Mexico Red joins Mexico Green in advancing to Caribbean Series final

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- The 68th Caribbean Series will not have a repeat champion, as the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido -- champions of the tournament last year at Mexicali, Mexico -- were eliminated by Tomateros de Culiacán (Mexico Green), 9-4, on Friday afternoon at Estadio Panamericano de Béisbol in the tournament’s first semifinal game.

Friday’s second semifinal matchup, won by the tournament’s host club Charros de Jalisco (Mexico Red) over Cangrejeros de Santurce (Puerto Rico), 8-6, clinched an all-Mexico championship game scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET between the Charros and the Tomateros. The title game will air live on MLB Network and stream on MLBN Direct-To-Consumer and MLB.TV.

This will be only the second time a Caribbean Series final will be played between two teams from the home country, after Tigres del Licey defeated Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Republic in 2008. That year, Puerto Rico canceled its 2007-08 Winter League campaign and didn’t send a club to the tournament. This year, Venezuela -- originally scheduled to host the 2026 Caribbean Series before the event was moved to Guadalajara in December -- opted not to send its Winter League champion (Navegantes del Magallanes) to the series.

In Friday’s nightcap, Santurce took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, after scoring two runs in the fourth off Charros starter Manny Bañuelos and two more off reliever Mario Meza in the fifth.

But in the seventh, an RBI single off Santurce reliever Derek West by Mateo Gil -- son of Jalisco manager Benji Gil, who will skipper Team Mexico in next month’s World Baseball Classic -- tied the game. After Gil stole second to put runners on second and third, a two-run single by Leo Heras put the Charros up for good at 8-6.

The Jalisco bullpen held the Santurce offense in check for the last 4 2/3 innings, thanks to relievers Miguel Aguilar, Jesús Cruz, Gerardo Reyes, Matt Foster and Trevor Clifton, who notched his second save of the tournament.

For the Charros, it will be their second straight appearance in the Caribbean Series championship game. Last year, Jalisco lost in the final 1-0 against an Escogido club managed by Albert Pujols, who will also manage Team Dominican Republic in the 2026 WBC. Gil will be trying for his first championship in the Caribbean Series as manager in six tries, after winning as a player with the Tomateros in 1996 and 2002.

In Friday’s first game, the Leones -- trying to become the first club to win consecutive titles since Puerto Rico’s Criollos de Caguas in 2017-18 after taking the '25 Caribbean Series crown -- took a 2-0 lead into the fourth inning.

But from there, it was all Tomateros. Left fielder Estevan Florial provided the first and biggest blow of the day for the Culiacán club with a three-run homer off Escogido starter Oscar de la Cruz, his second round-tripper in as many days against his country of origin’s Winter League champion.

The Tomateros then poured it on against the Leones’ bullpen, scoring two runs off Luis Frías and three more off Alex Colomé before adding an unearned run off Jefry Yan.

Florial was joined in the Culiacán offensive attack by shortstop Luis Verdugo (2-for-4, three RBIs), first baseman Victor Mendoza (3-for-5, three runs scored) and right fielder Yadir Drake (3-for-5, an RBI and a run scored).

After scoring nine runs over their first three contests of the series, the Tomateros have exploded for 19 tallies in their past two games -- both against the Leones -- to reach the championship round for the first time since 2015. The club’s last Caribbean Series title was in '02.

“Another great home run that changed the game,” said Culiacán manager Lorenzo Bundy of Florian’s blast. “And then the bats came alive, with contributions from almost everyone in the lineup. That’s how we have to win games.”

On the Culiacán pitching side, starter David Reyes allowed two runs (one earned) in 4 2/3 innings, while relievers Anthony Gose, Norman Elenes, Sasagi Sanchez, Rafael Cordova and Lupe Chavez held Escogido to two more runs the rest of the way.

Despite winning their first three contests of the tournament, the Leones’ shaky pitching caught up with them in the last two games, both losses to Culiacán. After defeating Panama’s Federales de Chiquirí on Wednesday, 16-15 -- a game that set a record in Caribbean Series play for total runs -- Escogido lost, 10-7, Thursday in the round-robin stage’s last contest before allowing nine runs in Friday’s semifinal.

“We weren’t able to execute our pitches in the big moments,” said Escogido manager Ramón Santiago, whose pitching staff registered a 7.77 ERA in the tournament, including a 9.49 ERA by the bullpen.

“Those were some tough days for our relievers. When you don’t execute your pitches in the big moments, they make you pay. They executed and we didn’t.”