The Aguilas de Mexicali added a former Major Leaguer on Sunday when Estevan Florial, who played in 84 MLB games over five season with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians between 2020-24, joined the roster.
A native of Barahona, Dominican Republic, Florial previously played winter ball for the Leones del Escogido of LIDOM from the 2020-21 season through 2022-23, appearing in 56 games and hitting six homers and driving in 53 runs with a .923 OPS.
In Sunday’s 3-1 road win at Guasave, Florial went 1-for-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts, singling Irving Lopez in the top of the first for the Aguilas.
Florial spent the summer of 2025 with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization, where he played 65 games with 70 hits and 28 extra-base hits, went 13-for-16 stealing, and slashed .271/.333/.450 while primarily playing center field. He batted .194/.291/.329 with four homers and 22 RBIs in MLB.
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Pitching Performance of the Season So Far – The same game where Estevan Florial made his debut also featured the best pitching performance of the season so far, with five Mexicali pitchers combining to throw a one-hitter in the 3-1 Aguilas win over Guasave.
Victor Juarez threw five scoreless, no-hit innings as the starter, walking two and striking out two before handing the ball off to the bullpen. Alonso Becerra went 1/3 of an inning and yielded to Jose Marquez, who finished off the sixth inning with a strikeout of Jose Alvarez. Gabriel Ponce threw the seventh, walking one and striking out two, and Jesus Cruz threw a perfect ninth.
On came Jake Sanchez for the ninth, and the Aguilas were one out from a combined no-hitter when Kristian Delgado’s two-out double broke it up.
Estaban a 1 out🥲
Kristian Delgado rompe el sin hit ni carrera combinado, con batazo al jardín al izquierdo.#LigaARCO⚾ pic.twitter.com/i6qzrRQ2tV
— Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico (@Liga_Arco) October 27, 2025
Carlos Arellano followed with a triple that scored Delgado for Guasave’s lone run, and Sanchez induced a ground out to short from pinch hitter Orlando Pina to end the game.
Madris Mashing Early – Bligh Madris doesn’t get a hit in every game, but when he does, they come in bunches, and often with runners in scoring position. The Charros de Jalisco first baseman leads the LAMP with 17 RBIs through 11 games, 15 of those RBIs coming with runners in scoring position — a situation where Madris is batting .526 with an .889 slugging percentage and 1.415 OPS. So far, he’s had four multi-hit games this season, during which he’s driven in 13 runs with 13 hits, including six doubles, a triple and a homer.
It’s Never Too Early to Think About the Playoffs – As you may remember, the LAMP divides the season into two 34-game halves, and awards points to each team based on their finish in each half of the season to determine playoff seeding. First place in each half gets a team 10 points, second place gets nine, and so on. Teams are seeded for the playoffs in order of total points , with the team with the highest number of points being seeded first, the team with the eighth-most points seeded eighth, with the teams with the ninth- and 10th-most points missing the playoffs.
With 10 games gone by, no one is out of the playoffs, at least not yet. But a finish in the bottom two spots in the first half means that a team will need to significantly improve in the second half — likely finishing among the top five — to get into the postseason. So far, the Algodoneros de Guasave and Venados de Mazatlan are tied for ninth at 2-9, two games back of eighth-place Tucson. With 23 games left in the first half, both teams will need to turn it on to avoid making the second half a “do-or-die” situation — or one where they’re just playing out the string.
Pitcher of the Week – Jaguares de Nayarit pitcher Faustino Carrera won the LAMP’s Pitcher of the Week award for after two solid outings against the Tomateros de Culiacán and Charros de Jalisco. In 12 innings of work over the two starts, he posted a 2.25 ERA with nine strikeouts.
Photo: Bligh Madris of the Charros de Jalisco has been swinging a hot bat at the start of the 2025-26 winter ball season.
