The Liga Mexicana de Beisbol announced the 2025 Rising Stars Tournament, which will be played at Sherwin Williams Beto Avila Stadium in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 7-29.
The six-team tournament for players ages 15-20 is being organized by the LMB in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s Mexico City office and supported by the government of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
“This is the first tournament in history jointly organized by the most important baseball organizations in the Americas,” commented Rodrigo Fernández, the General Director of MLB Mexico, in Spanish at a news conference in Mexico City Wednesday. “It will raise the level of prospects, so they could make the jump to LMB rosters sooner and reach the Major Leagues sooner.”
The six participating teams are the Acereros de Monclova, Diablos Rojos del México, Leones de Yucatán, Sultanes de Monterrey, an LMB Combined team which will be comprised of players from the Toros de Tijuana, Tigres de Quintana Roo, Bravos de León, Algodoneros del Unión Laguna, Olmecas de Tabasco, Conspiradores de Querétaro, and Caliente de Durango, and a team from the Bachillerato Tecnológico de Educación y Promoción Deportiva, Mexico’s Technological High School of Education and Sports Promotion.
“The tournament will boost the growth and competition of the young talents developed by LMB clubs,” said LMB President Horacio de la Vega at the press conference. “This tournament was proposed to MLB during working meetings held in New York, precisely to promote the development and competition of the best Mexican talent in the LMB. It is important to highlight the excellent relationship between the LMB and MLB.”
Following the completion of the Rising Stars Tournament, a team will be selected to participate in the 2026 MLB Draft League, which will be held from June 10-21, 2026 in Williamsport, Penn., Trenton, N.J., and Morgantown, W. Va.
There will be three games per day during the Rising Stars Tournament regular season, starting at 10 a.m., 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. EST. The late game each day will be produced for television, and fans in Cancún will have free admission to Sherwin-Williams Beto Ávila Stadium for the last game each day. The Tigres de Quintana Roo will have activities prepared for fans at the stadium and amenities during the games so they can enjoy baseball in true Tigres style.
Following the regular season, the top four teams will advance to the postseason, where a best-of-three semifinal series will be played, with the winners advancing to a best-of-three final.
In addition, the Rising Stars Tournament will be used to test the strike zone challenge system in conjunction with Trackman. Each team will have five challenges per game, and will retain the fifth challenge if successful. Challenges can only be made by the pitcher, catcher, or batter, and must be made immediately without looking to the dugout. The result of the challenge will be announced on the scoreboard and by the home plate umpire.
