The Barranquilla Caimanes defeated the defending champions Monteria Vaqueros 4-1 in the best-of-seven final and earned the 2024 Colombia Professional Baseball League (LPB) title. It's their 13th league title.
Final Series results
Caimanes-Vaqueros 3-2
Vaqueros-Caimanes 9-3
Caimanes-Vaqueros 18-2
Caimanes-Vaqueros 8-5
Caimanes-Vaqueros 2-0
Guillermo Quintana and Fabián Pertuz homered in the fifth game, providing all the runs the Caimanes - the runner's up in the inaugural WBSC Baseball Champions League last year - needed to clinch the title.
Brazilian right-hander Daniel Missaki earned two of the four Caimanes wins. He went the distance in the fifth game and earned the final series MVP honours.
The 27-year-old pitcher, who was born in Japan, helped Brazil to a silver medal in the 2023 Pan American Games and represented his country in the World Baseball Classic 2013.
He joined the Caimanes after experiencing Minor League Baseball (MiLB) in the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers organizations and eight appearances in the farm team of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Yomiuri Giants.
"This experience turned out much better than I expected," Missaki told the El Heraldo website. "I was delighted by how the city, my teammates and the coaching staff helped me develop to the level I reached in the finals."
Japanese reliever Rio Negishi, who allowed only five runs in 26.1 innings pitched while striking out 27, was the regular season MVP.
"We hope we can keep them with us for a long time," said manager José Mosquera, who also credited catcher Guillo Quintana for the pitching performances.
In 2021 Mosquera manager Colombia to bronze in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.
Caimanes and Vaqueros qualified for the final as the first place and second place finishers of the four-team regular season. Caimanes had a 26-15 record, while Vaqueros finished 20-21.
