While football has, arguably, always been the major sport south of the border, it might surprise you to learn that baseball is fast catching up with it.
What is a little less surprising is that it’s a game that’s predominantly played in the more northern states of the country where the influences are more US-based rather than Latin American, but that’s not to say that there aren’t teams in the south too.
Quite a number of Mexican players have also made it into many of the biggest MLB teams over the years, a fact that has undoubtedly helped to boost the game’s popularity in the country, not to mention make it very popular with fans of sports betting.
A brief history
There’s some debate about how the game first arrived in Mexico. One theory is that it was introduced by soldiers fighting in the 1846-48 Mexican-American War. Another is that it came via Cuba in the 1880s.
It wasn’t until 1925 that the first official league was established. Initially featuring just six teams, the Liga Mexican de Beisbol (LMB) gradually expanded to the current number of 18.
Throughout its history the LMB has had a fairly uneasy relationship with the MLB as there has been a fear that the larger, richer league would be a source of a player-drain picking off the best talent. So there have been periods when high fees have been charged for their release, fortunately a situation that has now been resolved.
In the immediate period after the Second World War, the roles were reversed due to a glut of players returning from active service looking for MLB contracts. As supply greatly outstripped demand many headed for the LMB instead, encouraging it to even offer contracts to superstar players including Joe DiMaggio, Minnie Minoso and Ted Williams – contracts that were never taken up.
The next major event in the game’s history came in 1979 when the LMB merged with the Mexican Central League, expanding it to 20 teams. Financial difficulties led to the collapse of six of these but since then another two teams have joined, creating the current 18.
The leagues today
The LMB today splits these 18 into two separate divisions with a total of 120 games being played between March and September each year with each team playing each other either six or nine times. There is also an All-Star game each season as well as post-season playoffs just as there is in the MLB. The team that has won the most championships overall is the Mexico City-based Diablos Rojos del Mexico with 16 between 1956 and 2014. They’ve also been divisional champions an even more impressive 22 times.
There are also two other significant leagues in the country. These are the Liga Mexicano de Pacifica (LMP) which has been in existence since 1945 and currently features ten teams from Eastern Mexico and the minor league, the Liga Norte de Mexico.
The international stage
Qualifying Mexican teams have played in the Caribbean Series since 1971. Comprised from teams drawn from eleven leagues across the Caribbean, this is an annual tournament that has been won nine times by a Mexican team and is traditionally played between seasons in February.
Over the years, the Mexican national team has also competed in the Pan American Games and the Baseball World Cup. Despite performing well in both of these, the team has never been the overall victors – although they have won four silver medals and one bronze in the latter.
The national team has also hit the headlines recently thanks to some outstanding performances in the World Baseball Classic. Like the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup, this is a tournament held every four years. The 2023 event included 20 of the best teams in the world and Mexico found themselves in a challenging group for the initial stages.
However they performed exceptionally well, finishing top of their group as well as defeating the reigning world champions, the USA, in the process. They then advanced to the semi-finals only to be beaten by another country where baseball is very popular, Japan.
Now, with automatic qualification for the next World Baseball Classic, the team has high hopes to build on this success.
Looking to the future
The success of the national team is certain to provide an extra impetus for more and more players to take up the game and advance to the highest levels. Already there is a considerable Mexican presence among MLB baseball teams and this will surely increase.
It’s also not inconceivable that more home-grown teams will start to emerge, particularly in the minor Liga Norte de Mexico with a view to eventually making it into the LMB proper.
So these are exciting times for the game as a whole, and baseball fans from around the world will surely be looking on with interest.
