LMB: Olmecas de Tabasco and Toros de Tijuana lead heading into All-Star weekend

The Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (LMB) tournament began back in April, with 18 teams divided into two groups: North (Norte) and South (Sur). So far, Union Laguna and Toros de Tijuana lead the Grupo Norte while Olmecas de Tabasco are two games away to Diablo Rojos, the closest competitor in Grupo Sur.

Diablos Rojos de México, a team with a history stretching as far back as 80 years, have won a total of 16 titles – the most in LMB history. Tigres de Quintana Roo are the next most successful team, with 12 championships in their 65 year history.

Sultanes and Algodoneros lead Grupo Norte

Toros de Tijuana and Unión Laguna lead Grupo Norte with a record of 28-16, while Sultanes de Monterrey and Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos have lost ground in the last two weeks, sitting two games away from the leaders.

Sultanes needed a win to keep their hunt for the top spot alive, and did so with an 8-7 win over Tecos de Los Dos Laredos in their last outing. A Villanueva solo home run came in the 10th inning, which did the damage.

Elsewhere, an error from Allen Córdova gave Algodoneros the win in the 11th inning (5-4) over Generales de Durando.

Olmecas top of the tree in Grupo Sur

The leaders Olmecas de Tabasco scored four runs in the third inning to defeat Mariachis de Guadalajara 8-1 in their last gmae. Pitcher Torres Pérez registered seven wins in five innings and now lead Grupo Sur (31-14), two games ahead of Diablos Rojos de México. Diablos Rojos (28-15) beat Leones de Yucatán 10-8, with Arredondo registering 3 RBIs in the match.

Individual leaders

Fernando Villegas is the LMB batting leader with a .411 average. He has registered 62 hits, including seven home runs. He has also registered 32 RBIs in 151 bats.

The Venezuelan Yoimer Camacho (Pericos de Puebla) has the best pitching record (7-0) in nine matches. In the last match, Camacho registered a perfect game with no hits and no runs against Guerreros de Oaxaca.

Stars Game

This coming weekend, the LMB will play out the 89th edition of the Stars Game. The event will be hosted in Tabasco – the home of Olmecas – after almost 40 years since its last game.

The match, as always, sees players from Grupo Norte take on players from Grupo Sur. Here’s how team Norte looks:

And here’s how their opponents stack up: