The playoffs began for the Mexican Winter League on New Years Day. The Charros de Jalisco took game one of their series by a score of 4-1 over Venados de Mazatlan.
Marquez Smith was a big part of that win. He led off the third inning with a walk and moved up to third base on a double. He scored on a fly ball to put his team up 1-0. Another run would score in the inning to make it 2-0. Mazatlan got a run back in the 4th inning to make it a 1-run game.
Jalisco extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning on three straight singles and jumped up 3-1. Marquez Smith stepped up to the plate to lead off the seventh inning and crushed a homer to center field off of former Louisville Bat pitcher Edgar Gonzalez (he only threw two innings for the Bats in 2014 – his only minor league innings of the year).
Smith scored twice in the game and homered, going 1-3 with a walk.
The other winter leagues are also ready to enter the playoffs or are already underway. The Dominican Winter League is four games into their round robin playoff series that goes for 18 games for the four qualifying teams. Things get started in Puerto Rico on tonight. The Venezualan Winter League regular season ends tonight and then the playoffs get started.