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Once the playball of the 2024 season of the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Some of the new rules have divided fans, between those who accept them because they generate more spectacle and those who criticize them because they consider that they will harm the development of players.
This is the provision so that in the next two seasons the teams have 20 players not born in Mexico, with 18 national elements. However, the origin of this measure is, according to the league itself, so that the teams concentrate on, little by little, promoting the generation of baseball players for themselves and so that they go to the Major League baseball.
“We practically grew from seven foreigners to having 20 foreigners per franchise, which clearly causes you to have a limitation in being able to align the Mexicans, but remember that we have a six-year process. Every two years instead of now having 20 foreigners we will go to 18 foreigners and we will have 20 Mexicans; In year 28 and 29 we are going to have 16 foreigners and we are going to have 22 players born in Mexico,” he explains. Horacio de la Vega, president of the LMB in an interview with El Financiero.
This expansion of foreign players has allowed teams to be reinforced with players who have had a successful past in the Major Leagues, two of the most obvious cases being those of Trevor Bauer and Robinson Canó with the Red Devils of Mexico.
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While the objective is reached, de la Vega points out, that it is 65 percent of those born in Mexico On the rosters, young talents are expected to take advantage of the experience of those figures who are arriving in the league.
“I believe that all these great players, in addition to having another type of character, already have a great deal of accumulated experience. “They must provide advice, support, and growth precisely to these new generations of Mexican baseball players.”
Part of this measure was also due to the fact that in previous seasons, some teams abused the opening they were given to naturalize some Mexican players.
Show and experience for the fan, the LMB’s bet
In this beginning of the 2024 LMB season some places such as Mexico City, Guadalajara or Tijuana They have had a great response from the fans, while in others there has been a bit of a struggle to seduce fans to come to the park, while two places, Chihuahua and Querétaro, will debut this year with the aim of having an important response .
Before this panorama, The League is committed to attracting new fans, those who do not have such extensive knowledge of numbers, but who like to go to the stadiums to have a pleasant experience, derived from the fact that the age of the fans rose too much in past years, reaching an average of more than 50 years.
“We have lowered that and we have put a lot of emphasis on it, precisely on the new fans at that base of the pyramid, where they do not know the sport, but you invite them to see a great experience and who little by little are getting into baseball, but at through a test of a great sports and entertainment experience and everything that baseball offers, interaction, gastronomy,” says Horacio de la Vega.
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For this reason, in the technological part, the league seeks to ensure that fans have at hand the television broadcasts of the different squares and through various channels, both in the open system, satellite or through social networks.
The female vision of baseball
After the conclusion of the first season of the Mexican Softball Leaguein which significant attendance was recorded in the stands, notably female audiences, so this sector will have an important boost, both to continue with the softball tournament, and to there are more female baseball players on the diamond, in the stands, as umpires or as part of the coaching staff.
“These games were a great spectacle, with our competitive level also very high and well, we are going to continue promoting it. I believe that it is our duty as a league to promote the development of women’s sports as well.
“We chose softball, instead of baseball, because there is a much broader base, because the growth potential in women’s softball is much greater than in baseball and this and also goes hand in hand with the Los Angeles Olympic Games (2028) where softball is also incorporated into the Olympic program,” indicates the president of the LMB.
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This Friday, April 26, the first home game of the Querétaro Conspiratorsthe new LMB franchise, in its newly built stadium, which, de la Vega points out, is a sign that there is interest in expanding the sport to new areas of the country that have never experienced it.
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