ZAPOPAN, Mexico – Less than 24 hours before Saturday’s Caribbean Series championship game, Benji Gil made a bold statement.
Asked at the press conference following Friday’s semifinal win about his friendly rivalry with Tomateros manager Lorenzo Bundy, who swept Gil’s Charros in the Serie del Rey in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol last September, the Jalisco skipper didn’t mince words.
“The only thing is, I got the better team. I got the better players. Maybe in the summer, maybe he has a better team, Gil said, acknowledging the dominance of Bundy’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the country’s summer league. But in the winter, where Gil’s Charros swept Bundy’s Tomateros in the best-of-seven Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico championship series in January. “We have the best team. There ain’t no doubt about it. And there ain’t nothing anybody can do. If we play our baseball, there’s nothing that can be done. We will win tomorrow.”
But for all Gil’s swagger on Friday night, the Charros couldn’t hold an early eight run lead, letting the Tomateros back in the game when they scored six runs in the top of the fourth, tied the game in the top of the ninth on a two-run homer by Victor Mendoza, then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Ali Solis.
The Charros held on to prove their manager right, though not without drama, winning the first Caribbean Series in franchise history in their fourth attempt, downing the Tomateros 12-11 in 10 innings when Tomateros reliever Lupe Chavez threw two wild pitches that allowed Julian Ornelas to score and tie the game and Michael Wielansky to score the winner, sending the crowd at Estadio Panamericano into a frenzy.
“We played last year the finals against them. Of the six games, three of them were extra innings. Only one game was not a one run game. And now today, we decided the Caribbean series in extra innings and another one run game,” Gil said of the wild swings. “They deserve a lot of credit too. I mean, it could have been easy to fold down 9-1 on the road, at the other team’s house… They never quit. But neither did our guys. We never stopped believing. And it’s easy to stop believing when something like that happens. But not for this squad, not for this squad, not for this group of players.”
Gil’s Charros got production from the bottom of the order early, sending eight men to the plate in the bottom of the second. After No. 8 hitter Leo Heras drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the second, a single by Jose Chavez got Heras to third, and another by leadoff man Connor Hollis sent him home for a 1-0 lead. With Chavez dancing off second, Tomateros catcher Ali Solis attempted a snap throw to pick him off, but the ball went into center field, allowing Chavez and Hollis to each advance one base. After Julian Ornelas drew a walk to load the bases, Michael Wielansky followed with a single to left, his series-leading 13th hit, to score Chavez and Hollis and give the Charros a 3-0 lead.
Estevan Florial and Jasson Atondo drew back-to-back walks to start the top of the third for the Tomateros, and each advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Ali Solis. Florial scored to cut the lead to 3-1 on a ground out to second by lead off man Carlos Sepulveda.
With Odrisamer Despaigne on the mound for Culiacan to start the bottom of the third, the Charros offense continued to ride roughshod over the Tomateros. Bligh Madris and Reynaldo Rodriguez drew consecutive one-out walks, and then Chavez drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. The third single of the night by Hollis send Madris and Rodriguez home to make it 5-1. Ornelas followed with a single to left, scoring Chavez and Hollis to make it 7-1.
An inning later, Braulio Torres-Perez took the mound for the Tomateros and gave up a leadoff single to Mateo Gil. Up came Bligh Madris, who sent Torres-Perez’s first offering over the right field wall and the bleachers behind it for his third homer of the series and a 9-1 lead.
Battling back in the top of the fifth, again the bottom of the Tomateros lineup provided a spark. Consecutive singles from Estevan Florial, Jasson Atondo, and Ali Solis got Florial home for the second time in the game and chased Charros starter Luis Ivan Rodriguez from the game. On came Miguel Aguilar, and two batters later, Allen Cordoba, who is on Panama’s roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, ripped a one-out double to left, scoring Atondo and Solis to cut the lead to 9-4.
Again, Benji Gil went to the bullpen, this time summoning stalwart reliever Jesus Cruz, and two batter later, Yadir Drake singled home Cordoba, and then Victor Mendoza singled off the right field wall. When Charros right fielder Bligh Madris misread the carom off the wall, Drake hustled home and Mendoza took second. Yet another single by Luis Verdugo scored Mendoza, and suddenly the Tomateros had made the eight-run lead shrink by 75% in an inning where they scored six runs on eight hits and sent 12 men to the plate.
Victor Mendoza led off the top of the seventh and sent the 0-1 offering from Gerardo Reyes over the wall in right center for a solo homer, cutting the Charros lead to one.
After Connor Hollis ripped his fourth single of the night with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Julian Ornelas launched a high fly to left that carried back to the track. Tomateros left fielder Estevan Florial leapt against the wall but couldn’t make the catch, and the ball hit the wall and stayed in the park, allowing Hollis to score to make it 10-8 and Ornelas to reach second.
Holding a two-run lead, Gil brought on Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico reliever of the year Matt Foster for the eighth, and faced the minimum, striking out Allen Cordoba swinging to end a 14-pitch battle.
On came Trevor Clifton for the ninth, and the lanky righty hit Yadir Drake with one out in the top of the ninth to give the Tomateros life. Then Victor Mendoza sent Clifton’s first pitch over the right field wall for his second homer of the game, tying the game at 10 apiece.
With Estevan Florial on second to start the top of the 10th inning, a sacrifice bunt by Jasson Atondo got Florial to third and then a sac fly by Ali Solis got him home ahead of the tag by Alexis Wilson for a 11-10 Tomateros lead.
Playing from behind for the first time in the game, the Charros advanced ghost runner Alexis Wilson to third with a sacrifice bunt by Connor Hollis, and then Julian Ornelas drew a walk to give Jalisco runners at the corner with one out. Michael Wielansky then hit a swinging bunt back to the mound, and Tomateros pitcher Lupe Chavez went to third, catching pinch runner Cristopher Gastelum in a run down and putting Culiacan an out away from the title.
After issuing Willie Calhoun an intentional walk, Mateo Gil came up with the tying run 90 feet away. With a 2-2 count, Chavez threw a sinker that hit the dirt and skittered to the backstop, allowing Ornelas to score the tying run. Gil battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to draw a walk and load the bases, bringing up Bligh Madris.
“I was just laser-focused on what I needed to do during that at-bat,” the younger Gil said. “It was obviously in my head, it’s like, ‘Awesome, we’re tied.’ But I was still thinking, ‘I still need to do the job.’ But there’s definitely more pressure put on him at that point. But I just was trying to get the next man up.”
With a 2-2 count to Madris, Chavez threw a slider that hit the dirt and eluded Solis, and Wielansky sprinted home to score the winning run, ending a wild back-and-forth championship game with a victory for the home team.
“Mateo gets about 70% off-speed, and when they did throw fastballs, he was right on them. I knew they were going to go to breaking ball. They were going to go to the changeup or the slider. And we kept yelling at third base, be ready for the wild pitch,” Gil said. “Then Bly came up, and he took two mega hacks on fastballs. and I think the same thing they said, ‘Well, we can’t get beat on a fastball, so we got to go with off speed,’ and and it happened again.”
NOTEBOOK – Wielansky was named the 2026 Caribbean Series MVP. The St. Louis native, who was drafted by the Houston Astros out of the College of Wooster, a Division III school in Ohio, scored the winning run and went 2-for-5 with two RBIs on Saturday night. He led the series with 14 hits and had six RBIs. … This was the third Caribbean Series championship game to go to extra innings. In 2017 in Culiacan, Puerto Rico’s Criollos de Caguas beat the Dominican Republic’s Aguilas Cibaenas 1-0 in 10 innings. The first Caribbean Series championship game, played in 2013, was the longest. Mexico’s Yaquis de Obregon beat the Leones del Escogido 4-3 in 18 innings. With the ghost runner rule now in effect, that record will likely never be broken. … Had the Tomateros won, they would have been the second team to have won with Caribbean Series after losing their league’s championship series, joining the D.R.’s Tigres del Licey, who won the 2008 Caribbean Series despite losing the LIDOM championship series to the Aguilas Cibaenas. The D.R. had two teams in that series, which was played in Santiago de Los Caballeros, D.R., because Puerto Rico’s LBPRC didn’t play a season and thus didn’t send a representative.
2026 Caribbean Series Schedule
All times Eastern Standard Time
* – If either or both Mexico teams advance to the semifinals, they will play the late game regardless of seeding.
MEX-G – Mexico Green
MEX-R – Mexico Red
PR – Puerto Rico
DR – Dominican Republic
PAN – Panama
Sunday, Feb. 1
Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 5, Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G) 4
Leones del Escogido (DR) 5, Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 4
Monday, Feb. 2
Leones del Escogido (DR) 5, Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 3
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 11, Federales de Chiriquí (PAN) 4
Tuesday, Feb. 3
Tomateros de Culiacan (MEX-G) 2, Federales de Chiriqui (PAN) 1
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 3, Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 0
Wednesday, Feb. 4
Leones del Escogido (DR) 16, Federales de Chiriquí (PAN) 15
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 4, Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G) 2
Thursday, Feb. 5
Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 8, Federales de Chiriquí (PAN) 3
Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G) 7, Leones del Escogido (DR) 4
Friday, Feb. 6
Tomateros de Culiacan 9, Leones del Escogido 4
Charros de Jalisco 8, Cangrejeros de Santurce 6
Saturday, Feb. 7
Charros de Jalisco 12, Tomateros de Culiacan 11 (10 Innings)
Photo: The Charros de Jalisco won the first Caribbean Series title in franchise history on Feb. 7, 2026, defeating the Tomateros de Culiacan 12-11 in a wild game. (Photo courtesy of the CBPC)
