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M e x i c o
Monday,
September 6, 2021
YUCATAN,
TIJUANA TO MEET IN 2021 SERIE DEL REY
The Yucatan Leones and Tijuana Toros
wrapped up their respective Mexican League Division Championship Series
last
week and will clash in Game One of the Serie del Rey Monday night in
Tijuana.
The Leones defeated Mexico City in five games the LMB South title while
the
Toros required six games to dispatch Guadalajara in the LMB North
finals. Both
the Diablos Rojos and Mariachis finished first in their respective
divisions
during the regular season.
The following is a wrap of last
week's Liga playoff games:
YUCATAN
DEFEATED MEXICO CITY, 4 GAMES TO 1
After the Leones won the first two
games of the LMB South Championship Series in Mexico City, both teams
moved to
Merida for the next three contests, starting with last Monday's 5-3
Yucatan win
over the Diablos. Mexico City drew initial blood in the top of the
first inning
when Jesus Fabela scored from third on Japhet Amador's bases-loaded,
6-4-3
double play grounder. Yucatan answered in the bottom of the frame with
Yadir
Drake launching a two-run homer to put the hosts up 2-1. Another
longball by
Leones outfielder Jose Juan Aguilar in the bottom of the second made it
a 3-1
contest and Yucatan maintained their advatange the rest of the night.
Drake
ended the game batting 3-for-4 in support of starter Jake Thompson, who
let in
two runs on three hits over six innings. Diablos opener Luis Rodiguez
took the
loss after allowing four runs in five innings.
Mexico City won their only game of
the series, 6-4, last Tuesday. The Leones held a 3-2 lead after six
innings
before the Diablos posted two runs in the top of the seventh, including
a
Fabela RBI single, and two more tallies in the eighth when Yucatan
reliever
Rafael Ordaz came in for Enrique Burgos with the bases loaded and
promptly
plunked Fabela to push across one run and walked Juan Carlos Gamboa to
score
another, ending Ordaz' night. Luis Juarez slammed a solo homer in the
bottom of
the ninth but the Leones drew no closer. Yangervis Solarte belted a
pair of
roundtrippers for the winners (both off Yucatan starter Casey Harman)
while
Sebastian Valle and Walter Ibarra socked solo homers for the Lions.
Yucatan ended the series at home
last Wednesday with a 9-7 triumph in comeback fashion. The Leones were
up 6-4
going into the top of the eighth, when Mexico City took the lead with
three
runs, including a single by Gamboa that sent Julian Ornelas home.
Juarez
reversed the Red Devils' 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth by
rocking his
second homer of the night (and third in two games), a three-run blast
over the
left-field wall on Roberto Osuna's second pitch of the game. It was
left to
Burgos to record a 1-2-3 ninth and whiff Eduardo Revilla swinging for
the final
out to end the contest and the series. Juarez, who hit .550 for the
series,
went 3-for-3 with three runs and four RBIs for the LMB South champs
while
Gamboa was 3-for-5 with a pair of ribbies.
TIJUANA
DEFEATED GUADALAJARA, 4 GAMES TO 2
Like Yucatan, Tijuana opened the LMB
North Championship Series with two wins but after losing two of three
games at
home, the Toros had to wait until Friday's Game Six victory in
Guadalajara to
put the Mariachis away and advance to the Serie del Rey.
Guadalajara won
last Monday's contest, 4-3, in TJ's Estadio Nacional. The game was tied
3-3 in
the top of the ninth before the Mariachis scored the go-ahead run off
Toros
closer Fernando Rodney without a hit: Issmael Salas's grounder to third
was
badly mishandled by Luis Alfonso Cruz, with Salas advancing to third on
the
play and later scoring on a Luis Sardinas sacrifice fly. Fernando Cruz
tossed a
scoreless ninth for the win. Carlos Mendivil clubbed a two-run homer
for
Guadalajara and added an RBI single while Gabriel Gutierrez went deep
for the
Toros.
Last Tuesday, the Toros topped
Guadalajara, 7-3, to come within a game of clinching the series. In the
bottom
of the first, TJ manufactured an old-school run when Isaac Rodriguez
singled,
moved to second on a Junior Lake safety, stole third and then scored
when
Mariachis rightfielder Anthony Garcia couldn't hang on to a Leandro
Castro fly
ball. However, it was Efren Navarro's three-run double off Guadalajara
starter
Zack Dodson in the bottom of the third to give Tijuana a 4-0 that
proved the decisive
blow. Rodriguez went 2-for-5 on the night with a pair of runs while the
Mariachis' LMB bat champ Leo Heras was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer.
Carlos
Hernandez got the win for the Toros by tossing five innings of two-run
ball and
Rodney earned his third save of the series. Dodson absorbed the loss.
The Mariachis came back Wednesday to
make it two road wins in three games, pounding Tijuana, 12-5. Holding a
4-2
lead at the time, Guadalajara put together an eight-run fifth to chase
Toros
starter Teddy Stankiewicz. Sardinas clubbed a two-run homer for the
visitors
while reliever Jose Samayoa's throwing error on a Beau Amaral
comebacker on the
mound resulted in two more Mariachis scores. Sardinas posted a 3-for-5
night
with two homers, four RBIs and three runs scored for the winners. Edson
Garcia
homered for Tijuana, who drew an announced 44,719 for their three home
games.
After losing the series opener in Guadalajara, LMB wins champion Masaru
Nakamura got the win with six innings of work, allowing two runs on
five hits
with five strikeouts.
After the series moved back to
Guadalajara for Game Six, Tijuana eliminated the Mariachis on Friday by
a 5-4
count. Heras' three-run homer off Toros starter Joe Van Meter in the
bottom of
the fourth gave Guadalajara a 3-0 lead, but TJ came back to score four
times in
the top of the fifth, with Cruz busting a two-run homer and Rodriguez
punching
a run-scoring single. Ricky Alvarez gave the Toros a 5-3 lead with an
RBI
singleton in the top of the ninth and while Christian Ibarra's double
in the
bottom of the ninth off Rodney brought Heras in to bring the Mariachis
within a
run, but after Rodney walked Mendivil to put runners on first and
second, he
induced Amaral to hit a grounder to Daniel Castro for a game-ending
double play,
escaping with his fourth save of the series and Tijuana advancing to
the
finals.
2021
SERIE
DEL REY Schedule
Game
1:
Monday, September 6 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana
Game
2:
Tuesday, September 7 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana
Game
3:
Thursday, September 9 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan
Game
4:
Friday, September 10 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan
Game
5:
Saturday, September 11 (7:00PM EDT) Tijuana at Yucatan*
Game
6:
Monday, September 13 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana*
Game
7:
Tuesday, September 14 (10:05PM EDT) Yucatan at Tijuana*
*-If
necessary
MEX
PAC CAMPS OPEN, FIVE IMPORTS ALLOWED PER TEAM
As the Mexican League season enters
its final days, training camps for Mexican Pacific League teams have
begun
opening. Sessions for players and coaches began last Thursday in Los
Mochis,
Hermosillo, Navojoa and Culiacan. All ten Mex Pac teams should have
their camps
running at full speed by the end of the week in preparation for the
2021-22
regular season, which opens with three games on Tuesday, October 5 when
Mazatlan plays at Culiacan, Mexicali visits Hermosillo and Monterrey
travels to
Guadalajara to take on the Jalisco Charros (who may be under new
ownership by
then)
This season, the LMP's ten clubs
will be allowed to carry five foreigners on their active rosters after
teams
were limited to just three imports each as the pandemic made travel
across the
border a near impossibility. After an Assembly of Presidents meeting
this
summer, the league office issued a statement that read in part, “By a
majority
of votes, the number of imported players was made official. Each team
may have
up to five foreigners on its active roster, maintaining the inactive
periods of
5 days for position players and 10 days for pitchers.” During the
2018-19
campaign, teams were allowed twelve imports in the first half and eight
imports
for the second half.
One of those imports will be
infielder Addison Russell, a former National League All-Star who was a
member
of the Chicago Cubs' 2016 World Series championship team. After
spending part
of the 2020 season with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball
Organization,
where he hit .254 with two homers and 31 RBIs over 65 games, Russell
spent this
summer in the Mexican League with the Monclova Acereros. Playing
primarily at third
base for the defending champions, the Florida native hit .318 with
eight
longballs and 47 RBIs in 66 games, leading the Steelers in batting and
ribbies
and finishing tied for second in homers. It's not known where
Hermosillo
manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama second baseman, will place
Russell
in the Naranjeros infield.
Another import with big league due
to make his LMP debut is hulking designated hitter Kennys Vargas, a
Puerto Rico
native who'll toil for the Los Mochis Caneros this winter. The 6'5”
290-pound
Vargas spent parts of four seasons with the Minnesota Twins between
2014 and
2017, hitting an aggregate .251 with 3 homers and 116 RBIs over 116
games.
After belting 21 homers for the Twins' AAA Rochester affiliate in 2018,
Vargas
spent 2019 in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines and batted .179 with a
homer
and six RBIs in 35 NPB games while also hitting .267 for the Marines'
Eastern
League farm team. This summer, Vargas played his first season in the
Mexican
League for Saltillo and had a solid campaign for the Saraperos with a
.318
average, finishing third in homers with 18 while playing all 66 regular
season
games. There is concern that Vargas will only play the first month of
the LMP
season with the Caneros before heading home to Puerto Rico, where he's
played
winterball for Mayaguez. The Roberto Clemente League starts its
schedule later
than the Mex Pac.
U-23
WORLD CUP, CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULES RELEASED
The full schedules have been
released for both the 2021 WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup and the
2022
Caribbean Series tournaments.
The 12-team U-23 Baseball World Cup
in Mexico will open Thursday, September 23 with tripleheaders in both
Obregon
and Hermosillo and conclude with the Gold and Bronze medal games on
Saturday,
October 2 in Hermosillo.
Group A nations in the opening round
at Estadio Yaquis in Obregon include Cuba, the Czech Republic, the
Dominican
Republic, Germany, Taiwan and host Mexico. Group B teams in
Hermosillo's
Estadio Sonora are Colombia, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, South
Korea
and Venezuela. The top three finishers in each Group will advance to
the Super
Round in Hermosillo while the bottom three seeds will be relegated to
Obregon
for the Consolation Round, both beginning on Wednesday, September 29.
Tripleheaders will be played
throughout the World Cup except for the final day. Games at both venues
are
scheduled for 10:30AM, 3:00PM and 7:30PM local time from September 23
through
October 1 (with a rest day set for September 28). The Bronze Medal game
on
October 2 in Hermosillo begins at 1:00PM with a 7:30PM start for the
Gold Medal
game.
The WBSC previously ruled to expand
the age category for the U-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico to include
players
up to the age of 24. Previous tourneys have included young professional
players
from the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional
Baseball League
(CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Major League Baseball (MLB),
Minor
League Baseball (MiLB), Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Nicaraguan
Professional
Baseball League (LNBP), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and other
leagues
around the world.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean
Professional Baseball Confederation has released the schedule for the
2022
Caribbean Series to be played in the Dominican Republic at Santo
Domingo's
Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal. Built in 1955 and renovated in 2007,
the
14,469-seat ballpark serves as home for both the Licey Tigres and
Escogido
Leones of the Liga Dominicana and will be hosting its ninth Serie
del Caribe
since 1972.
As with the U-23 Baseball World Cup
in Sonora, the Caribbean Series will feature tripleheaders throughout
the
five-day opening round-robin portion of the tournament between January
28 and
February 1, with games scheduled for 10:30AM, 3:00PM and 8:00PM (as per
tradition, the host LiDom champions will play in every nightcap). A
doubleheader with games at 3:00PM and 8:00PM is set for the February 2
semifinals while first pitch for the February 3 championship game will
take
place at 7:00PM. All times are local.
The same six nations represented in 2020 (San Juan) and 2021 (Mazatlan) will be sending their heavily-reinforced national champions to Santo Domingo: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The host Dominicans are seeking their 22nd Serie del Caribe title, Puerto Rico is looking for number 17 and the Mexican Pacific League will be hoping for a tenth title. Venezuela has seven championships, Panama has won the event twice and Colombia's pennant-winner will try to win that country's first game.