Is there baseball in cancun in 2005

[teentails]

WIll the cancun lobstermen be playing baseball in the Mexican League this year here in 2005?

[BruceB]

I believe so. Both the Mexican League and Langosteros (Lobstermen) websites have Cancun opening the 2005 season next weekend, so it looks like a go. They'll need to draw better, though, as will a lot of MexiLeague teams. While Tijuana and Saltillo both had the highest per-game attendance in minor league baseball last season (and Yucatan had another good season as usual at the gate), the MexiLeague has a lot of teams drawing 2,000-3,000 fans a game. This used to be enough, but nowadays a solid AAA league needs to bring in a lot more...even in Mexico.

[teentails]

thanks. do you know the website for the cancun lobsteros. i saw it one time but I forgot what the link is. do you or anybody else know what it is?

[BruceB]

The Langosteros website address is www.cancunbeisbol.com, while the Mexican League website can be found at www.lmb.com.mx. Hope your Spanish is up to snuff!

Bruce

[Shootmaster_44]

On a side note I've never seen a Mexican baseball game. What is the caliber of play? Should they really be classifyed as a AAA league? Does the league that the National Association accepted as a single A league in Mexico still exist? I don't remember the name of it or the details just curious how it went.

[BruceB]

I can only tell you what I know from other sources because I haven't actually witnessed a MexiLeague game myself, so you might want to take this with a grain (or two) of salt):

The general impression I get is that the MexiLeague is pretty close to AAA in quality except for the pitching. A number of ex-major leaguers have gone down there and done pretty well, and the overall level of play is decent. The pitching, however, is said to be of a somewhat lower calibre than AAA, more like Class AA. I think you'll find that, like any minor league, there are some pitchers who have really good stuff, but that once you get past the number 1 and 2 starters, the quality drops off quite a bit...Kind of like the depth problem the old Negro Leagues used to have, where a staff might feature Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith and a bunch of guys nobody ever heard of. All in all, though, I think the standard of baseball you see should be pretty good. The main reason there aren't more Mexicans playing in the big leagues is that the national organization overseeing baseball in Mexico charges a very high premium for the rights to the better young native players down there, and there aren't a lot of can't-miss prospects that an MLB organization is willing to shell out the bucks just for the right to develop. That may have changed in recent years, but it was that way at least well into the 1990's.

Now, as far as the Class A circuit down there goes, there used to be TWO of them in Mexico. However, I think because of economics, there is no "minor league" for the MexiLeague at present. There IS a national baseball academy that develops young players, but I believe that's as far as it goes.

Again, a lot of what I just said is from memory, but I'll stick with it until some better authority logs on to OSC and shows otherwise. At any rate, enjoy the GAME. Whether it's played in the States or South Of The Border, baseball is still baseball. Have fun!