Each of the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente’s six teams has played seven games in the 40-game regular season, and the Cangrejeros de Santurce are in first place with a 6-1 record.
The Cangrejeros suffered their first loss of the season yesterday, as the Gigantes de Carolina walked away with a 6-5 win. Santurce’s offense leads the LBPRC with 33 runs and 59 hits – no other club has surpassed the 30-run or 50-hit mark.
Sure, it’s a small sample size, but it’s also a promising sign for a club that seeks its first LBPRC championship and Caribbean Series visit since the 2019-20 campaign. Leading the way with the bat for the Cangrejeros is left fielder Spencer Packard, who has six extra-base hits, including two home runs, in his first 30 plate appearances. Packard also leads the league with nine RBIs.
Surely, this is not the start that former New York Mets and Chicago Cubs swingman Robert Gsellman envisioned when he decided to take his talents to Puerto Rico. He’s allowed four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings thus far with the Cangrejeros, including a two-run homer to Nelson Velázquez of the Criollos de Caguas last Sunday in a 7-3 win.
NPB’s Taguchi is Yet to Allow a Run – The Leones de Ponce have seemed to make a tremendous investment in a left-handed pitcher from Japan, Kazuto Taguchi. During the summer, Taguchi is a reliever with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Taguchi is not an NPB star by any means, moving back and forth between the Swallows’ top team and farm club the past five NPB seasons. But in the early goings of the 2025-26 LBPRC season, the Leones put their trust in him as a starter, and it’s paying off tremendously.
In his first three starts of the season, Taguchi has not allowed an earned run in 16 innings, striking out 19 while walking just three in the process. Most recently, he threw five scoreless innings on Tuesday night against the Senadores de San Juan in a 3-0 victory. As a part of Taguchi’s superb contributions, the Leones’ pitching staff now leads the LBPRC with a 1.31 ERA.
What’s Up With the Indios’ Offense? – To put it semi-nicely, with the way the Indios de Mayagüez are swinging the bats this season, they are probably not playing cards and singing karaoke on team bus rides.
The Indios are miraculously 3-4 through seven games despite owning a team batting average of .157 and a team OPS of .426. Oof. They are yet to score more than four runs in a contest, as opponents have held them to two runs or fewer six times. Luckily, Mayagüez has already won a pair of 1-0 games against the Gigantes.
The only player showing signs of life, at least on offense, is third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. Rivera, who played 43 games during this past Major League Baseball season with the Baltimore Orioles, has six hits in 20 at-bats. Of the seven players who have recorded at least 20 plate appearances with the Indios this season, only two of them have recorded an extra-base hit – outfielder Narcisco Crook and second baseman Isan Díaz.
LBPRC Standings as of Wednesday, Nov. 19
1. Cangrejeros de Santurce (6-1)
T2. Gigantes de Carolina (5-2)
T2. Leones de Ponce (5-2)
4. Indios de Mayagüez (3-4)
5. Criollos de Caguas (1-6)
6. Senadores de San Juan (1-6)
Where to Watch – Puerto Rico’s LBPRC streams its games live on its YouTube page and on the league’s official app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
