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Valencia won the Bolivar League North Division in 1948 for their first-ever playoff berth. The Velocity had a 98-64 record, finishing five games ahead of Bogota. Defending Copa Sudamerica champ Medellin fell to a distant third at 79-83. With Valencia's berth, that leaves Quito, Guayaquil, and Montevideo as the only Beisbol Sudamerica teams without at least one playoff berth in the organization's first 18 seasons. In the South Division, Cali claimed first at 97-65, their second straight title. La Paz was second at 88-74.

Quito’s Carlos Vargas won the Bolivar League MVP. The 28-year old Bolivian 1B led the league in hits (208), doubles (42), average (.357), OBP (.407), OPS (.910), wRC+ (170), and WAR (7.9). Barry Hernandez picked up the Pitcher of the Year split between Callao and Bogota. The 31-year old Peruvian had a league-best 1.74 ERA, 10.8 WAR and 31/34 quality starts with 340 strikeouts.



The Liga Cono Sur division champs for the third straight season were Belo Horizonte and Buenos Aires. The Hogs had the best overall BSA record at 104-58; a franchise record, to take the Brazil Division. The Atlantics only narrowly extended their postseason streak to eight seasons, tying La Paz for the longest streak. BA was first in the South Division at 89-73 with Santiago two back, Cordoba six back, and Asuncion seven back.

Southern Cone MVP went to Asuncion 1B Adrian Calvo. The 23-year old in his third full season had a monster season leading the league in home runs (56), RBI (118), runs (102), OBP (.385), slugging (.642), OPS (1.026), wRC+ (253) and WAR (11.9). The WAR total was the third highest single-season total for a BSA hitter to date. Buenos Aires’s Rolando Salva won his first Pitcher of the Year. The 28-year old in his second season with the Atlantics posted a league-best 11.2 WAR, 372 strikeouts, and 0.73 WHIP.

In the Bolivar League Championship Series, Cali defeated Valencia 4-1 to give the Cyclones their first league title in six finals appearances. After dropping the last two, Belo Horizonte finally overcame Buenos Aires by winning the Southern Cone Championship in five games. This would end an impressive 1940s run for the Atlantics, as they wouldn't make the final again until 1963. In Copa Sudamerica, the Hogs won in five games over the Cyclones for their first overall title. They're the first Brazilian team to take the cup since Brasilia in 1938.





Other notes: On June 14, Lauro Almeida of Buenos Aires threw a perfect game with eight strikeouts against Fortaleza. Three pitchers crossed 4000 career strikeouts, making it six who have done it. Timoteo Caruso, Pascal Aguirre, and Evan Yho each crossed that threshold in 1948. All three also made it to 200 career wins. Jonathan Iglesia became the third reliever to 400 saves. Offensively, Matias Amaro made it to 400 home runs, the seventh to do so. Diego Pena became the ninth to 1000 RBI and Julio Cesar Galindo became the ninth to 1000 runs scored. SS Diego Pena became the third BSA player to win 10 Silver Sluggers.