El Infield con Freddy Chersia, Efraín Zavarce y Carlos Valmore 🔥⚾
EP 186. ¿Qué deja el paso de Japan Breeze? ¿Qué tipo de tipo equipo debería ser invitado a las Caracas 2026?
#ElInfield #Beisbol #SDC #Mexicali
EP 186. ¿Qué deja el paso de Japan Breeze? ¿Qué tipo de tipo equipo debería ser invitado a las Caracas 2026?
#ElInfield #Beisbol #SDC #Mexicali
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00:00.
00:12Welcome baseball fans to a new edition of the infield podcast through baseball play, we greet Carlos Balmores Rodríguez, Efraín Zavarce and Freddy Chercia.
00:30Today culminates the moment we are recording this edition, the series of the Mexican Caribbean 2025 will end tonight.
00:41And we want to share with you our impressions of what this edition has been and of course that you can also post your comments and we will read them and probably be able to have a communication with respect to what this Caribbean series has been.
01:01Guys, Carlos, how do you rate this 2025, this stage of the Caribbean series?
01:11It was another success that Mexico is aiming at as the organizer of the Caribbean series and we can analyze that in light of the receptivity that the contest had with stadiums practically from start to finish.
01:35And I would say that without exception, always 10,000, 11,000 and of course 17,000, which is the total capacity of the Eagle's Nest when the Mexican champion played.
01:51So from an organizational point of view, from the point of view of the show, from the point of view of the business, Mexico is again aiming at a triumph as the host of the Caribbean series.
02:06I think that the confederation in general must feel very satisfied, it must be even exultant because there are already at least three consecutive Caribbean series with great attendance.
02:19We were lucky enough to cover the two previous ones on the site, Caracas 2023 and Miami 2024.
02:25They were high quality events and very emotional also by the public, by the stages in which it was played.
02:33We were not present at the Eagle's Nest, but we understand that it is a remodeled stadium, it is a stadium with many attractions for the fans beyond the main thing, which is what is played on the pitch.
02:48We do understand, from the testimony of fellow journalists who were lucky enough to be there, that there is a deficiency in terms of the structure for the media.
03:03It is not the most suitable place in these times for an event, for a show, for a contest like the Caribbean series of recent years, which has a lot of television coverage.
03:22There are few booths, the press box is small, but the main thing in this case is that the audience does have comforts and from that point of view it is obvious that there was a tremendous success.
03:44I believe even without precedents in the fact that in the games in which the host team was not present, there was an average attendance of just over 10,000 fans, just over 10,000 tickets sold and that is something that one does not see in Caribbean series.
04:09We did not see it in Miami, we did not see it in Caracas 2023.
04:12There was a great presence of the public even on the day the Charros rested, it was not even that people were waiting for the second hour for the participation of their team.
04:27That day Charros de Jalisco was not going to play and the next two days there were a lot of people at the stadium.
04:33What surprised me, and in fact for a moment I came to think that when they gave the attendance of the first game, it was that people came in, there was a moment when they closed the entrances and there they published the attendance to then continue to the next.
04:56In fact, Efraín was the one who in a conversation with Alexander Mendoza, Efraín tells me, well no, the stadium empties it and then they open it again so that people come in for the second game.
05:13And that caught my attention because seeing games constantly in the first hour, and that has happened in all the Caribbean series, in the first hour games the attendance is bad.
05:28Well, here the lowest attendance of the game in which the team of Mexico was not selected was of 11,000 and so many people, an important figure, a very good figure taking into account that the home team is not there.
05:46Yes, that points to success, I think according to what was seen in most of the meetings on the field of play. There is an issue that I want to emphasize and it has to do with, although it is very important that the attendance has the event because the public, I believe that the presence of the public and its intensity
06:13helps a lot to raise the level of the show. The players feel it, a big difference when they play in an empty stadium to when they do it in a full stage. You even feel it as a communicator when you have to transmit a meeting in which there is no audience.
06:36One of course tries to give his best, as the players do, but there is an issue that has to do with the adrenaline that is not present and does occur when the stadium is full. We saw that in Caracas 2023, we saw it in Miami 2024.
06:52That does not even feel that it makes you feel that you have more energy, more rhythm when transmitting. Imagine the players, all that is very good with respect to what we saw in Mexicali 2025.
07:10This event was transmitted again by several channels in a few countries of the Caribbean basin and also in the United States, ESPN Deportes and MLB Network, which is the main baseball television platform in the United States for obvious reasons.
07:33I insist, this is not the first time we have talked about this issue. The Confederation of the Caribbean has to ensure that the quality of the television broadcasts is as good as possible. In this case, again, the transmission, the direction of the Caribbean TV was very deficient.
07:56At least in Venezuela, we are sure that there are directors sufficiently trained and cameramen to do a better job than the one we saw in Mexicali. The main source of business for a sporting event is in television rights. The Confederation has to take care of that, it has to improve it.
08:17There is a point in which to evolve, and for a long time, and the truth is that I do not understand why that does not end.
08:26Those open shots in which the game was not very clear, the detail of the game was not lost.
08:37Well, we were broadcasting every day from a studio, of course, the signal we have is the same that people see at home watching the game. We even made games on the radio, and I'm going to tell you something.
08:54I think I did not ... the open shots when they went, for example, to the gardens, I, to be able to describe what I was seeing, I had to wait to see the reaction of the gardener to know what was happening, if the ball came from the air, if the ball had passed, if it came from the track, because I did not differentiate it.
09:16It even happened to me, I remember a play, I think it was a shot from Maro Vargas, to the right field, the open shot, and I see the gardener, the gardener takes the ball with the glove up, and grabs the ball.
09:34And I have not fixed it, no, the ball had stung, but the goal had been very high, and that goal could never be noticed. The truth is that the transmission left much to be desired. It is a pity that in a beautiful stadium, as Efraín said, a nice stadium to see a baseball game, because the stadiums of the Mexican League, the ones we have seen lately have been first world stadiums.
10:05With all the technological advantages that exist today to make a quality transmission, but here it was not a lack of equipment, or that they were obsolete, no, no, the direction of the transmission as such, the same cameramen,
10:31it's a shame to say it, but we have to mention it like this, the transmissions were bad.
10:39And that's how that same transmission came out, I think the best example of this was what happened with Alexia Marita's horn, to finish the game of the Cardinals against the Japan Breeze, which also had the relevance of being a pass to the semifinal against the Indoor Room.
11:01Well, whoever had to narrate that game, and I suppose it was like that for all the narrators, surely they did not have the possibility to show off as they deserved the occasion, because in principle it was not clear what had happened with the goal.
11:22Well, I ended up being surprised when I found out it was John Romo.
11:29Well, I had to narrate it, and here I remember, for example, other colleagues who were in other media, our friend Fernando Arreaza, Luis Enrique Sequeira, Ernesto Jerez, I have not spoken with any of them about that.
11:49But when the goal came out, I started to narrate it, and you don't know if the ball is out, if it's foul, if it's going to hit, you have no idea what's going to happen with that connection.
12:04When, for example, I realize that it was John Romo, when I see that Amarista passes by first and runs towards the second, I say, ah, the ball is gone. And in fact, the next day, in a broadcast, they put the repetition of the John Romo of the day before, that is, the square of Amarista, and there was a shot in front where you can see the ball when it comes out.
12:29I said to the air, hey, I finally see the John Romo of Amarista.
12:35Yes, yes, of course, the vast majority of the channels that broadcast the event, which were many, I repeat, in many countries, did not have the opportunity to be there, among other things because there were few booths in the Nido de los Águilas, so that is an issue to be improved on.
12:53Let's take a break and we'll be back to continue talking about Mexicali 2025.
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13:24A point that, I want to know your opinion, is Japan Breeze. And to me, honestly, I was left with a bitter taste with that team. But I would like to know your opinion. Let's see, I don't know if I'm very radical.
13:49I think the idea of the confederation of having representatives of baseball that do not belong to the Caribbean basin is magnificent. I think it's very good, especially if they represent the Asian market. Japan, South Korea, where I like baseball so much.
14:13You would go to the globalization, where everyone is going.
14:16Of course, I think it's very good. And if at some point, from Japan, an entrepreneur offers money to take the Caribbean series, I imagine that for the confederation it will be very good, because they will probably have more income than those who already get here. I don't know if it's good for the Latin American fan, but we are seeing that these things are happening in other latitudes.
14:39In leagues, even very strong, like the European Football League. But there has to be a balance between what the business represents, what the confederation could represent, the presence of Japan Breeze, and the quality of what any team can offer on the field of play.
15:01Japan Breeze is not at the level that one sees, and that is clear in the Caribbean series. And that team does not correspond, does not do justice to the quality of Japanese baseball. That's how it is.
15:18And we are not saying this because they lost the four games. They lost the four games, they only competed in one, in another they were interrupted, they lost by knockout, and they ended up having a differential of minus 27 in those four games.
15:32Those players who were here, but who were there, we saw them here in a star game, in which they lost, but in a decorous way, three races for one, but it turns out that after that team, six pitchers were hired by Venezuelan teams, and during the qualifying round, between the six pitchers, they left an efficiency of 7.20.
15:54Only one could really serve, which was the one hired by Aragua, in three openings, I think it did not make much difference. Hirama left an efficiency of 4.82, if I remember correctly, which for the league is not bad, but in three openings he only threw nine innings and a third.
16:17That team, that team has nothing to do in the series of the Caribbean.
16:24For a star game, a star game is a show.
16:31Now, for a star game, it seemed wonderful to me, to have that experience, to see Alex Ramirez leading even the Japanese team, there I agree.
16:42Now, to take those young people, because I'm going to tell you something, for example, I remember two days before the Caribbean series, I was sitting watching the rosters of the five teams, I was looking for information, because in two days we started with the event,
17:02and I had to call Ivan Medina to ask him about five names, or five pitchers from this team, from Japan Breeze, that I could not find a reference to them anywhere.
17:16I mean, I had no idea, but absolutely nothing, and there was nothing on the web that told you that those guys were ball players.
17:27Yes, because we are in the era of the web, we are doing this program in 1968.
17:30Exactly, and when I called Ivan, I told him, Ivan, I have five pitchers here that I don't know where they came from, I mean, can you tell me?
17:40He told me, maybe they are the same five that I'm looking for, so-and-so, so-and-so, ah, they are the same, so I lost the call.
17:47I was saying that if Japan Breeze competed in at least two games, they would win the right to continue for Caracas 2026.
18:00They didn't do it, they didn't compete, but in a single clash against the Mayaguez Indians, the only one in which they were willing to offer resistance.
18:14The rest of the commitments were swept away, basically, with a knockout, with 12 games in a row.
18:22The Mexicans, who were halfway through, were sent off without any setbacks.
18:29They will be present in 2026, hopefully with a different squad, I don't think they will learn much from here in a year.
18:39These same players, I don't think they can become players capable of competing in a competition like this in the Caribbean Series.
18:52But it is absolutely necessary that if they are going to be there, that they are more or less equipped in terms of competitive ability with the rest of the competitors.
19:03Otherwise, I really don't see the benefit of having those Japanese players there in the Caribbean Series.
19:14It is to see, and I said this in one of the radio broadcasts, it is to see four professional teams and one amateur team.
19:24Well, but to a good extent, a good part of those players can be qualified as amateurs, unfortunately.
19:34By the way, the quality of that team does not correspond to who is its manager, due to the career of Alex Ramirez as a professional player.
19:45I read some statements from Alex Ramirez, in which he is obviously not going to say that his team is below the level of the competition.
19:57But you read between the lines that, well, practically what he meant was, look, these players want to play, they have everything, but what are they going to do?
20:09They are far below the other four teams.
20:12I would also like to do a lot of things.
20:15I would like to drive a rocket and the moon, but I can't.
20:19Very few rescuable cases among that Japanese squad.
20:27Because they wanted the uniforms, because it was horrible.
20:30In truth, the second base, I don't remember the name.
20:39Hamada.
20:41Hamada, that was more or less presentable.
20:43But he didn't hit anyone.
20:45Tashoka, the central gardener.
20:47Sato, the designated batter.
20:50Other than that, there wasn't much to see in that Japanese squad.
20:57You know that Wilfredo Cordero, Coco Cordero, the manager of the Mayagüez Indians,
21:03before that game, in which they won, but unlike a race, the only one in which Japan Breeze really competed,
21:11said, and he didn't say it, I understand, in a derogatory way, according to what a journalist told me in that press conference,
21:20but he said, when they asked him about the Caribbean series, that there is a team that is not competing.
21:27Well, that team barely won the game, because Mayagüez ended up losing a race.
21:35But he was right.
21:37Japan Breeze was not competing.
21:40So the confederation, I think, has to be very careful with that matter,
21:46because remember, transmission rights are being paid, of course,
21:53in a tournament in which there are five teams, one does not compete, well,
21:57suddenly people focus, in this case, on Jalisco, Escogido, Mayagüez, Lara, that was the order of arrival.
22:07But one expects, since it is a professional tournament that generates transmission rights,
22:14that sells tickets, tickets to attend the games, that all that team that is there is going to compete.
22:22That is the ideal of professional sport.
22:27And that is why the confederation must be very careful.
22:31I don't feel good knowing that they are going to be here again.
22:34Exactly.
22:36Because, as Balmore says, this is not learning a language,
22:39that you say, well, maybe next February I will speak better English, or I will learn Italian.
22:47This is professional baseball, and these are not kids who are playing in that team.
22:55How can that team really improve?
22:57Well, they will have to hire other players, but these are not going to be much better.
23:04So, the confederation must be very careful.
23:09Let's take another break, and when we return, I think it's good to start talking about Caracas 2026.
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23:48Caracas 2026 is coming.
23:51Thanks to Mexico, Mexico has been important for the Caribbean Series.
23:55In those years when there was an economic recession in the Caribbean,
23:59that neither Venezuela, nor Puerto Rico, nor the Dominican Republic had the economic muscle to take care of the series,
24:08Mexico said, don't worry, I'll take care of it.
24:11And there were several series in which Mexico was the host,
24:15and Mexico helped this rebirth of this event that year after year brings together all Latin American baseball.
24:24Efraín said two blocks ago that Caracas and Miami were important in the last two editions for the Caribbean Series.
24:36That is so true that the next two venues will be Caracas and Miami.
24:42Caracas now, we already know, eight teams, three venues.
24:47It will be played in the Monumental, in the Universitario, and in Makuto.
24:50Unlike the previous one, the Universitario did not play that time.
24:56Now it will.
24:59Don't you think eight teams is excessive?
25:03It depends on the quality of the teams, I think.
25:07Because the three venues are for Caracas.
25:11By the way, I suppose that the teams that are projected will generate more attention,
25:20they will be the ones that will play in the Monumental,
25:23and well, we will continue with respect to the Universitario and the Forum Laguaire,
25:30because there will be people who prefer, due to the characteristics of one stage over the other,
25:35to go to the Monumental to a greater extent, that's what I think.
25:38Eight teams, it depends on the quality of the teams.
25:43That's what I can say.
25:46If it's Japan Breeze, we won't have a good series.
25:50I'm excited about the panorama of Caracas 2026,
25:58with those eight teams from Asia, Europe, America.
26:03It won't be a Caribbean Series, it will be a Club World Cup.
26:05A Club World Cup, that's what it is.
26:08Yes.
26:10A team from South Korea.
26:12South Korea, Japan Breeze, an Italian team, the possibility of Cuba,
26:17and of course the four net members of the Confederation.
26:22Those would be the eight.
26:25I'm excited about the idea, but what Efraín says,
26:29if we are going to see Korean teams,
26:31I want it to be a legitimate representation of the quality of baseball in that country,
26:38which is a power.
26:40That's a competitive league.
26:42Strong.
26:44Where good money is paid, where there is a first-level show.
26:50Well, I want to see that here.
26:52Not a musty reflection of what happens in the South Korean ball,
26:59that it is really a delegation that is able to compete.
27:04And if players come from the highest ranks of Korean baseball,
27:12they can compete with any Caribbean team, surely.
27:17And it will be an occasion to see players from this area who are there,
27:23and because of their contracts and commitments, they cannot be here.
27:26Maybe we'll see them in that Caribbean series.
27:30Let's see what the Italian representation is like.
27:34How is that going to be handled?
27:36Who will be there?
27:38The Cuban case that always generates debate about
27:45what is the nature of their presence in the Caribbean series.
27:52All very well, as long as a minimum standard of competitive quality is guaranteed.
28:04Let's not see other reproductions of Japan Breeze, please.
28:08Yes, I completely agree.
28:12The Italian league, look, there are two cases regarding the Italian league
28:16that I believe are still undervalued in some circles.
28:23Because they see it as a semi-professional league.
28:27It is true that it does not have the characteristics in some cases
28:31typical of a professional baseball league, as one knows it,
28:35because it is not played every day.
28:39But there are two specific cases of Venezuelans who,
28:43after playing there, went to the major leagues.
28:49Oscar Salazar and Junior Guerra.
28:52And well, I don't know if Oscar Salazar and Junior Guerra have anything to do
29:00with that effect produced by your cell phone, Freddy.
29:05But the truth is that this is a league to which some professional baseball players
29:11of a certain quality, Venezuelans and from other parts of the Caribbean, have played.
29:17They have remained active and at some point they have come back to life
29:23in the teams, in the leagues of the teams or in the teams of the main leagues of their countries.
29:31It remains to be seen exactly if it is going to be a particular team of the Italian league,
29:37if it is going to be a selection of Italian baseball players
29:41or a selection of Italian league baseball players with different nationalities.
29:45I hope so. I hope so. A selection with the best of the Italian league series.
29:52Where there are players who can be attractive, interesting and who can give a worthy show.
29:59And I'm sure they can give a better show than the Lillapalm Breeze.
30:03Yes, I think that 99% of professional teams can play better than what we saw
30:13from Japan Breeze in this Mexicali series. I think so.
30:19There will be something more to look at in an Italian delegation
30:27that we still don't know how it will be made and in what terms.
30:30Yes, I know that a few years ago, not many years ago, 10 years approximately,
30:38there were serious conversations to make a kind of league of champions of professional teams
30:46of Caribbean baseball, of Latin America and of Europe.
30:52Let's see if something happens here, considering the differences that may exist
30:58between a baseball, between some circuits and others.
31:03But I don't see, on the contrary, the possibility that here in Caracas
31:11next year there will be 8 teams. What the Confederation has to guarantee
31:16is that there will be 8 teams of level to really compete.
31:20And what do you think? You can leave us your comments and we will gladly answer them
31:25and mention them in the next edition of Infield Podcast.
31:30We say goodbye. Carlos Balmores Rodríguez, Efraín Sabarse and Freddy Echercia.
31:35Until next week.
31:37This episode of Infield Podcast was presented by Apuestas Royal.
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