Cougars win Baseball Champions League against defending champs Diablos Rojos

Runs were easy to come by this past week in Mexico City. The Kane County Cougars of the American Association -- an MLB Partner League -- put up some lopsided score lines en route to Sunday's Baseball Champions League final, averaging 12 runs per contest as they went an undefeated 4-0 through the round robin. Their opponents in the final, the Mexican League's Diablos Rojos, had won a remarkable 36-13 football game against Cuba's Cocodrilos de Matanzas on Friday evening.

Pitchers had the edge in Sunday's championship though, as the Cougars and Diablos entered the bottom of the sixth knotted at 1. The only runs to that point were homers from former Major Leaguer Dillon Thomas for the Cougars and the Diablos' Bryan González. That's when the Cougars' bats came to life.

Thomas started the scoring, lacing a single for his second RBI, giving the Cougars a lead they wouldn't relent. Josh Rehwaldt then drove in another run on a single and Todd Lott scored on a bad pickoff throw. Cladio Finol then launched a two-run home run to give the Cougars some breathing room before Elvis Peralta added one more on a fly ball to left field that the outfielder took a bad break on.

The Cougars opened up a 7-1 lead and Mexico City was down to its final nine outs.

Though the Diablos -- the hosts at Mexico City's Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium, where the Padres and D-backs will play in the Mexico City Series next month -- were able to scratch across two more runs on doubles from former big leaguer José Marmelejos and Rio Ruiz it wasn't enough. After the Cougars lost in the semifinals last season, Kane County got their revenge on Sunday.

This is the third time the Baseball Champions League has been played -- true to its name, the tournament features the winning team from each participating league's previous season -- and the American Association now has the edge with two titles. The league took home the trophy in the first iteration of the event in 2023 as the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks defeated Colombia's Caimanes de Barranquilla. The next one, held in 2025, saw the Diablos Rojos emerge victorious against Cuba's Leñadores de las Tunas.

Now, after getting through a gauntlet that featured themselves, the Diablos Rojos, and a team from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Taiwan, the Kane County Cougars are champions of the Americas.