GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Benji Gil is preparing to manage Team Mexico for the second straight World Baseball Classic next month. But in the last week, he had some unfinished business as a veteran manager in Winter Ball.
Saturday night at Guadalajara’s Estado Panamericano de Béisbol, Gil’s Charros de Jalisco (Mexico Red) and the Tomateros de Culiacán (Mexico Green) engaged in a wild, 10-inning affair that ended with two wild pitches that allowed the tying and winning runs for the Charros in the bottom of the 10th, all part of their 12-11 win in an unprecedented all-Mexico championship game at the 68th Caribbean Series.
For Gil, it was his first Caribbean Series title in six tries as a manager, defeating the same team that he won two championships with as a player, and which he guided to four Mexican Pacific League (LMP) titles as a skipper before joining the Charros two years ago.
The Charros, who have won two consecutive LMP titles, captured the team’s first ever Caribbean Series championship, and the 10th overall for Mexico.
Saturday’s championship game was a back-and-forth tilt from the start. The Charros scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second and two in the fourth off Tomateros starter Wilmer Ríos and reliever Odrisamer Despaigne, charging out to a 9-1 lead. But Culiacán roared back with a six-run fifth against Jalisco starter Luis Ernesto Rodríguez and relievers Miguel Aguilar and Jesús Cruz, making a game of it at 9-7.
After the clubs exchanged runs in the seventh, the Charros were two outs away from the championship in the top of the ninth, when Tomateros first baseman Víctor Mendoza hit a two-run, game-tying home run -- his second round-tripper of the game -- off Jalisco closer Trevor Clifton to send the game to extras at 10-10.
In the top of the 10th, Culiacán catcher Alí Solís hit a sacrifice fly to give the club managed by Lorenzo Bundy an 11-10 lead.
But in the bottom of the frame, the Charros, with the help of the ghost runner rule in the Caribbean Series in extra innings, loaded the bases with two outs. After closer Lupe Chávez threw a wild pitch that tied the score at 11, he issued a walk to third baseman Mateo Gil -- Benji’s son -- to load the bases once again.
Facing the next batter, Bligh Madris -- who had homered in the fourth inning for the Charros -- Chávez unloaded another wild pitch that allowed series MVP Michael Wielanski to score the winning run.
It was a “wild” ending to a Caribbean Series that featured the home club, Charros, defeating a Tomateros club that it has also defeated in the last two LMP championship series.
For Gil, the sixth time was a charm in the Caribbean Series. Now, on to Houston with Team Mexico in Pool B at the World Baseball Classic.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CARIBBEAN SERIES?
In 2027, the tournament of Winter League champions will be played in Mexico for the third straight year, this time in Hermosillo, Sonora state at Estadio Fernando Valenzuela. For that series, Venezuela -- which did not participate in this year’s tournament -- is expected to rejoin the event as a permanent member of the Caribbean Confederation of Professional Baseball, according to its president, Juan Francisco Puello Herrera.
Then, it’s on to Miami for three straight editions of the tournament at loanDepot park. In 2024, the Caribbean Series was played at the Marlins’ home field, the first time it had been held at a Major League stadium. It turned out to be the most attended Caribbean Series in the tournament’s history, and Puello Herrera is bullish on the event’s future there from 2028-30.
“It’s always an attractive venue, in the sense that it’s a Major League stadium,” Puello Herrera said. “Miami is a kind of hub, where people can travel not only from different places in the United States, but also from our Latin American countries.
“And there’s always a special level of interest in the Caribbean Series there, especially with loanDepot park, which is a super modern stadium. That’s always a plus.”