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The Central American Baseball Association made changes to their minimum service time rules for free agency like other leagues did. They followed Beisbol Sudamerica and East Asia Baseball’s lead for 1968 by decreasing the years required as opposed to raising this. This moved CABA from seven years to six, putting them in line with EAB, the European Baseball Federation, and Oceania Baseball Association. Despite all of the changes in the 1960s, it would be about a decade before the next change by any of the big leagues.



The fight for the top spot in the Mexican League took place in the South Division between defending CABA champion Mexico City and Ecatepec. The Aztecs would defeat the Explosion in a one-game playoff to take the division at 97-66, giving them three straight playoff berths. Ecatepec finished 96-67 for their third berth in four years. Of note in the division, Queretaro finished third at 91-71, the first winning season in the expansion squad’s seven years to date. Last year’s wild card Puebla dropped to 82-80. Meanwhile, Monterrey cruised to the North Division at 92-70 after missing out last year, giving the Matadors four playoff berths in a six year span. After making it to the playoffs for the first time last year, Torreon tumbled to 76-86.

Tijuana was a mid-level team, but Toros LF Vincente Gutierrez was a stud again for his fourth Mexican League MVP. The 35-year old lefty showed no signs of aging by leading in home runs (54), RBI (132), walks (81), OBP (.415), slugging (.672), OPS (1.087), and wRC+ (217), adding 10.8 WAR and a .330 average. He set career bests in RBI and WAR and had his record sixth 50+ home run season, as well as his ninth Silver Slugger. Pitcher of the Year was Guadalajara’s Simon Alegre. The 26-year old lefty in his fourth season was the ERA leader at 2.07, adding a 17-8 record over 248 innings with 293 strikeouts, 28 quality starts, and 6.9 WAR. Alegre also won his fourth consecutive Gold Glove at pitcher. Like so many others, his potential would end up unfulfilled with a torn flexor tendon the next year.



Jamaica won the Caribbean League Island Division for the third consecutive season as the 1966 CABA champ finished at 104-58. The wild card battle was in the Island Division as well with Santiago (93-69) edging out Havana (91-71) and Trinidad (90-72). It was the first playoff berth for the Sailfish since their 1955 league title. For the expansion Trail Blazers, it was their best season in their young history. In the Continental Division, defending league champ Guatemala took first easily at 95-67 for a third berth in four years. Perennial contender Honduras fell to 80-82 for their first losing season since 1956. Salvador, who had won 90+ in the prior five years, finished second at 84-78.

Despite being a bottom rung team, the Bahamas boasted the league MVP with 27-year old Dominican CF Amazado Matos. He became the second CABA player to ever hit above .400 in a season, finishing at .402. This was only behind Prometheo Garcia’s .406 from 1949. Despite only making 117 starts due to some lingering injuries, Matos still was the league leader in hits (196), home runs (48), OBP (.441), slugging (.789), OPS (1.229), and wRC+ (234), adding 11.1 WAR and 129 RBI. The OPS mark was a single-season record that would hold until 2019 and the slugging mark a single-season record that stayed first all the way until 2031. Despite these marks, he was just behind perennial MVP candidate Wesley Dubar in WAR (11.4 vs 11.1) and Dubar beat him by six in RBI to deny the Triple Crown. The 1963 first overall draft pick, Matos would get traded to Tijuana for the 1969 season. Meanwhile, Santiago had the Pitcher of the Year in fourth year righty Barnabe Sanchez. The Cuban righty was the wins leader at 22-8, posting a 2.85 ERA over 278.1 innings, 335 strikeouts, and 8.3 WAR.

In the wild card round, Monterrey swept Ecatepec and Guatemala swept Santiago. For the second straight season, the Mexican League Championship Series went seven games and ended in dramatic fashion. Mexico City made it back-to-back titles by defeating Monterrey, winning game seven 5-4 on a walkoff. This gave the Aztecs their seventh league title in franchise history. The Caribbean League Championship Series saw Jamaica prevail in six games against Guatemala, giving the Jazz two titles in three years and six overall.



For the second straight season and the fourth time in the 1960s, the 1968 CABA Championship ended in a sweep. Jamaica denied Mexico City’s repeat to give the Jazz their second crown in three seasons. Finals MVP was CF Franckel Pierre with 13 hits, 6 runs, and 9 RBI in 10 playoff games. Jamaica now has five overall CABA titles (1930, 1933, 1950, 1966, 1968), tying them for the most with the Aztecs and Honduras.



Other notes: Guatemala’s Victor Zazueta threw CABA’s 21^st perfect game, striking out 14 against Santo Domingo on April 14. Julio Hinojosa joined Prometheo Garcia as the only CABA hitters with 3500+ hits. This would be Hinojosa’s last season and he’d finish with 3564, behind Garcia’s 3871. The next player to cross 3500 hits would be Solomon Aragon in 1986. Argenis Cabrera became the fifth batter to reach 600 home runs. He would finish at 673 after the 1971 season, retiring third all time. Cabrera also crossed 1500 RBI, the ninth batter to do so.