Caguas vs. Mayagüez: The supremacy of sceptres in winter baseball history is at stake

It was a matter of time before the final series confrontation between the Indios de Mayagüez and the Criollos de Caguas could materialize in this unique winter season of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League.

And starting today, this showdown will have one more important ingredient: determining the most winning team in the history of the league.

The two most winning franchises in winter baseball – with 18 championships each – will face each other today at the start of the final series up to a maximum of seven games in a series where the Criollos will use the Hiram Bithorn Stadium and not Pedro Montañez the Cayey.

They meet for the thirteenth time in the last series. The first time was in the 1947-48 season and the last in 2013-2014. Caguas has won seven of those 12 confrontations.

The first challenge takes place at the Bithorn due to a decision taken yesterday by the management of the Criollos, who took their first championship in the league 80 years ago, said historian Jorge Colón Delgado.

Righthanded José de León, who is 4-1 so far this season – including the semi-final – will be the starter of the first game for Turabo’s ninth. The Indians still had to decide their starting pitcher at the time of the press. The series will be played without rest days and all matches will start at 6 p.m.

“We are prepared. Let’s hope we can put on a good show and that baseball can be played,” said Jesús ‘Motorita’ Feliciano, general manager of the Criollos. The new day.

“Everyone was waiting for this series. Regardless of the team, we’ve all had to wait a long time to meet the Puerto Rico champion. Most importantly, there is baseball and our league was able to resolve all the situations of the past few weeks, ”said Feliciano, referring to the delay in the semi-finals of the Indios and Manatí due to COVID-19 cases .

Caguas, led by Ramón Vázquez, dominated the regular series with a 14-4 record and in the semifinals, A swept the rookie RA12. Meanwhile, Mayagüez, with Luis Matos in the lead, finished 13-5 and did the same with the Atenienses de Manatí.

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Everyone was waiting for this series. Regardless of the team, we’ve all had to wait a long time to meet the Puerto Rico champion. Most importantly, there is baseball and our league has been able to resolve all the situations of the past weeks

“

Now the two big favorites face each other in a series that promises the quality of players from both teams.

“Everyone knows that Mayagüez has tremendous native talent. We know it won’t be an easy series, but we’ve been preparing since mid-October to wait for tomorrow (today) to arrive. We are well prepared physically and mentally. We are going to put on a good show knowing that Mayagüez will give the best of it, ”added Feliciano, whose team last played on January 7th.

The Criollos arrive fortified to the final with the acquisitions of Major League catcher, Víctor Caratini, and veteran Yadier Molina, claimed in the draw for the eliminated teams. In three games, Molina went 3-for-12 with the Athenians.

“We know that Molina’s participation will be a great contribution to our team and to the final series. We could see him in the semifinals, the way he competed in his turns. That was one of the things that caught our attention. We know he is ready and that he is physically healthy, ” said Feliciano of the receiver who joined the Athenians in the semi-final B.

“We are very happy with the two players we have acquired for the last series.”

For their part, the Indians claimed pitcher Joel Huertas, from RA12.

“I continue to trust my core natives with the acquisitions we’ve made from the available guys. But as I always said, matches are not won on paper, but on the field. That is the message we carry from day one, because with all the setbacks we have experienced instead of getting worse, on the contrary, we are getting stronger every day, ” said the leader Matos. The new day when we talk about the series.

The specific series in the regular series finished in three.

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We all hope it’s a quiet series that’s just plain baseball. Don’t let anyone get hurt by anything that happens. Let it decide on the field

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“We have a number of veterans who have already been in those last series. That experience is very important ”.

The Criollos have included players such as Vimael Machín, Reymond Fuentes, Jonathan Morales, Johneshwy Fargas (the most valuable of the regular) and veteran Héctor Santiago.

Meanwhile, the Indians have Kennys Vargas, Henry Ramos, Danny Ortiz, TJ Rivera and Emmanuel Rivera on their list, who puts on an incredible show in his series against Manatí with 13 RBI’s in four games.

“As the boys said, these two teams are good and have a lot of experience in the years they’ve had in the final,” said third baseman Emmanuel Rivera in turn.

In turn, Rivera was confident that the final will go smoothly, notably referring to some of the incidents that occurred between both sides during the regular season.

Even in the last game of the regular season, manager Matos ordered Jonathan Morales to get two basses for intentional balls with no outs and no one on base when he contested the batting title, a fact that caused inconvenience to the Criollo squad and in the own player.

“We all hope it is a quiet series that is just baseball. Don’t let anyone get hurt by anything that happens. Let it decide on the field, ”Rivera said.

For his part, Matos did not comment on the series of incidents and comments on social networks, limiting himself to pointing out that “the best word is the one that is not said”.

‘I’m not talking about problems. I am one of the people who do things on the ground. Whoever wants to put things on the networks or in the newspaper, that’s their problem, ”Matos concludes.