Venezuelan League: Games of January 3

LARA 6, ANZOATEGUI 1 IN LARA

Twins: Oswaldo Arcia (Anzoategui) was 2-for-4 with a home run. Dakota Watts (Anzoategui) pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up no runs on one hit and no walks.
Game summary: Anzoategui scored first, but Lara came back with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh and then put it away with three in the eighth.
Anzoategui: Alexi Amarista (San Diego) was 2-for-3 with a double. Niuman Romero (Baltimore) was 2-for-4.
Lara: Yohan Flande (Atlanta) allowed one run on four hits and a walk in 5.1 innings. Yangervis Solarte (Texas) was 2-for-4 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice.

ZULIA 3, MAGALLANES 1 IN ZULIA

Game summary: Zulia took a 2-1 lead with two in the fourth and added an insurance run in the sixth.
Magallanes: Gustavo Chacin struck out six in 4.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs on five hits and three walks. Elvis Andrus (Texas) was 1-for-3 with a walk.
Zulia: Yeiper Castillo (Oakland) pitched three shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out two. Felix Perez (Cincinnati) was 3-for-4 and scored twice.

Puerto Rican League: Games of January 2

MAYAGUEZ 1, SANTURCE 0 IN MAYAGUEZ

Twins: Daniel Ortiz (Mayaguez) was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Eddie Rosario (Mayaguez) was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk and scored the game’s only run. Kennys Vargas (Mayaguez) was 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch. Nelvin Fuentes (Mayaguez) struck out the only batter he faced.
Game summary: Rosario led off the second with a walk and came around to score the game’s only run on a single, a ground out, and an error.
Santurce: Jason Lowey struck out five in six innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits and two walks. Orlando Mercado was 2-for-3.
Mayaguez: Aaron Miller (Dodgers) struck out seven in six innings, allowing three hits and three walks. Adonis Garcia (Yankees) was 2-for-4.

CAGUAS 9, CAROLINA 0 IN CAGUAS

Game summary: Caguas scored four in the first and two in the second.
Carolina: Pedro Valdes was 1-for-3 with a walk. Eddie Morlan retired all four batters he faced.
Caguas: Michael Nix struck out six in 6.2 innings, allowing three hits and a walk. Andy Gonzalez (White Sox) was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, and two walks, scoring twice and driving in five.

Dominican League: Games of January 2

ESCOGICO 5, ORIENTE 0 IN ORIENTE

Twins: Ray Olmedo (Oriente) was 0-for-3. Drew Butera (Oriente) was 0-for-2.
Game summary: Escogido broke a scoreless tie with four in the second.
Escogido: Edward Valdez gave up one hit and one walk with six strikeouts in seven innings. Pedro Feliz was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Oriente: Juan Diaz (Cleveland) was 1-for-2. This was the team’s only hit.

ESTE 8, AGUILAS 3 IN AGUILAS

Game summary: Aguilas took a 2-1 lead after three. It stayed that way until the seventh, when Este scored seven runs. The runs scored on a walk, two hit batsmen, another walk, two singles, two more walks, and an error.
Este: Adalberto Mendez struck out three in 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up only a walk. Jose Constanza (Atlanta) was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
Aguilas: Lorenzo Barcelo allowed an unearned run on four hits and a walk in six innings. Erick Almonte was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Mexican League: Games of January 2

CULICAN 5, HERMOSILLO 4 IN CULIACAN (11 INNINGS)

Game summary: Ronnier Mustelier (Yankees) led off the bottom of the eleventh with a walk-off homer.
Hermosillo: Luis A. Garcia was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice. Karim Garcia was 1-for-4 with a homer and a walk.
Culiacan: Sandy Madera was 3-for-5 and scored once. Mustelier was 2-for-4.

OBREGON 3, GUASAVE 2 IN GUASAVE

Game summary: Doug Clark hit a two-out homer in the eighth to break a 2-2 tie.
Obregon: Luis Mendoza struck out four in five innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks. Clark was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Guasave: Andrew Sisco pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks. Jose Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a double.

MEXICALI 7, MAZATLAN 3 IN MEXICALI

Game summary: Mexicali scored once in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead. They then got two in the sixth and three in the seventh to put it away.
Mazatlan: Henry Mateo and Ivan Terrazas were each 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Mexicali: Marco Duarte (Boston) struck out six in five innings, allowing one run on five hits and four walks. Wes Bankston was 2-for-3 with two home runs and a walk, scoring three times and driving in four.

Venezuelan League: Games of January 2

ANZOATEGUI 8, CARACAS 1 IN CARACAS

Twins: Oswaldo Arcia (Anzoategui) was 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, and two walks, scoring twice. Dakota Watts (Anzoategui) pitched a perfect inning.
Game summary: Anzoategui led from the second inning on, scoring two in each of innings four through six to take control.
Anzoategui: Hector Gimenez (White Sox) was 4-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs. Gorkys Hernandez (Miami) was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.
Caracas: Daniel Mayora (San Francisco) was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

MAGALLANES 10, LARA 6 IN MAGALLANES

Game summary: Magallanes led 4-0 after two. Lara scored five in the fourth and led 6-4 after 7 ½. Magallanes then scored six in the eighth for the win.
Lara: Raul Rivero struck out five in 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk. Joe Thurston was 3-for-3 with a walk and scored twice.
Magallanes: Juan Rivera was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer. Endy Chavez (Kansas City) was 2-for-5 with a home run, scoring twice and driving in two.

Winter Baseball Playoff "Preview"

The word "preview" is in quotes because, as you know if you’ve been reading these updates, the Dominican League playoffs have already started. Also, the Australian League playoffs don’t start until January 31. The other leagues start today, though.

Our sports leagues have gotten us so used to the word "playoffs" meaning head-to-head matches in a single-elimination bracket that we sometimes forget that there are other ways it could be done. When MLB added a team in each league to its playoffs last year, it was just assumed it would have to be done in a play-in style to get down to four in each league for the rest of the playoffs. There was no thought that you could have playoffs in any other way.

The Venezuelan and Dominican Leagues, however, use a round-robin format. The Puerto Rican League uses a round-robin plus a head-to-head championship series. The Mexican League use head-to-head series, but allows for one of the losers to continue. I don’t know that these formats are better or worse than the way American sports leagues do it, but they are interesting. I would love to see MLB do playoffs in a round-robin some year, just to see what it would be like, but I know it will never happen.

Also, the Caribbean Leagues seem to allow for the town-ball tradition of "pick-up players", where teams that made the playoffs can add players from teams that did not. I don’t know how many players can be picked up or what the rules are in regard to that. That’s another thing I’d love to see MLB do some year although, again, I know it will never happen.

Anyway, here’s a little bit of information about the playoffs in the Caribbean Leagues:

VENZUELAN LEAGUE

Five teams make the playoffs. They play a sixteen-game round robin, which begins January 2 and ends January 21. The teams involved are Magallanes, Zulia, Anzoategui, Caracas, and Lara. Magallanes finished the regular season first and Lara fifth; the other three teams were tied for second. None of which matters now, of course, as they all go to 0-0 for the playoffs.

MEXICAN LEAGUE

Six teams make the playoffs. They are matched up in best-of-seven head-to-head series, but only two of the losers are eliminated, with the third continuing into the next round. I think the losing team that extends its playoff series the farthest is the one that moves on, but I’m not sure, and if so I don’t know what they do if two (Or all three) series last the same number of games. At any rate, the four teams that remain then are matched up in best-of-seven head-to-head series, and the two that win out of that go to the championship series, which is also best-of-seven. The first round this year is Hermosillo v. Culican, Obregon v. Guasave, and Mazatlan v. Mexicali. Each series starts January 2.

DOMINICAN LEAGUE

Four teams make the playoffs. They play an eighteen-game round robin, which began December 27 and ends January 17. The teams involved are Aguilas, Oriente, Este, and Escogido, which finished in that order.

PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE

Four teams make the playoffs. They play a twelve-game round robin, which begins January 2 and ends January 16. The top two teams then play a best-of-seven series to determine the champion. The gteams involved are Caguas, Mayaguez, Satnurce, and Carolina, which finished in that order.

We’ll have something about the Australian League playoffs once we get a little closer to them. Also, it’s possible that I’ve misunderstood how some of this stuff works; if so, I’ll try to update you later. Enjoy the playoffs, everybody!

Australian League: Games of December 31

PERTH 19, CANBERRA 12 IN PERTH

Game summary: Perth opened the scoring with nine runs in the first and led 13-2 after seven. Canberra got back into it with seven in the eighth, but Canberra put it away with six in the bottom of the eighth.
Canberra: Jeremy Barnes was 3-for-6 with three doubles, scoring twice and driving in two. Aaron Sloan was 3-for-5 with a double and scored once.
Perth: Carter Bell (Arizona) was 4-for-4 with a walk, scoring three times and driving in five. Corey Adamson was 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in two.