liga will provoke.”

Josh Gibson in Veracruz, 1940

Veracruz has been represented by several teams over the 95-year history of the Mexican League, winning a total of six pennants between them. Baseball strongman Jorge Paquel owned his hometown Veracruz Azules prior to becoming the LMB president in 1946, by which time he had integrated modern pro baseball by signing various Negro League stars. Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, Cool Papa Bell, Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Willie Wells and Martin Dihigo all suited up for the Azules at one time or other. Gibson, Irvin, Campanella, Dandridge and Dihigo are also members of the Salon de la Fama in Monterrey. The Azules won three championships between 1940 and 1944. The city's most recent LMB pennant came in 2012 under manager Pedro Mere, now the dugout boss in Tabasco.

Although baseball has a long history in Veracruz, which is also considered the best state in the country for producing players outside the western states of Sinaloa and Sonora, support in the stands has been tepid even in the best of times as Veracruz reflects Florida as a player-rich, fan-poor state. A revived Rojos del Aguila team would be the sixth club to use that name since the early 1950's. Veracruz' last LMB team finished 13th in the attendance derby with 2,661 turnstile clicks per game over 57 home opening for a total of 151,671. Mexican League teams have played at the 7,762-seat Estadio Universitario Beto Avila since 1992.

Where a new Veracruz team would come from would be a topic of conjecture, as several LMB teams have struggled financially in their present homes for years. Although the Campeche Piratas drew only 1,762 per home game in 2019, their ownership appears committed to remaining in the Walled City in the foreseeable future. A more likely target for a purchase and franchise shift may be the Aguascalientes Rieleros, for whom 2,001 fans per game turned out to watch the perpetually-underfunded Railroaders perform at Parque Alberto Romo Chavez in 2019.

MAZATLAN PULLS OFF TWO TRADES TO BRING IN IF PAREDES, C SOSA

Isaac Paredes in batting practice

Although the imbroglio with the City of Mazatlan regarding their eviction from Estadio Teodoro Mariscal has not been settled, the Mazatlan Venados have not stopped working to build their roster for the upcoming 2020-21 Mexican Pacific League season. The team swung a pair of trades last week that netted them a highly-touted infielder and a veteran catcher.

The Venados first traded veteran relief pitcher Adrian C. Ramirez to Monterrey for catcher Humberto Sosa. Although he'll only turn 32 this month, Ramirez will be entering his 15th season of professional baseball this summer when the Mexican League season gets underway. The Veracruz native was a starter early in his career before converting to middle relief in 2010. He's had some good seasons in both circuits but only pitched in eight games for Mazatlan last winter, with no record and a 9.00 ERA to show for seven innings.

Like Ramirez, Sosa saw little work for the Sultanes last winter, batting .042 with one RBI in 12 games. The 34-year-old Veracruzano spent four years in the Reds' system before making his LMB debut with Minatitlan in 2010. Although he was a three-year starter for Veracruz between 2012 and 2014 and a member of the city's last LMB championship team in 2012, Sosa has primarily been a backup catcher most of his career in both leagues. In five LMP seasons, he's batted .212 with five homers in 112 games.

With Sosa giving them an extra catcher on their roster, Mazatlan then shipped backstop Sebastian Valle to Obregon for the rights to infielder Isaac Paredes in a swap of higher-profile players. A 29-year-old Los Mochis product, Valle spent eight years in the Phillies system and showed some promise but had injury problems along the way. He also bounced between Pirates, Yankees and Mariners farm teams before making his Mexican League debut with Yucatan in 2017. He's no stranger to the LMP, however, having spent 12 winters in the loop and batting .236 with 62 homers and is considered a solid defender.

Humberto Sosa takes a swing

Paredes, a 21-year-old from Hermosillo, is currently on Detroit's 40-man roster after hitting .282 with 13 homers in the Eastern League for the Tigers AA Erie affiliate. He was hitless in six plate appearance for the big club during during training and expected to open the season with Detroit's longtime AAA affiliate Toledo of the International League. Primarily a shortstop but also a capable third baseman, Paredes has spent the past three winters with the Yaquis, batting .283 with seven homers in 105 games. He'll likely play second base for the Venados for manager Juan Jose Pacho.

The Venados staff was escorted out of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal in early April after the City claimed breach of contract by the team, specifically that the Venados denied the City ballpark access for Carnival or politically-related events while neither adequately supporting local basketball or boxing, maintaining the playing field nor delivering ballgame tickets to the elderly. According to Isac Chavez of El Sol de Mazatlan, the team filed an injunction against the City to allow them a return to the ballpark, but the injunction was denied. The City is also seeking the return of the facility's concessions business, the domain of Venados owner Jose Antonio Toledo and his family for 40 years.

CLEVELAND P OLIVER PEREZ DELIVERS 500 MEALS TO POOR IN CULIACAN

Oliver Perez handing out meals in Culiacan

Veteran major league pitcher Oliver Perez recently purchased 500 meals for people in the most marginalized neighborhoods of his hometown, Culiacan, Sinaloa. The Cleveland Indians reliever then literally went one step further by delivering the meals himself. Perez also sent several boxes of pizzas to medical personnel working the so-called “front lines” in response to the spread of the Wuhan virus in the city of 785,800 residents.

According to Puro Beisbol editor Francisco Ballesteros, Perez first bought the packaged meals and then traveled by car to various neighborhoods in Culiacan to personally deliver each of them to people who came up and requested one. He also made other contributions to the Iglesia del Carmen church in town. Ballesteros says this is not the first time the 38-year-old left-hander has made similar efforts. Other current or former MLB players from Mexico like Joakim Soria, Jose Urquidy, Jorge Cantu and Jaime Garcia have shown support for people affected by the Wuhan virus, which had been contracted by over 22,000 Mexicans as of last weekend, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths.

Perez is preparing for his 22nd season of professional baseball in a career that began after signing a free agent contract with the San Diego Padres in 1999. Then 17, Perez broke in that summer with the Padres' Arizona League team and posted a 1-2 record with three saves and a 5.08 ERA as a closer for the Rookie level team. He remained in San Diego's system (plus a short stint with Yucatan in the Mexican League in 2000) until he made his MLB debut at age 20 on June 16, 2002 when he made a home start against Seattle in an interleague contest. He had his rocky moments, allowing four hit and four walks in five innings, throwing a wild pitch and dishing up a two-run homer to Dan Wilson, but Perez also struck out seven Mariners and allowed just two runs to earn the 5-3 victory. He remained in San Diego for the rest of the season.

The 6'3” 225-pounder has certainly been well-traveled ever since, wearing the uniform of no fewer than eight teams over that time. He's had success as a starter, going 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA for Pittsburgh in 2004 and winning 25 games over two seasons (2007-08) for the New York Mets, leading the National League with 34 starts in the latter campaign. He signed a three-year, $36 million contact with the Mets after the 2008 campaign.

Perez delivers more than pitches

From that point, things went south for Perez, who was placed on the disabled list twice with tendinitis in his right leg in 2009 and refused minor league rehab assignments two times. When he did pitch for the Mets in 2009 and 2010, he only won three of 21 starts and allowed 85 earned runs in 110.1 innings. He was released following the 2010 season even though he had one year and $12 million remaining in his contract.

After spending the 2011 season with the Nationals' AA Harrisburg affiliate and going 3-5 with a 3.09 ERA in 15 starts, Perez returned to MLB with Seattle as a reliever in June 2012 after spending two months with AAA Tacoma. He spent two with the Mariners and did well as a setup man, posting a 3.16 ERA with four wins and two saves out of the bullpen in 93 trips from the bullpen. Perez moved to Arizona for the 20shington and Cleveland. Last year he made 67 appearances for the Indians, going 2-4 and earning a save while posting a 3.98 ERA for manager Terry Francona, striking out 48 batsmen and walking 12 in 40.2 homeinnings.

Following the shutdown of major league training camps and the delay of the regular season, Perez returned  to train with an eye on becoming the first Mexican to perform in 18 MLB seasons. He'll go into the 2020 campaign with a 72-91 career record and 4.38 ERA in 670 outings (including 197 starts). Perez has also pitched in six winterball seasons with the Culiacan Tomateros, with an overall 7-8 record and 3.54 ERA in 74 appearances, and took part in the 2014 and 2017 Caribbean Series (winning one game in each).

Culiacan blanks Mayos twice to take 2-0 LMP finals lead

Culiacan Tomateros P Anthony Vazquez

The Culiacan Tomateros earned a pair of 4-0 shutout wins in Navojoa over the weekend to take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the 2018 Mexican Pacific League championship series, with the next three games slated to take place at Estadio Tomateros.  The winner will advance to next month's Caribbean Series in Guadalajara.

The title series opened Saturday when Anthony Vazquez tossed a beautiful one-hitter for the visitors in their 4-0 conquest over the Mayos.  Joey Meneses belted a two-run homer off Mayos starter Barry Enright in the top of the first inning to give Vazquez a 2-0 cushion to start with.  After allowing a leadoff Alejandro Gonzalez single in the bottom of the first inning and a walk to Max Ramirez in the second, Vazquez retired the final 22 Navojoa batters of the game without allowing a baserunner after Ramirez' free pass (which was erased by Fernando Flores' 4-6-3 double-play ground out to end the frame.  Andy Wilkins stroked a two-run homer of his own in the third off Enright to put the Tomateros up 4-0, but the story of the game was Vazquez.  The 31-year-old lefty, who had a combined 12-10 record last summer with AAA Toledo and AA Erie in the Tigers' system, struck out seven while throwing strikes on 67 of his 95 pitches.

Game Two was more of the same on Sunday, with Culiacan winning another 4-0 contest while recording 11 hits for the second night in a row.  The hometown Mayos batters fared a little better by putting up seven hits for the game, but none of them resulted in a run as Navojoa ended up going scoreless over 18 innings in their two home games.  Edgar Gonzalez pitched six innings for the win, allowing four hits and striking out four.  Gonzalez and Mayos knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa locked up in a scoreless pitcher's duel through the first three innings until the dam burst on Gamboa in the top of the fourth, when Issmael Salas and Ronnier Mustelier each contributed two-run doubles to give Gonzalez all the runs he'd need.  Gamboa was tagged for the loss after lasting one out into the fifth inning, allowing those four runs on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts as a second consecutive sellout crowd of 11,500 at Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria looked on.

Mayos first-year skipper Willie Romero, a prime candidate for Manager of the Year,  now has a travel day to figure out how to jump-start his offense before the series resumes Tuesday in Culiacan.  The Mayos reached the finals last Wednesday by beating Jalisco, 4-2, to knock out the Charros in six games in their semifinal set.  Ramirez socked his fourth homer of that series with a two-run bomb to aid starter Jaime Lugo, who got the win.  The 25-year-old Lugo was primarily a reliever for his five-year Mexican League career until after being shuttled from Monclova to Puebla last summer, starting all 13 of his appearance for the Pericos and 5-2 with a 3.92 ERA and helping the defending champions reach their second straight title series before falling to Tijuana.  He went 5-3 for the Mayos during the LMP regular season with a 2.53 ERA.

However, pitching isn't the Mayos' primary concern going into Tuesday's Game Three in Culiacan.  Somehow, Romero and his coaches are going to have to figure out how to wake up his batting order after last weekend's slumber party and win at least twice to bring the series back to Navojoa.  For his part, Culiacan helmsman Roberto Vizcarra is halfway to his goal of winning a second consecutive pennant after winning the title last winter with Mexicali.


Roberto Kelly named manager in Monterrey, signs three-year contract

New Monterrey Sultanes manager Roberto Kelly

Former major league outfielder Roberto Kelly is the Monterrey Sultanes' new manager.  The well-traveled Panamanian played for eight teams in his 14-year MLB career (including seven seasons with the Yankees), compiling a career .290 batting average with 124 homers and 235 stolen bases, making two All-Star Game appearances and reaching the playoffs four times.  His most productive season came in 1991 with the Yanks when he belted 20 homers, stole 32 bases and drove in 69 runs to augment a .267 average.  Kelly topped the .300 mark five times.

Kelly is no stranger to Mexican baseball.  After his MLB days were over, he spend two summers with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, batting .334 with 19 homers in 2002 and .328 with 10 homers in 2003 before retiring as a player following that season at age 38.  He went on to spend several years in the Giants system, managing their Class A Augusta team in the South Atlantic League between 2005 and 2007.  He earned Manager of the Year honors in 2006 after leading the GreenJackets to a Sally League-best 92-47 record and a berth in the championship series.  He was brought up to San Francisco in 2008 and spent nine seasons coaching under manager Bob Brenly as the Giants won three World Series titles.  He was replaced as third base coach by Phil Nevin after the 2016 season.

The Sultanes' hiring of Kelly highlights an offseason during which they thought they had ex-MLB catcher Miguel Ojeda lined up to manage the team in 2018, only to have Ojeda back out to take a similar position with a Durango club that endured endless problems during their first season in the LMB last summer.  Although it was first thought that Ojeda would manage the Generales this summer, indications are that he may instead end up working in the front office if that team's ownership situation is ever resolved.  While Monterrey doesn't have nearly the off-field issues that the Generales do, they are coming off a campaign in which they were eliminated in the playoffs by Tijuana a second straight time after finishing second to the Toros in the LMB North during the regular season with a 68-43 record under manager Felix Fermin, who was not rehired.  Kelly's deal is for three years, a remarkable figure in a league with almost manic levels of managerial turnover.

One of the Sultanes' shortcomings was on the basepaths, where they finished 14th in the Liga in stolen bases with 55 swipes.  That should change under Kelly, who gained notice while managing in Augusta for his team's aggressive baserunning tactics as the GreenJackets stole 624 bases in three years while putting together an aggregate 258-157 record.

With Kelly's hiring in Monterrey and Tim Johnson being tabbed as the new manager in Quintana Roo (more on that next week), that leaves the Saltillo Saraperos and Tabasco Olmecas as the remaining Mexican League teams in search of new pilots, although the perpetually uncertain situation in Durango regarding Ojeda (who is part of a group bidding to buy the team from owner Virgilio Ruiz) could make that three clubs.


MLB bans scouts from working for Mexican League teams

P Luis Heredia during his Pirates days

The fallout over the Pittsburgh Pirates' firing of their Latin America scouting director, Rene Gayo, after he reportedly gained a personal financial windfall in the Bucs' 2010 signing of Mazatlan teen pitching prospect Luis Heredia for a reported $2.6 million, has led to Major League Baseball issuing a decree that scouts working for MLB organizations will not be allowed to simultaneously work for Mexican League franchises. 

Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City's Proceso writes that MLB's ruling comes at the behest of new Mexican League president Javier Salinas during last month's winter meetings in Orlando, according to a claim Salinas made in an interview.  "We told MLB that we want to prohibit LMB executives from participating as scouts because there is a conflict of interest," says Salinas.  "Those scouts would not only be able to work for teams of the LMB, but for any league in the world."  The former Liga MX soccer commercial and marketing director, who was working for MedioTiempo website when he was picked to succeed Plinio Escalante as LMB presidente last year, added that "you can't work buying and selling at the same time because there is no clarity when you are judge and party."

The Miami-born Gayo spent five years as the Cleveland Indians' Latin America scouting director before being hired by Pittsburgh in 2004 to fill a similar position that had been vacant for five years.  Among his signings over the years for both teams were Danys Baez, Jhonny Peralta, Starling Marte and Willy Taveras (who now plays for Monclova).  He was fired by the Pirates in November after an MLB investigation found that Gayo received a kickback from the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila (who owned Heredia's LMB rights, which MLB organizations officially recognize) when Heredia signed his 2010 deal with the Bucs.  Team owner Jose Antonio Mansur, who reportedly owns 16 mansions and is a close friend of imprisoned former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, moved the franchise to Nuevo Laredo last fall.  Mansur has owned Mexican League teams in Aguascalientes, Poza Rica and Cancun as well as Veracruz and now Nuevo Laredo over the years.  He was named Executive of the Year in 2012 when Veracruz won the pennant under current Tijuana manager Pedro Mere, but Mansur's teams have typically not seen success either in the standings or at the box office.

Interestingly, MLB's edict does not extend to Mexican Pacific League teams like the Mazatlan Venados, whose general manager, Jesus "Chino" Valdez, is a Heredia family friend, also works as a Pirates scout and may have been key in Heredia's signing with Pittsburgh (although there have never been rumors of kickbacks to Valdez).  Heredia, who is now 23, was released by the Pirates after last season and is once again a free agent after turning in a 26-26 record with a 3.88 ERA over seven years in the Pittsburgh organization.  It was thought he might pitch for the Venados this season, but the 6'5" righty decided to rest for the winter instead while seeking employment for the coming season after being a Baseball America Top 100 prospect as recently as 2013.  Mansur and the Tecolotes still own his LMB rights.

LMB: Durango out for '18, Rojos del Aguila to Nuevo Laredo

At the Mexican League's Assembly of Presidents meeting last Wednesday in Monterrey, decisions were made regarding two of the LMB's 16 franchises for the 2018 season.  The presidents decided to shut down the Durango Generales for the 2018 season to allow the franchise to find more solid financing while the long-rumored move of the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila to Nuevo Laredo was approved.

The Generales went through a trying first year in Durango after the Reynosa Broncos landed there following a disastrous 2016 in the city on the Texas border.  Renovations to Durango's 9,000-seat Estadio Francisco Villa went a month into the 2017 schedule, causing the Generales to play their first 27 games on the road before they finally played a May 2 home opener against Union Laguna, losing 9-1 to the Vaqueros.  That defeat extended a Generales losing streak that eventually reached 14 games after a surprisingly competitive start that briefly captured the hearts of Mexican baseball fans.

The team struggled the rest of the season, with players having to wait weeks for paychecks at times, LMB batting champion Yadir Drake leaving for Japan and infielder Daniel Mayora, whose 35-game hitting streak came within one game of matching the LMB single-season record, being sent to Monterrey for some badly-needed cash.  The Generales finished the campaign with a 43-66 record to come in last in the Liga's North Division.  Durango fans gave the beleaguered club unexpectedly decent support with an average attendance of 4,094 over 44 home games, good for seventh in the loop.  Even so, the league's presidents decided that the franchise should take next year off to allow undercapitalized owner Virgilio Ruiz to find investors.

That decision leaves the LMB at 15 teams for 2018, which creates a problem with scheduling as there would always be at least one team not playing at any given time.  There has been talk that another team would be taking next year off, with Union Laguna receiving much mention as the prime candidate.  The Vaqueros are owned by the Arellano brothers, who also operate the Yucatan Leones, but the team is now up for sale after a rocky 2016 during which RBI champion Ricky Alvarez was traded to Yucatan while the Vaqueros were fighting for a playoff berth.  The deal enraged fans in Torreon and Gomez Palacio and attendance dropped to 4,396 per opening after the Vaqueros had been drawing over 5,000 a night.  However, as Puro Beisbol columnist Hector Bencomo reports,  Durango governor Jose Rosas Aispuro is not accepting the LMB's decision, stating that the Liga's problems with the Generales lie with Virgilio Ruiz and not the state government, and that "we will look for someone who can sponsor and lead the project, but the professional team will stay in Durango...there is no doubt about it."

Then there are the Rojos del Aguila of Veracruz.  The port city has seen several teams come and go over the past century since the Aguila oil company formed its first team in 1903.  While Veracruz has been home to six Mexican League pennant-winners since 1937 (most recently in 2012, when current Tijuana skipper Pedro Mere was at the helm), attendance at Rojos del Aguila games has been up and down over the years and the team averaged just 2,661 fans per game at Estadio Universitario Beto Avila in 2017, 13th in the league.  In addition, the state government subsidies the team had been receiving for years dried up after Javier Duarte was driven out of the governor's office for alleged corruption and subsequently jailed after being captured in Guatemala earlier this year.  Veracruz hosted Leon in a one-game playoff qualifier on August 11, drawing 4,279 in what has turned out to be the last MLB contest played in the city.  For now.

The team, owned by Jose Antonio Mansur (although some have challenged that status), will play next year in the 12,000-seat Estadio Nuevo Laredo, which was completed in 2008 to make it one of the LMB's newer ballparks.  The old Tecolotes were one of the Liga's strongest teams in the 1980's and 1990's, winning the 1989 pennant amid a run in which the Tecos appeared in five Serie del Rey between 1985 and 1993.  A number of Mexican League legends like Nelson Barrera, Alejandro Ortiz, Carlos Soto and minor league baseball's all-time home run leader, Andres Mora.  However, that incarnation of the team sat out the 2011 season before being moved to Carmen the following year.  Ironically, the Carmen team lasted five years before the Delfines were shifted to Durango last winer (see above for how that went).

The Tecos were the first professional baseball franchise to split its home games between cities in two different countries between 1985 and 2003, going back and forth between Nuevo Laredo's Parque La Junta and West Martin Field in Laredo, Texas.  A very good book by Alan Klein on that experiment, "Baseball on the Border," was published in 1997.  Although the "new" Dos Laredos Tecos will play at Estadio Nuevo Laredo, a facility that has received criticism because it sits miles west of the city, the team hopes to play at least a few games across the Rio Grande in Laredo's 6,000-seat Uni-Trade Stadium, which was completed in 2012.  A team called the Laredo Lemurs of the independent American Association played there for five seasons, drawing just over 3,800 fans per game in 2012 but experiencing declining attendance annually until fewer than a thousand attendees pero opening showed up in 2016.  The Lemurs shut down this past May after an acrimonious split among their three owners.

BBM 2017 Summer Awards: Pitcher of the Year

Veracruz Rojos del Aguila pitcher Nestor Molina

There were a number of strong pitching performances in the Mexican League during the 2017 season.  Yucatan's Jose Samayoa was a surprising 11-2 while finishing second with a 2.29 ERA, Tijuana's Carlos Hernandez (10-2, 2.67) and Miguel Pena (11-2, 2.77) led the circuit's top mound staff while 2016 Pitcher of the Year, Yoanner Negrin of Yucatan (11-4, 2.93), had a second straight standout season.  However, the choice for our 2017 Summer Bammy Pitcher of the Year Award came down to two hurlers.

Mexico City's Octavio Acosta, who won only a combined three of eight decisions over the previous two campaigns for Oaxaca in 2015 and the Diablos Rojos, turned in a career year this summer.  The onetime Mets minor leaguer led the league in wins while posting a superb 14-1 record for a team that missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, finished tenth with a 2.99 ERA and registered 102 strikeouts to come in sixth in that category.  The Guasave native's lone loss in 2017 came back on May 21, when defending champion Puebla topped Acosta and the Red Devils, 7-4, at Estadio Fray Nano in the capital city.  It was a career year for the 27-year-old righty, but not quite enough to edge out an even more spectacular season-long performance by Veracruz ace Nestor Molina.

Like Acosta, not much was expected from Molina when the 2017 campaign dawned.  The Valencia, Venezuela product had turned in a combined 7-4 record for Oaxaca and Tabasco with a 4.94 ERA last year before going 2-0 and 2.95 in a late-season, four-game stint with the Braves' AA Eastern League affiliate Richmond under manager Miguel Ojeda, who ironically served as Acosta's skipper this year in Mexico City.  Although he had his moments in 2016 (winning seven games for either the Guerreros or Olmecas in one season is no mean feat), nothing prepared the Mexican League for what was to come this season.

Pitching for one of the Liga's most underpowered lineups, Molina had to bring his "A" game every five nights and while he faded a bit in the late going, he was otherwise up to the task.  After showing an 0-1 record following his second start on April 8, Molina would not lose a second game until dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker to Tabasco on July 27 in Villahermosa.  Over the 15 weeks between defeats, the 6'1" right-hander won eleven straight decisions and lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.41 after tossing six scoreless innings in Tabasco during a 3-2 win.

Although only two of his final five starts in the regular season could be considered "quality," Molina finished with a league-leading 1.89 ERA and was tied for second in wins with Aguascalientes starter Yohan Flande with a 12-3 record.  Molina also led the LMB with a 1.08 WHIP, his 124 strikeouts were second to Monclova's Josh Lowey's 148 while his three complete games topped the loop.

One cursory glance at Veracruz' everyday lineup might bring a sense of wonder that they were able to qualify for the postseason, even if it was a single play-in game home loss on August 11 to Walter Silva and fifth-place Leon in the weaker LMB South.  Molina was not one of the seven Rojos del Aguila pitchers sent to the mound in that contest by manager Eddy Castro, who surprised some by surviving the entire season at the helm in Veracruz (where in-season firings had become as common as shrimpboats in the port city's harbor).  The Eagle Reds finished fourth in the LMB South with a 48-57 record.  While that may be the definition of backing into the playoffs, they wouldn't have had a sniff of playing beyond the regular season without Molina.

With all due respect to Octavio Acosta, whose great year while backed by one of the the Liga's top offenses (the Diablos posted a team .301 batting average), Molina was performing miracles with a lineup that came in 15th with a .271 average and finished near the bottom in nearly all offensive categories.  Whether the Rojos del Aguila remain in Veracruz for 2018 or move to the Texas border, Nestor Molina should give his team a chance to win no matter where they're playing or who's in the field behind him.

BBM PITCHER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS
Summer 2010    Bobby Cramer, Quintana Roo
Winter 2010-11  Jose Silva, Culiacan
Summer 2011    Francisco Campos, Campeche
Winter 2015-16  Javier Solano, Mexicali
Summer 2016    Yoanner Negrin, Yucatan
Winter 2016-17  Jake Sanchez, Mexicali
Summer 2017    Nestor Molina, Veracruz

LMB regular season ends, Bravos at Veracruz for qualifier

2017 LMB batting champion Yadir "El Comandante" Drake

The Mexican League's 2017 regular season came to a close Wednesday and when the dust settled on the schedule, the bedraggled Leon Bravos were three games behind the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, who finished fourth in the LMB's South Division, triggering a wild card qualifying game for the playoffs.  Leon came in at 45-60 while Veracruz was 48-57.  Liga rules state that whenever a fifth-place team finishes within three games or less behind the fourth-place team, a single game will be played to determine which team advances to the division semifinals.  Thus, the Red Eagles will host the Bravos Friday night at Estadio Universitario Beto Avila for the right to play LMB South-leading Yucatan in the first round, which starts Sunday.

The other three series are set in stone.  In the LMB North, the Aguascalientes Rieleros were able to hold off Union Laguna for fourth place by three-and-a-half games, meaning the Railroaders will travel to Tijuana for Sunday's opener against division kingpin Toros.  Monterrey came in second by a half-game over Monclova during the regular season, meaning the Sultanes will host the Acereros in Sunday's Game 1 of their best-of-seven opening round series.  Meanwhile, in the South, defending champion Puebla finished second and will welcome Quintana Roo to Estadio Hermanos Serdan Sunday for the inaugural game of their series.

After some initial confusion, former Durango outfielder Yadir Drake was awarded the batting title after batting .385 for the Generales prior to leaving for Japan in late June to play for the Nippon Ham Fighters.  The Cuban exile is finding the going tougher in the Pacific League, hitting just .185 with no homers and 2 RBIs after 18 games.  The LMB office initially gave the batting crown to Drake's former Durango teammate, Daniel Mayora, who hit .375 for both the Generales and Monterrey through his last game on July 20 (subsequent absence still unexplained), including a 35-game hit streak which fell one shy of the regular season record.  Once someone at the Liga determined that Drake's 300 plate appearances barely met the requirement of 299.7 plate appearances for the batting title, a correction was made and Drake's name was re-entered at the top of the list and Mayora's bumped to second.

No controversy arose in any other statistical category.  Saltillo's Rainel Rosario's breakthrough season, similar to fellow Dominican Diory Hernandez' year in 2016, concluded with a Liga-high 26 homers, two more than Corey Brown's 24 dingers for Tijuana.  Rosario, who hit .331, finished with 104 RBIs to come in second to Ricky Alvarez of Yucatan's Ricky Alvarez' 105.  Alvarez drove in two runs in the Leones' season finale against Quintana Roo to slip past Rosario and claim leadership of a category he'd led most of the season.  Mexico City infielder Ramon Urias led the circuit with 91 runs scored, two more than Justin Greene of Monclova (by way of Saltillo).  Greene, by the way, easily won the stolen bases title with a combined 51 swipes for the Saraperos and Acereros.  Monterrey's Chris Roberson was tops in doubles with 35 while Yosmany Guerra of Campeche led with 12 triples.

Nestor Molina, who finished 12-3 for Veracruz, had the lowest ERA among LMB starting pitchers with a 1.89 mark.  Molina allowed 13 earned runs in 31 innings over his last five starts after his ERA had been just 1.41 heading into a July 13 start against Monterrey.  Mexico City's Octavio Acosta, who began the year with a 3-5 record and 6.84 ERA in two previous Liga campaigns, ended up with a 14-1 record for the Diablos Rojos to lead the loop in wins, two more than Molina and Yohan Flande of Aguascalientes.  Acosta and Molina are the two top candidates for Pitcher of the Year.  While 2015 POY Josh Lowey of Monclova wasn't as dominant as he was in 2016 before heading off to South Korea in midseason, he did win his second consecutive strikeout title with 146 ponches in 127 innings.  Lowey finished 8-5 while his ERA was 2.69 (it was 1.65 last year), but the Floridian put together a string of eight strong starts to bring his ERA down from 4.14 in mid-June.  He'll likely be a factor in the postseason for the Steelers.

Among relievers, Monclova closer Chad Gaudin recorded seven saves in his last ten outings to finish with 29, one more than Tijuana's Jason Urquidez and Wirfin Obispo of Monterrey.  Gaudin let in seven earned runs over 9.1 innings for an ERA of 6.75 in that timespan, however, and will need to pick things up in the postseason, starting with the Acereros-Sultanes series.  In other pitching categories, Molina's 152.2 innings, 1.08 WHIP, 3 complete games and 23 starts (tied with Flande) were all most in the LMB, 2016 Pitcher of the Year Yoanner Negrin of Yucatan led with two shutouts, Tijuana middleman Juan Sandoval easily had the most holds with 29.  After putting that last sentence together, it'll be tough to not choose Molina as POY for this summer's BBM Awards even though Acosta lost only one of 15 decisions for a Mexico City team that failed to qualify for the playoffs a second consecutive season after 33 straight postseason appearances.

Note: Leon second baseman Carlos Valencia, a 17-year veteran who has played in several All-Star Games (winning the All-Star MVP trophy in 2009), was suspended for 100 games by the Liga after testing positive for amphetamines a second time in the past year.  The 37-year-old Valencia was suspended the first 50 games of the 2017 season and went on to hit .255 with 5 homers over the 45 games he did play.  For his Mexican League career, he has 237 homers and 951 RBIs in 1,510 games.  North American outfielder Jason Pridie of Puebla was suspended 50 games after testing positive for oxycodone.  Pridie, an All-Star in three leagues before moving south of the border, went 1-for-6 in two May games for the Pericos before being released one week after the team signed him as a free agent.

LMB to play two seasons from April to November in 2018

LMB Assembly (with Javier Salinas on microphone)

The Mexican League has formally announced that it will be playing two shorter seasons during the 2018 calendar year, beginning in April and ending in November.  The announcement came at the Liga's Assembly of Presidents meeting Thursday in Mexico City. The plan is for two separate 66-game regular season schedules with playoffs, bridged by a one-week rest in July during which the LMB's All-Star Game (there'll be just one of those) is played.

While the move, approximating the country's popular Liga MX soccer circuit's Apertura and Clausura tournaments (which drew crowds of about 27,000 per match for its 2016-17 seasons), represents a radical departure from baseball orthodoxy, Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Connor was in attendance at Thursday's meeting and endorsed the move.  O'Connor, you may recall, was compelled to call an emergency meeting of LMB teams in February when internecine squabbling threatened to tear the 16 teams into two leagues or cancel the 2017 season altogether.  Instead of two leagues, now we'll see two seasons for 2018.

Currently, the Liga plays a single 112-game regular season schedule from early April to mid-August, followed by a three-tiered, eight-team playoff lasting about a month into mid-September.  The new format will include two 66-game regular seasons followed by playoffs, with the LMB's "Apertura" lasting from April to July and their "Clausura" running from August into November.  The notion of a two-season format was floated last month in a reference made by incoming league president Javier Salinas, whose background has been (not so ironically, apparently) entirely as a Liga MX marketing executive.  There was no word whether Salinas was going to divide the LMB into eight-team Premier and First Divisions with promotion/relegation playoffs for 2018, but it's only July.

Salinas, who will replace retiring LMB president Plinio Escalante at the conclusion of the current season and has been serving as a de facto co-president, addressed the addition of 20 games and a separate playoff to a league in which half its teams are teetering on economic collapse.  "The cost is relative," he said.  "You can raise or lower it.  If you qualify for the playoffs, it decreases.  If you manage your team better, the same. Each team is independent and will have the economic strategy that suits them best."  Salinas and the LMB team presidents will be relying on added sponsorships next season to help offset the added expenses accrued from lengthening the overall season two months for teams like the Tabasco Olmecas, who had 178 warm bodies rattling around Estadio Centenario 27 de Febrero for a game against Yucatan earlier this month, and the Durango Generales, who've had some players refusing to play because they hadn't been paid in weeks.

Prior to Thursday's press conference from the Assembly meeting, the two-season proposal had drawn almost universal skepticism from Mexican baseball's print commentators, but the move may ultimately draw the strongest reaction from the Mexican Pacific League.  While the LMB has eleven teams drawing fewer than 5,000 fans per night (seven clubs are bringing in fewer than 3,000 per opening), the MexPac has built itself into a juggernaut with a leaguewide attendance average of just under 10,000 per game, a figure that dwarfs every league in organized Minor League Baseball.  The LMP season traditionally opens in mid-October, meaning the LMB's Clausura will overlap the MexPac schedule by about a month.  

According to Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso, the LMB will require players to sign contracts for both seasons, thus cutting the player pool for the MexPac.  Thus far, LMP president Omar Canizales has been silent on this topic, but it's expected by some that his league will respond by opening their rosters to more imported talent from the United States to fill the void while the Liga plays out its Clausura season.  In effect, the LMB's lengthening of its schedule is a declaration of war on the LMP, which has in the recent past explored expansion into Liga cities like Monterrey, Tijuana and even Mexico City. 

Whatever happens, the LMB will likely have the backing of Major League Baseball and commissioner Rob Manfred, which recently gave the Liga their version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval despite the financial mess many Mexican League teams are in.  According to Pereyra, three teams (Durango, Leon and Saltillo) each owe the Liga MX$15 million in assessments for 2017, with Leon owner Arturo Blanco owing another 900 thousand pesos toward the purchase price of the former Reynosa Broncos, while several other LMB franchises owe MX$2.5 million to the league office. 

One of those teams, the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, are looking to move, possibly to Nuevo Laredo. The Eagles are currently eleventh in the LMB attendance derby with a per-game average of 2,647. Team president Jose Antonio Mansur backtracked a bit by later stating he would keep the team in the port city if attendance improves over the rest of the current season, during which the 40-49 Rojos del Aguila have been a playoff contender in the weak South Division.  

The club has been a past recipient of government subsidies to remain afloat, a common occurance with several LMB franchises.  However, the exiled ex-State of Veracruz governor responsible for recent largesse, Javier Duarte, was arrested outside the country in April after a six-month manhunt and is facing charges of pilfering millions of dollars from public coffers, as are many of his associates.  Duarte was extradited from Guatemala City earlier this week.  In all, eight former Mexican governors have been indicted for similar crimes and their successors have typically reined in past subsidies to sports teams that have relied on them to meet payroll, among other expenses.

In all, the LMB's break from baseball tradition would be fascinating to observe, let alone report on, under any circumstance.  That the Liga is doing so amid internal financial peril to so many of its teams accentuates how badly Salinas and the owners will need this to work in order to bring fans in through the gates and sponsorship pesos to team bank accounts.  We'll be watching.

P.S.  The LMB also announced the return of its Mexican Winter League for a third season, opening on October 20.  The six-team LIM, considered Class A in the country's baseball system, is a prospect-oriented circuit that allows only Mexican-born players.  It's presumed the loop will play a single-season schedule.