Spring/Summer Unaffiliated Leagues in Latin America
When people think of baseball and Latin America one of the first things to pop into their heads is the winter leagues. It’s understandable given the notoriety of the various Latin American winter leagues. However, as our journey through the ongoing and upcoming spring/summer leagues of unaffiliated baseball continues it’s important that we make a stop in Latin America. The winter isn’t the only time of year when Latin American countries have top-flight baseball taking place.
There are a fair number of Latin American spring/summer unaffiliated leagues, with most of them in Mexico. I’m not going to dig deep into all of them for a few different reasons. First and foremost, not all of them are available to stream. Second, it’s unclear due to the Coronavirus how many of them will actually be conducting seasons in 2021. The biggest of the unknowns is Panama’s Campeonato Nacional de Béisbol Mayor. Out of all the leagues I’m not listing I would pay most attention to whether they have a season. All of these leagues, as well as the ones listed below and CNBM, can be found in the Streaming Guide so if they do start you’ll have a way of knowing.
Campeonato Nacional de Béisbol Superior Germán Pomares Ordóñez
The GPO is a league that is already underway. In fact, they were the first of the leagues listed herein to kick off their 2021 season. Like the majority of Latin American spring/summer leagues, they only play on the weekends and they do so with doubleheaders of two seven-inning games. The Nicaraguan league has been in existence since 1970 and in its present form consists of 18 teams spread out all throughout the country.
GPO is easily accessible as most of the teams use Facebook to live stream their games. It’s also a league that I have enjoyed watching because of the combination of atmosphere and intensity that permeates every game. Nicaraguan crowds love them some baseball and it really comes through in the GPO. The quality of the baseball is very good, around A to AA-level, but it’s really the fast and fun nature of the games when combined with the crowds that make the GPO worth checking out.
Liga de Béisbol Superior Doble A
Puerto Rico’s summer league also operates at around an A to AA-level. The kicker with Doble A is that it is not one league but rather two leagues (Liga Atlántica and Liga de Caribe) with a championship tournament, Carnaval de Campeones, at the end. The Doble A season will start on June 13th and use the same weekends-only format as mentioned above. Doble A has been in operation since 1940 and the 2021 season will consist of 43 teams all over the islands of Puerto Rico.
The 2021 version of Doble A will be much more truncated than usual with teams only playing a 12-game regular season. However, the playoffs and Carnaval de Campeones will be rather lengthy like usual. Doble A is worth checking out for the fun nature of the baseball being played. The crowds aren’t quite as raucous at a Doble A game as in other leagues, but the action is always fun and there tends to be a lot of great rivalries throughout the league. Some, but not all, Doble A teams stream their games on Facebook, so that is available as a viewing option.
Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
Mexico’s LMB is the oldest and highest quality of all the Latin American spring/summer leagues. The league typically operates around a AAA-level and has been in existence since 1925. LMB is also the one Latin American league that plays a full schedule. It’s been cut considerably this year for Coronavirus, but it’s usually 100+ games long. 2021’s Opening Day will take place on May 20th and 66 games plus multiple rounds of playoffs will follow.
The talent found in LMB is very high, featuring former top prospects and big leaguers. The action is really good and fun as well. When in the ballpark the fans are loud and make the games even better to watch. LMB has used a service in the past, LMB TV, to stream most league games. The price point isn’t bad, $10 for the whole season, but because of local TV deals, I would suggest consulting the Guide to see where exactly streams are coming from as the 2021 season commences.
