The Tomateros de Culiacán ( en, Culiacán Tomato Growers) are a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

team in the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule ru ...

based in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The ''Tomateros'' have won thirteen league titles and two

Caribbean World Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

in and . The team was founded in 1965 as part of the Sonora-Sinaloa League.

History

Professional baseball in

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish conquerors Lázar ...

dates back to 1945, when the first team was created the Tacuarineros. This club played in the now-defunct Liga de la Costa del Pacífico (Pacific Coast League). Tomateros de Culiacán was founded in 1965 and started playing in the Liga de la Costa (Coastal League), this league is also now defunct. The Tomateros won their most recent championship on January, 30th 2021(2020-21 season). They defeated the

Naranjeros de Hermosillo The Naranjeros de Hermosillo ( en, Hermosillo Orange Growers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Hermosillo, Sonora. The Naranjeros are one of the most successful teams in the league with 16 titles and they we ...

in seven games, bringing their total to 13 championships. It also marked the second time in their history that they won consecutive titles.

2001–2002 season

The 2001–2002 season was a gold year not only for the Tomateros, but also for México, as they won the

2002 Caribbean Series The forty-fourth edition of the Caribbean Series (''Serie del Caribe'') was held from February 2 through February 8 of with the champion baseball teams of the Dominican Republic, Tigres del Licey; Mexico, Tomateros de Culiacán; Puerto Rico, Vaqu ...

held at

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

with big leaguers as Rodrigo López,

Oliver Perez Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

, Luis Ayala, José Silva and Benji Gil, as well as with

Adán Amezcua Adán Amezcua h-mess'-coo-ah/small> (born March 9, 1974) is a Mexican professional baseball player. Listed at 6' 3" (1.90 m), 198 lb. (90 k), he bats and throws right handed. Career Through the years, Amezcua has established himself ...

, who earned Series MVP honors.

Honours

Mexican Pacific League championships

The Tomateros have won 13

Championships. Their most recent one came in the 2020–21 season, when they defeated the

in seven games under manager Benji Gil.

Caribbean Series championships

The Tomateros have won the

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

twice in 1996 and 2002, both under

Francisco Estrada Francisco "Paquín" Estrada Soto (February 12, 1948 – December 9, 2019) was a Mexican Major League Baseball player for the New York Mets. Estrada, a catcher, appeared in one game for the Mets in 1971. Estrada was at the time of his death the ...

Roster

Notable players

* Luis Ayala * Salomé Barojas * Rigo Beltrán *

Marlon Byrd Marlon Jerrard Byrd (born August 30, 1977) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, New Yo ...

Luis Cruz Luis Alfonso Cruz (born February 10, 1984) is a Mexican professional baseball shortstop and third baseman for the Generales de Durango of the Mexican League and Naranjeros de Hermosillo of the Mexican Pacific League. He has previously played in ...

Eric Farris Eric Michael-Jay Farris (born March 3, 1986) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers. He is currently the manager for the Everett AquaSox, the ...

* Karim García * Benji Gil * Esteban Loaiza * Aurelio López * Rodrigo López * Joey Meneses * Sid Monge * Art Pennington *

Óliver Pérez Óliver Pérez Martínez (born August 15, 1981) is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. He previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, ...

* Dennys Reyes * Vicente Romo * Ricardo Rincón * Darrell Sherman * José Silva * Gorkys Hernández

Notes

References

External links

* Culiacan Tomateros Sports teams in Sinaloa Baseball teams established in 1965 1965 establishments in Mexico Sport in Cancún {{Mexico-baseball-team-stub