[j.tom]

"THIS TOWN AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE FIVE OF US."
Wide World of Baseball Newsletter -- 02.09 - 02.15.60



With champions crowned in Liga Brasil, Liga Gran Colombia and the Suid-Afrikaanse Liga, the battle for the last few playoff spots in the Latin League will be decided this week. Plus, we'll find out the host city for this year's Olympiad tournament.



Worldwide News:

02.09


Latin League -- A pair of 15-K games in the LL! RHP Victor Tabares 🇲🇽 ties the Guadalajara record for strikeouts in a game, while technically (but not really) keeping the Mariachis alive in the playoff race. Meanwhile, RHP Fumio Martnez 🇧🇷🇯🇵 secures the Willemstad Cactussen single-game record versus Montevideo, in a game the Falcons desperately needed to win, locked in a tight LS Wild Card Race.





Latin League -- Today's Latin League scores; Lima and Nueva Gerona each clinch their divisions with wins:




02.10

Latin League -- With both of their teams out of contention, Santiago 3B Jin-woong Kim 🇰🇷 and Bogota LHP Danny Limones 🇻🇪🇨🇴 take an early vacation, each of them suspended for the balance of the season. With the seasons they've had, can't blame 'em.




Latin League -- Today's scores/standings, Panama and Port-au-Prince clinch playoff spots, Bermuda and Santo Domingo are eliminated.





02.11

Latin League -- Kingston RHP Chris Montero 🇵🇷🇺🇸 throws 5.2 shutout innings exactly when the Crowns need it most, helping them to a win to pull ahead of Tegucigalpa in the Wild Card standings.




Latin League -- Barquisimeto beats Buenos Aires behind 4 hits from OF Sandoval Ogasawara 🇧🇷🇯🇵, setting up a win-and-you're-in regular season finale between the Cardinales and Apples.




Latin League -- Heading into the final day of the Latin League regular season, three teams are fighting for one Wild Card spot in Liga Caribe, while the fight for the Liga Sudamericana Wild Cards has 5 teams in contention for three spots.

Today's scores and standings with one game left to play:





02.12


Latin League -- Today is the final day of the Latin League regular season! All 32 teams are in action, and several playoff spots hang in the balance...

Here are the six games with playoff implications today:



12:05 P.M. ET -- The Montevideo Falcons are left holding the short straw, ending up with the toughest opponent of any team left still fighting for their lives. If the Falcons win, they're in the playoffs. If they lose, they likely will be subject to at least one tiebreaker game, starting tomorrow.

The good news? With Willemstad resting its starting rotation for the playoffs, the ball goes to RHP Pablo Schalkwijk 🇳🇱, who enters today sporting a 7.42 ERA. The bad news? He's about to pitch the game of his career...





5:05 P.M. ET -- Hours later, Barquisimeto and Buenos Aires square off in a game where the winner heads to the playoffs, and the loser waits to find out their fate.

The Cardinales get the advantage early, but their offensive explosion is stymied by a 44-minute rain delay in the 3rd. After a stalemate in the middle innings, the gates open once again for Barquisimeto bats, as they open up their lead. Down 8-5 in the 9th, Buenos Aires loads the bases with 2 outs. Barquisimeto brings in their LOOGY, LHP Manny Cantu 🇻🇪, who in 4 pitches sends the Cardinales to the Latin League playoffs.





6:05 P.M. ET -- The fight for the playoffs in Liga Sudamericana comes to a head, with Porto Velho and Asuncion needing wins to stay alive.

Both teams get strong performances from their starting pitchers, with their bullpens doing more than enough. Porto Velho RHP Alfredo Hernandez 🇻🇪 gives the Helicionas 6 shutout innings, while Asuncion RHP Harley Schmidt's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 5 shutout innings bring the Angeles to a win.




With play in Liga Sudamericana wrapped up for the day, four teams finish the regular season tied for the final two Wild Card spots.




7:05 P.M. ET -- The mission is very simple for the Kingston Crowns. Win tonight's game, and not only do they eliminate their opponent, Tegucigalpa, they also take out Belize and clinch the final LC Wild Card spot.

That... doesn't happen. In a game where neither side really ever gets the bats going, the Gamelas triumph, 2-1, lifted by a great performance by RHP Victor Castillo 🇭🇳, in his final start of an excellent season.



To end the regular season, both Tegucigalpa and Kingston finish 41-39, tied for the final LC Wild Card spot. Now, they wait to see what happens to Belize, and whether this will be a 2 or 3-way tiebreaker...



8:05 P.M. ET -- It all comes down to this for the Belize Havens. Their window of opportunity is open if Kingston loses later tonight; if Belize wins they will play a tiebreaker game.

However, by the time Kingston loses and opens the door for Belize, this one is already decided. The Havens are anticlimactically smashed by Port-au-Prince and 2B Robert Sandoval's 🇸🇻 3rd career grand slam, in the 3rd inning.




Tegucigalpa and Kingston will rematch tomorrow in a tiebreaker game for the final LC Wild Card spot:




02.13


Latin League -- On tiebreaker day, Tegucigalpa, Buenos Aires, and Porto Velho all convincingly claim playoff spots. Kingston, Montevideo and Asuncion have their hearts ripped out in Game 61.



Final LL regular season standings:




02.14


Olympiad Tournament -- The host city and participants for the 2060 Olympiad Tournament have been announced...

Prague, Czechia will host this year's tournament, with Team Czechia looking to regain strong form this year. They last made the Olympiad playoffs three years ago, losing to the United States in the semifinals after advancing out of their Round Robin pool.



And the field for the 2060 Olympiad. Nigeria, Greece, and Thailand will make their first Olympiad appearances while El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti fall off the board.




Latin League -- Today is an off-day before the playoffs begin, so here's a look at this year's regular season stat leaders, starting with Liga Centroamericana:



LC Batting Title: 2B Willie Salgado 🇨🇷 -- San Jose Vipers



LC Home Run Title: C Danny Burciaga 🇵🇪 -- Managua Macuilmiquiztli



LC ERA Title: RHP Domingo Amador 🇲🇽 -- Guadalajara Mariachis



Plus, the stats leaders from Liga Sudamericana:



LS Batting Title: OF Oscar Lluberes 🇵🇪 -- Lima Explorers



LS Home Run Title: 1B Dev Venkatasubramanian 🇮🇳 -- Montevideo Falcons



LS ERA Title: RHP Alberto Gomez 🇵🇪 -- Lima Explorers




Latin League -- The Best-of-3 Ronda Comodín (Wild Card Round) matchups are set. The playoffs begin tomorrow.




02.15


Latin League -- The first day of the playoffs sees Liga Centroamericana take center stage.

Tegucigalpa, on the ropes late versus San Juan, gets a rally in the top of the 9th, capped off by a sacrifice fly by OF Frank Velasquez 🇦🇷 providing the game's winning run to take Game 1, 2-1.

And in Haiti, the Port-au-Prince Bicolores can't get much going against Panama LHP Raul Garcia 🇲🇽, who allows a run 4 batters into the game, then follows it up with 5.2 scoreless innings. Injury is added to insult for the Bicolores when their ace, RHP Patrick Doucet 🇫🇷 leaves the game with a strained hamstring in the first inning.






Latin League -- The schedule for the remainder of Ronda Comodin, which picks back up next week.




Top Performances By Day:

02.09


02.10


02.11


02.12


02.13


02.14
No games scheduled.

02.15




Playoff Brackets / Pre-Playoff Power Rankings (as of 02.15)


Latin League