The 2025 Baseball Champions League Americas is over, with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico easily capturing the title with a 6-1 win over Cuba’s Lenadores de Las Tunas.
With 17 players with Major League Baseball experience on the roster, the Diablos were far and away the best team in the tournament, although they did also play in the tournament’s closest game, a 6-4 win against Nicaragua’s Tigres de Chinandega on April 10. It was one of only two games — the other being the championship game — where at least one didn’t score more than 10 runs.
With the tournament over, here are some final thoughts on the second edition of the BCL Americas.
A Bigger Field Wasn’t A Stronger Field – The BCL Americas expanded to six teams this year, and the Liga Beisbol Profesional Colombiano dropped out, while Puerto Rico’s Liga Superior Doble ‘A’ and Nicaragua’s German Pomares League each sent their respective 2024 champions.
The Titanes de Florida, representing Puerto Rico, were not nearly on the level of the professional teams, as was expected, and struggled mightily to be competitive. They were outscored 40-17 in their three games and had only two players in the starting lineup for all three games — catcher Kerby Camacho and outfielder Jay Feliciano — batted over .300 at the BCL. Considering how badly pitchers struggled with the Mexico City altitude, the Titanes difficulties at the plate compared to the other five teams are only more significant. Add in their team ERA of 50.14, and you have a team that was a total non-factor.
Curacao’s Santa Maria Pirates had the opposite problem — they produced offensively, but couldn’t get batters out. With a population of just 150,000, Curacao doesn’t have a ton of top level pitchers appearing in its’ Double-A league, which the Pirates won in 2024. The best pitchers from the Dutch Caribbean are pitching elsewhere both during that league’s season and at this time of year, giving them limited options on the mound — which, combined with the thin air of Mexico City, magnified their lack of depth Ultimately, to find success at this event, Curacao is going to need to figure out how to shore up the pitching in the Double-A league (and the winter league, too) if they want to be competitive at this event in the future.
Statistical Distortion – Seven thousand, three hundred feet of elevation makes for some funny statistics in an event like this, especially with the talent gap between the six teams.
Five of six teams in the event batted over .300, with three teams batting over .400. Five of six teams had an OPS higher than 1.000, with the Kane County Cougars posting a 1.204 mark. Three teams hit at least 10 home runs over four games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. Four teams scored at least 40 runs. The Lenadores de Las Tunas scored an absurd 75 runs in four games, though nearly half of them came in the 31-7 stomping of the Santa Maria Pirates on April 9.
Comparing this year’s stats with the 2023 BCL Americas held at Parque Kukulkan Alamo, the home of the Leones de Yucatan in Merida, an expansive ballpark in a humid, tropical climate at sea level, you get the distinct impression that Mexico City’s altitude rewards batting and punishes ineffective pitching severely. At the 2023 BCL Americas, no team batted .300 and no team had an OPS above .800.
Shoulder Season – It’s difficult to plan an event like the BCL Americas, as it basically has to fall in either the postseason for the winter leagues or preseason for the summer leagues. With packed calendars during the regular season, playing the BCL games on off days during the regular season, as the BCL Europe does, isn’t an option due to the long travel involved.
In 2023, the Caimanes de Barraquilla, winners of the 2022-23 LPBC title, used the event as a preseason tune-up, as did the Diablos Rojos and Kane County Cougars this year. For the Titanes de Florida and the Lenadores de Las Tunas, this year’s BCL Americas fell during the regular season, requiring them to pause their league schedule.
Unfortunately, logistics make this a difficult event to plan, which is too bad, because it gives fans of the various leagues the chance to see their debates over “who’s better, who’s best” settled on the field. To make the event better, the World Baseball Softball Confederation needs to try and seek out parity, rather than mere interest, and fill the event with the champions of the highest level leagues possible. The Liga Superior Doble ‘A’ and Curacao’s Double-A Championship are just not on the same level as the American Association, Serie Nacional, and well below the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, which has rapidly developed into one of the two best summer leagues aside from Major League Baseball.
This lack of parity and poor timing also hurts the event at the box office. As we saw at the 2023 BCL Americas, afternoon games, which did not feature the host team, were sparsely attended, drawing only scouts, journalists, and the odd die-hard that can’t get enough baseball. It would seem 2025’s BCL Americas was similar, as the five afternoon games all had an announced attendance figure of less than 500. The four games involving the Diablos Rojos, who call Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu home, drew an average of 5,769 but attendance dropped off significantly, with the title game attracting 3,613 to the ballpark.
Ultimately, it’s not yet the regular season in Mexico City, and perhaps the market isn’t ready for baseball yet. Perhaps the fans didn’t grasp the event. Perhaps there wasn’t enough marketing done in advance — after all, fans don’t come out to baseball games they don’t know are being played.
Either way, the next time the BCL Americas is played, hopefully there will be more competitive games with better crowds.
Photo: Robinson Cano celebrates his 450-foot home run in the first inning of the 2025 Baseball Champions League Americas championship game. (Photo courtesy of the Diablos Rojos del Mexico)
