Mazatlan – Results in Panama’s matches against Puerto Rico and Mexico against Venezuela on Thursday on the fifth day of the 2021 Caribbean Series will leave one of the four out of the semifinals to be played on Friday at the Teodoro Mariscal Stadium.
In the “matinee” at 11:00 am local time (13.00 ET), Panamanians and Boricuas will jump on the playing field. At 15:30 (17:30 ET), Dominicana faces Colombia, the first ranked and the second eliminated.
In the evening, at 20:00 (22 ET), Mexico faces Venezuela, where the host needs to win to avoid headaches with the TQB (Team Quality Balance).
scenario 1: Puerto Rico and Venezuela win, which would also force them to use the TQB to define 3rd and 4th places, and in this scenario Venezuela needs to win by four races in Mexico to advance.
scenario 2: They win Panama and Mexico, which would force them to use the famous TQB to define places 2, 3 and 4, and it depends on the races scored by all to define places in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Panama. Here Panama needs to win by three races to the boricuas to avoid Dominican to semifinals.
scenario 3: Puerto Rico and Mexico win, the eliminated is Venezuela and the semifinals would be Mexico against Puerto Rico and Panama against Dominican.
scenario 4: Panama and Venezuela win, Mexico is eliminated and the semifinals would be Puerto Rico against Panama and Venezuela against the Dominican Republic.
PANAMA AGAINST PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico arrives with three wins on the wire after leaving Colombia on the field in the ninth inning on Wednesday with an easel race.
The boricuas lost the first party and with another victory they would tie the second place behind Dominican and it would avoid them in the semifinals.
COLOMBIA VS. DOMINICAN
Sun and shadow, Dominican arrives with nine victories on the wire since 2020, while Colombia arrives with nine defeats on the wire in the same lapse and with the suitcases ready to return to their country.
Dominicana seeks to finish undefeated in the knockout round with 5-0 and this would force it to end undefeated in the tournament if it wants to take the two-time championship.
Colombia is trying to win its first game in its nascent history in the Caribbean Series and avoid being the fourth team with at least 10 losses on the line.
VENEZUELA VS. MEXICO
The host is playing for life and Tomateros de Culiacán is looking to advance to the semifinals, after being the only team that has not advanced beyond the knockout round in a series played in Mexico since 2013.
In 2013, Yaquis of Ciudad Obregón won the Final in Hermosillo and in 2017, Águiles de Mexicali lost it in Culiacán. In 2018, Culiacán was left out of the semifinals in Guadalajara.
Venezuela meanwhile is looking for the victory that will take it to the semifinals for the second year in a row, after staying on track in 2019.