MLB the ninth: with our Dominican brothers after the tragedy

The tragedy shakes baseball in the Dominican Republic, Kenley Jansen makes history, the WBC began and much more in AM850’s novena.

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1. With our Dominican brothers

The news came by filtration, but from the first moment, we already knew that the tragedy of the collapse of a roof in a disco in Santo Domingo would give a jolt to Dominican baseball.

The first information received announced that Nelson Cruz’s sister, Nelsy, was among the victims of the tragedy. Later, it was announced that Octavio Dotel, who played with about 10 teams in 15 years in the older ones, was rescued alive but died while receiving treatment.

In the afternoon, Rubby Pérez was also confirmed as a fatal victim, the star of the meringue who presented the night of the collapse. Rubby was the brother of the former major league player, Neifi Pérez.

Already at night, Tony Blanco, a member of the first version of the Washington Nationals and father of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tony Blanco Jr., was added to the victims’ list.

On Wednesday morning, the member of the Hall of Fame, Pedro Martínez, revealed that among the disappeared there are several relatives of his.

Until Wednesday night, the dead of the dead exceeded 200. From this humble space, our solidarity with the Dominican Republic in this difficult moment, and our condolences to the relatives and friends of all the victims.

Here is this emotional message from our beloved colleague, Enrique Rojas.

A underestimated statistic of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The most notable but more underestimated statistic of Vladimir Guerrero has nothing to do with the average batting, neither the OPS nor the Owar, nor the rar, nor the WPA, nor the Babip.

The most important statistic of Vlad Guerrero Jr. has to do with his presence. Be in uniform day by day, ready to play ball like a 12 -year -old boy. That is part of the value of $ 500 million of the contract that has just agreed this week with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Since his career began on April 26, 2019 until today, Vladimir Guerrero has played in 829 games, the tenth player who has played the most games since that season. That data does not say much, but this is revealing in these times: only 22 games have been lost during that period, 12 in its first season and the rest since 2020.

If it is in the alignment, it is assumed that Vlad Jr. is healthy enough to play and help the team. Therefore, his firm for 14 years with the Blue Jays does not look like a risky bet, he is signing the Pilar of the franchise, which will always be present.

The World Baseball Classic, less than a year

For a good number of fans in Puerto Rico, the United States, Japan, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the World Baseball Classic began on Wednesday and ends on March 17, 2026.

The organizers of the event announced on Wednesday the four competition groups of the first round of the tournament, which will be played from March 5 to 17, 2026, with the final at the Landepot Park in Miami.

Group analysis began, companions chats in the different countries, who must go, who should not be, all possible conversations, only to conclude that ___________ (put the name of your country) ______ will raise the trophy in the event after a blunt victory in Miami. And well, dreaming is free. This is how the tournament is seen.

The calendar, groups and stages are ready. ✅

He #WorldaBallclassic He returns in 2026 and the champion will be known on March 17 at the Landepot Park in Miami. ⚾ pic.twitter.com/ooylfgejs

– Spanish mlb (@MLbespanol) April 9, 2025

4. Kenley Jansen joins the elite

The Curazoleño de los Angeles Angels, Kenley Jansen, joined a club of only four members, for the moment.

On Tuesday, Jansen worked the ninth entrance without consequences in victories 4-3 against Tampa Bay to add 450 saved. In this way, Mariano Rivera (652 saved), Trevor Hoffman (601) and Lee Smith (478) joined as the only closing with at least 450 bailouts.

The previous three are members of the Hall of Fame. Will Jensen be sealed your ticket to immortality just by crossing that threshold? Time to time.

5. Victor Robles and the painful play of the week

The best time so far this season for Víctor Robles was also the worst time in the season for the Dominican gardener of the Seattle Mariners.

Robles made the trapped of the week, and of course one of the best of the year on Sunday, when he ran from his natural position in the right garden to capture a ball in Foul after making a leap and fall on the protective network. The play was spectacular, but the consequences were quite painful.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Robles will lose at least 12 weeks of the season when the magnetic resonance image (MRI) revealed a fracture of the humeral head of his left shoulder. It is still unknown if you will need operation, but if you reach those instances, it would be out the whole season.

6. Javy Báez resurfaces with the bat; the same with the glove

Do you remember Javy Báez? The Campocorto nicknamed ‘The Magician’ helped the Chicago Cubs to win the 2016 World Series, was in the MVP conversation seven years ago and became a favorite of fans of all baseball, becoming the maximum seller of Jerseys in MLB at the end of the last decade. However, it seemed another player in Detroit in the first three years of his 6 -seasons contract and $ 140 million with the Tigers, when his magic disappeared in the batting box.

In his first three campaigns with Los Tigres, Baez hit .221 with just 32 homers in 360 games and an offensive line of .262/.347/.610, 1.5 WAR. So you can compare, in its first eight years he hit .264, with an offensive line of .307/.477/.783 and 23.5 of War. In addition, it was the MVP of the National League championship series in 2016, he attended two games of stars and finished second in the most valuable player vote in 2018.

It is still very early to know if there will be a resurgence in the Puerto Rican race, but the first 9 games provide some hope to Detroit. Báez averaia .321 with .321 on the average of Embasion, Slugging of .393 and PAHO of .738. He has not yet hit home run and has only received a free ticket (it has never been his specialty), but that has been struck 6 times in 28 shifts is remarkable for a player who adds 1,300 in his career and 341 in the last three campaigns. What has not changed the Puerto Rican is its defensive magic. I leave you with this wonder.

Javy Baéz Tags Will Never Get Old 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/3xtedv3lcx

– MLB (@MLB) April 6, 2025

7. Bates aluminum torpedo?

These ‘influencers’ came up with the brilliant and powerful idea of ​​trying an aluminum bat in the Petco Park.

Thanks to them, we already have a rather convincing sample of why Major League Baseball prohibits the use of these dangerous artifacts in the parks. In the hands of Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani, they are surely lethal weapons.

Meanwhile, the torpedo bates are made of wood and comply with the regulatory measures. Poor pitchers!

8. ‘Hooligans’ in San Francisco?

In England, the term Hooligans has a connotation linked to sports violence, with sad consequences in the worst case. In the Bay baseball, the variation ‘Hoo Lee Gans’ is greeting to an emerging star of the San Francisco Giants. Jung Hoo Lee, the central gardener of the Giants, has only played about 50 major league games, but already has a select club of exactly 51 people, who go to the upper part of the Oracle Park with particular clothing to encourage the Korean. The costume includes t -shirts that identifies them as ‘Hoo Lee Gans’ and a Saiyan wig, a character from the Dragon Ball anime series.

The 51 is going for the number of its dorsal, but with how animated the group is, it will surely grow or there will be waiting list to join.

More than the Fan Club, in the search to launch this post, I was struck by Lee’s nickname: ‘Grandson of Wind (the grandson of the wind). Without having to rummage too much, I found that he is the son of former player Lee Jong-Beom, who during his player days won the nickname of ‘Son of the Wind’.

9. A history of the table of the table

Lehman University arrived with a 42 losses chain to measure Yeshiva University, whose perdeterary streak reached 99 losses, in a double game with hope flavor. At least one of the two was going to break the streak, please, the two teams cannot lose both games.

But the best combination was given, a division of honors: Lehman won the first 7-6 in extra entries and Yeshiva the second 9-5.

In tribute to Bristol’s accents, a team of this level, this ninth entry goes.