MEXICO CITY – One of the most outspoken pitchers baseball has ever seen seemed a bit reserved.
Sitting on the press conference dais clad in the red uniform and white baseball pants of the Diablos Rojos del Mexico, Trevor Bauer met the press, smiling, politely answering questions in advance of his return to the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, where he helped the Diablos to their first of consecutive championships in 2024.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t excited or happy, but it was his manager, Lorenzo Bundy, who was genuinely excited because he knows what the addition of Bauer will mean to the Diablos as they try to win their third consecutive title.
“Aside from the fans and the front office of the team, I am the one who is happiest,” Bundy said in Spanish. “Every time I have the opportunity to work with Trevor—every five days—it is a privilege for me and for the team. I’m feeling excited because the team is playing good baseball right now, but with Trevor’s arrival, the team reaches a higher level; our standards rise, our aspirations grow, and everyone knows—year in and year out—that we are putting in the work.”
Bauer will step back on the mound for the Diablos tomorrow at 3 p.m. EDT in the first game of a doubleheader against the Piratas de Campeche with the start of the LMB playoffs looming ahead on Aug. 8.
What Bauer did in his first season with the Diablos is the stuff of legend, regardless of the country or league, and it’s fresh in the memory of both Bundy and the Diablos’ fans. He won the Pitcher of the Year to cap a season where he went 10-0 with an ERA of 2.48 in 83 1/3 innings pitched and led the league in strikeouts with 120. He also tied for the league lead in wins with 10, was second in ERA, second in WHIP at 1.04, and second in batting average against, with opposing batters hitting .216 against him.
And then there was the time in the playoffs that year that Bauer came out of the bullpen in Game 7 of the Serie Campeonato against the Guerreros de Oaxaca, throwing four scoreless innings in relief of starter Brooks Hall, allowing two hits and striking out five as the Diablos erased a 2-0 deficit in the game and a 3-0 Guerreros edge in the series, taking a 3-2 win in the final game of the series to send the Reds to the Serie del Rey.
For Bauer, who started the season with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, a return to Mexico City had been in negotiation phase for a while.
He was reported to have been contacted by the Diablos about returning for last year’s LMB Playoffs, which didn’t happen because his contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball didn’t expire until late in 2025. Sources told World Baseball Network in March that the Diablos and Bauer were in talks for his return, but he ultimately signed with the Ducks to start the season.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations over the past couple of years with Diablos, and I’m good friends with everybody here… I wanted to play in front of U.S. fans, I wanted to play in America again this year, and that’s why I ultimately chose to play with Long Island Ducks,” Bauer said when asked when he decided to come back. “But it’s not very often that any team gets a chance to go for three consecutive championships. I mean, just in any sport in the world, history has happened to me very often. So the chance to make history with the Diablos organization, the chance to be part of one of the three straight championships ultimately was very attractive to me to come back.
So it wasn’t really one moment, it was just that there’s a lot of things that’s what I love about playing here in Mexico, the fans, the energy in the stadium, the atmosphere, the players. Diablo’s organization. So, it just made sense.”
The right-hander out of UCLA struggled with the BayStars in 2025, and was following the Diablos from afar.
“… When you sign up to play for any team, you want to give your best to that team and be invested in what that team is trying to do. So my focus was on trying to do the best that I could be for the Baystars,” Bauer said when asked if he felt like he was missing out on the Diablos run last season. “I was texting a lot of my teammates here. You know, looking at the scores and stuff, just because I love everybody here. Obviously, I wanted them to win. But no, I didn’t feel like I was necessarily missing out on something. But I’m happy to be back now because I think if I didn’t come back this year, I would feel that way.”
Bauer’s return makes the Diablos, at 40-23, immediately the favorite in the LMB’s Zona Sur, which they already lead by two games over the Olmecas de Tabasco entering the first game of this weekend’s series against Campeche. And if the Diablos aren’t favored to win the Serie del Rey even with Bauer in the lineup, it’s because the Toros de Tijuana, with a starting lineup featuring five former Major Leaguers, have the best record in the league at 43-19.
Among the former MLB players in the Toros’ lineup is Bauer’s former Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Justin Turner.
“I think with the way the season has gone so far, they’re having a fantastic season season. We’re having a fantastic season obviously as well. And ultimately, I think the fans want to see the two best teams play,” Bauer said when asked if he could imagine facing Turner in the Serie del Rey. “And if it’s me against Justin in the finals, that would be fun. Ultimately, though, I just want to make sure that we get to the finals and try to help us win. So, whichever opponent it will be, a challenge and it will be fun. Hopefully, we come out on the right side of it.”
Photo: Manager Lorenzo Bundy and pitcher Trevor Bauer pose with Diablos Rojos executives Santiago Harp, far left, and Miguel Ojeda, far right. (Leif Skodnick/World Baseball Network)
