Serie Del Caribe 2018
November 3, 2017 by Monte Cely · Leave a Comment
November 3 – there’s no need for “baseball withdrawal” after an exciting World Series in the U.S. — there’s plenty of baseball action south of the border. Here are some highlights from the leagues playing in South America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
CUBA– Serie Nacional 57 second-half action is underway. Defending champs Granma, along with Artemisa, won their wild-card rounds and join Industriales, Las Tunas, Matanzas, and Pinar del Rio in second-half action. Each of the advancing six teams selected five refuerzos (reinforcements) from the rosters of the teams that were eliminated. Slugging DH/1B Frederich Cepeda was drafted by Pinar del Rio.
Current SN57 standings for the second half are as follows (remember that first-half W/L results carry over to the second half):
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Industriales | 34 | 16 | — |
| Las Tunas | 33 | 16 | 0.5 |
| Granma | 32 | 19 | 2.5 |
| Matanzas | 31 | 19 | 3.0 |
| Pinar del Rio | 29 | 22 | 5.5 |
| Artemisa | 27 | 24 | 7.5 |
Granma is riding a 12-game winning streak that has jumped them up to third place currently. Pinar del Rio has won only three of their last ten.
VENEZUELA
Navegantes de Magallanes are celebrating their 100th anniversary this season. Venezuelans around the baseball world are reveling in the success of countryman Jose Altuve (el Astroboy) in the World Series.
Current Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional (LVBP) standings are:
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Tigres de Aragua | 16 | 4 | — |
| Aguilas del Zulia | 10 | 9 | 5.5 |
| Leones de Caracas | 10 | 10 | 6.0 |
| Navegantes | 10 | 10 | 6.0 |
| Bravos de Margarita | 9 | 11 | 7.0 |
| Cardenales de Lara | 9 | 11 | 7.0 |
| Tiburones de La Guaira | 8 | 12 | 8.0 |
| Caribes de Anzoátegui | 8 | 13 | 8.5 |
MEXICO – La Liga Mexicana del Pacifico ( LMP) is in its fourth week of play and the standings are crowded; only 2 games separate the top five clubs:
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Culiacan | 12 | 8 | — |
| Jalisco | 12 | 8 | — |
| Hermosillo | 11 | 9 | 1.0 |
| Mazatlán | 11 | 9 | 1.0 |
| Mexicali | 10 | 10 | 2.0 |
| Los Mochis | 9 | 11 | 3.0 |
| Navojoa | 8 | 12 | 4.0 |
| Cd. de Obregon | 7 | 13 | 5.0 |
DOMINICANA – Estrellas (San Pedro) have taken a one-game lead in the Liga Dominicana ( LiDOM) standings through three weeks of play:
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Estrellas | 10 | 4 | — |
| Gigantes | 9 | 5 | 1.0 |
| Escogido | 8 | 6 | 2.0 |
| Aguilas | 7 | 7 | 3.0 |
| Licey | 4 | 10 | 6.0 |
| Toros | 4 | 10 | 6.0 |
PUERTO RICO – native son Alex Cora is having a great baseball year. The native of Caguas has played, managed, and been the GM of hometown Criollos de Caguas and they won la Serie del Caribe in February. He was GM of the Puerto Rican team in the World Baseball Classic, and they had a great run finishing second in March. He has just won a World Series as bench coach for the Astros. And to top it off, he has signed a multi-year deal to become manager of the Boston Red Sox.
Author Monte Cely writes this column for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) site, Central and South Texas (Rogers Hornsby Chapter).
