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Leon ran away with the Mexican League’s top seed at 108-54, repeating as South Division champ. The Lions’ playoff streak grew to four seasons as they allowed the fewest runs in the Central American Baseball Association at 534. Leon was also tied for the most scored in the ML at 719 along with Torreon. Mexicali won the North Division at 96-66. Although the Maroons got a repeat playoff berth, this was their first division title since 2007.

The four wild cards went to Cancun (92-70), San Luis Potosi (91-71), Torreon (90-72) and defending ML champ Guadalajara (86-76). Missing the cut was Mexico City (84-78), Monterrey (83-79), Ecatepec (82-80), and Puebla (81-81). The Captains and Hellhounds both earned repeat playoff trips. The Tomahawks ended a three-year drought and the Potros snapped a nine-year skid.

Despite being the last team in, Guadalajara’s pitching staff notably had 1718 strikeouts and a 10.67 K/9. Those ranked as the fifth-most Ks and second-best K/9 in CABA history. The Aztecs as the first team out saw their playoff streak ended at seven years. Last year’s top seed Tijuana notably fell from 104 wins to a lackluster 77-85. It was the first losing campaign since 2013 by the Toros. Meanwhile Juarez dropped to 71-91, their first losing season since 2013. The Jesters had won at least 80 games each season back to 2011. The last time that Tijuana and Juarez were concurrently below 80 wins was 1990.

The playoff miss didn’t stop Mexico City 2B Leonardo Martinez from repeating as Mexican League MVP. The 28-year old righty again led in home runs (56), RBI (124), total bases (395), and WAR (9.3). Martinez added 104 runs, 184 hits, a .308/.343/.661 slash, 1.004 OPS, and 201 wRC+. He stayed one more year with the Aztecs before getting a seven-year, $219,600,000 free agent deal in 2030 with Haiti.

Tijuana’s struggles didn’t hinder ace Richard Wright, who joined Junior Vergara as CABA’s only eight-time Pitcher of the Year winners. It was the fifth straight for Wright, who was in his tenth season for the Toros. The 30-year old Jamaican lefty led in wins (22-8), strikeouts (375), quality starts (24), complete games (15), shutouts (4), FIP- (39), and WAR (11.6).

Wright led in both Ks and WAR for the eighth time in his career. It was actually the first time since his rookie season that he DIDN’T win the ERA title. His 1.97 ranked third with Mexicali’s Stinky Pasillas taking first at 1.59. Wright notably had his fifth sub-two ERA season, posting 176 ERA+ over 247 innings. In 2028, Wright became, the 81^st CABA pitcher to 3000 career strikeouts.

The first round of the playoffs saw San Luis Potosi over Torreon and Guadalajara over Cancun, both 2-1. The division champs held firm in round two as Mexicali won 3-1 against the Potros and Leon swept the defending champ Hellhounds. The Lions made their first Mexican League Championship Series trip since their 2018 pennant. For the Maroons, they last made it with their 2007 title. Top-seeded Leon continued their overall dominance and took the MLCS 4-1 against Mexicali. The Lions secured their tenth Mexican League title, having also won in 1927, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1986, and 2018.



Last year, only one team in the Caribbean League won 100+ games. In 2028, four achieved that mark with a fierce battle for the top seed and two of the division titles. Guatemala ended up the #1 seed narrowly at 108-54 atop the Central Division, while West Division champ Santo Domingo was 107-55. The Ghosts grew their playoff streak to eight, while the defending CL winner Dolphins’ streak grew to four.

Both teams had historic offensive seasons. Santo Domingo scored the most runs in CABA history at 938. The excitement from that led to a new CABA attendance record as well at 2,868,844. Although Guatemala had only 850 runs by comparison, they set new CABA team records for batting average (.299), on-base percentage (.345), and hits (1712).

Even with these offenses, both only won their division titles by six games. In the Central, Honduras was 102-60 to grow their playoff streak to six. Bahamas went 101-61 in the West to extend their streak to four. It was the Buccaneers who allowed the fewest runs at 556.

Those teams also had tough battles for the three wild card slots. Haiti at 99-63 got the remaining spot while Nicaragua (97-65) and Havana (90-72) missed the cut. With that, five of the six playoff teams were repeats. The lone difference was Puerto Rico won a terrible East Division at 82-80, two games ahead of last year’s winner Suriname (80-82) and four better than Trinidad.

Santo Domingo 3B Jamel Forsyth won his second Caribbean League MVP, having previously won in 2024. The 31-year old Grenadan lefty led in the triple slash (.381/.428/.706), OPS (1.135), wRC+ (192), WAR (10.9), runs (131), and RBI (147). Forsyth also had 214 hits and 50 homers, falling eight short of a Triple Crown. The Dolphins gave their superstar a new four-year, $122 million extension the following spring.

Guatemala’s Israel Montague remained a force with his seventh Pitcher of the Year win of his nine-year career. The 31-year old Panamanian lefty earned his second Triple Crown with a 22-6 record, 1.96 ERA, and 398 strikeouts. It was Montague’s seventh ERA title and his fifth time with the most Ks.

He also led in WHIP (0.74), and K/BB (15.3) over 243 innings with a 204 ERA+. Surprisingly, Montague’s 10.5 WAR was second in the league. Bahamas ace Carlos Montes had 11.0 WAR, but comparatively had a 2.52 ERA and 324 Ks. Montague posted his sixth sub-two ERA season.

Bahamas edged Haiti 2-1 and Honduras swept Puerto Rico in the first round. Both wild cards then swept their high-powered foes in round two. The Buccaneers downed Guatemala 3-1 and the Horsemen survived 3-2 against defending champ Santo Domingo. After many years of mediocrity, Bahamas earned its third straight appearance in the Caribbean League Championship Series. Their lone title came against Honduras in 2026.

The Horsemen got their revenge over the Buccaneers 4-2 to end a 16-year pennant drought. Honduras was now 18-time Caribbean champs (1919, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1953, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1991, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2028). The Horsemen led all Caribbean teams and were now tied with Juarez for the most finals appearances. Honduras has been to the CLCS a staggering 44 times, which is the most LCS trips by any team in any world league.

With both teams successes, it was unsurprisingly not the first time that Honduras and Leon had met for the Central American Baseball Association Championship. That said, a few generations had passed since the three previous battles. In 1939, the Lions won their first-ever title in a seven-game classic. In 1942, the Horsemen got their revenge in another seven-game showdown. Round three came in 1959 with Leon surviving yet another seven-game thriller.



Round four in 2028 lived up to the historic billing with the 118^th CABA Championship also going the distance. Honduras evened things up against Leon to become nine-time CABA kings. (1926, 1940, 1942, 1958, 1963, 1993, 2003, 2011, 2028). This tied the Horsemen for the second-most with Santo Domingo, while Mexico City’s 11 held the top spot. Finals MVP went to 1B Grady Hall in his fifth season with Honduras. It was the first as a full-time starter for the 26-year old Jamaican. In 19 playoff starts, Hall had 26 hits, 11 runs, 4 doubles, 2 homers, 5 RBI, and 10 stolen bases.



Other notes: CABA’s 37^th perfect game came on May 31 from Guadalajara’s Vicente Perez with 16 strikeouts against Chihuahua. Noah Breton became the first with 900 CABA home runs. He was one of 20 players with 900+ professional homers through the 2028 campaign. Marcelo Campa became only the 26^th member of CABA’s 600 homer club and the 23^rd to 1500 runs scored. Luis Moran was the 64^th to reach 500 homers and Jonas Pimentel was the 63^rd to 2500 hits. Amauris Huerta was the 53^rd pitcher to 200 wins. SS Ferdinand Varela won his 7^th Silver Slugger.