Cely: Live from the Caribbean World Series in Hermosillo, Mexico
From SABR member Monte Cely at the Rogers Hornsby Chapter website on January 31, 2013:
Mexico hosts the 2013 Serie del Caribe and this year’s host city is Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora. The games will be played in Nuevo Estadio Sonora, and this stadium is nuevo — it’s brand new. After its inauguration hosting the Series, the stadium will become the home field for los Naranjeros, Hermosillo’s club in the Mexican Pacific League.
The 2013 Caribbean Series will feature a slight change in format. In past years, the four winter league champions (from Mexico, the Dominican, Puerto Rico and Venezuela) played a double-round-robin format. This resulted in a six-day, twelve game tournament, with the team having the most wins at the end of the sixth day being declared the winner. However, that format could lead to ties that would result in a seventh day playoff — or, a team could clinch early making the last two or three games meaningless. In an effort to extend the suspense, a seventh day is being added in 2013. The four country champs will still play the six-day double-round-robin, and then the first- and second-place teams will play for the championship on the seventh day. The new seven-day format will also more easily accomodate any additional leagues or teams that may participate in the future. The 2013 Series game schedule is here.
During the summer “off season” there was considerable discussion about adding participants to la Serie. There were rumors that a team from South Korea might participate, but little came of this. The big news, however, was that Cuba might re-enter la Serie del Caribe. A delegation from the Caribbean Confederation, the governing body of winter baseball and la Serie, traveled to Havana for meetings with Cuban authorities. After extensive discussions, the terms for Cuba’s return could not be worked out for 2013. However, the door was definitely left open for further negotiations.
Winter league play began in October in Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
Read the full article here: http://chapters.sabr.org/hornsby/research/papers/278-serie-del-caribe-2013-in-hermosillo-mexico
Originally published: January 31, 2013. Last Updated: January 31, 2013.