LMB, the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol or Mexican Baseball League, is Mexico's top professional baseball league, made up of 20 teams split into a Zona Norte and a Zona Sur. It is the oldest continuously running professional sports league in Mexico and crowns a national champion each year through the Serie del Rey.

LMB has 20 teams, 10 in the Zona Norte and 10 in the Zona Sur, making it one of the largest single professional baseball leagues in the world by team count.

LMB is led by an executive president, currently Horacio de la Vega, who took over the role in November 2019 and has had his mandate extended through 2028. He oversees league operations on behalf of the team owners.

LMB was founded on February 24, 1925, and played its first official game that June, making it the oldest continuously operating professional sports league in Mexico; the league celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2020.

LMB, founded in 1925, is younger than MLB's National League, founded in 1876, and American League, founded in 1901, but it predates NPB, which began organized professional play in Japan in 1936, making LMB one of the older professional baseball leagues in the Americas outside MLB.

LMB is an independent league, not a Minor League Baseball affiliate, but it has a formal player transfer agreement with MLB, first signed in 2019 and approved by the MLB Players Association, that lets qualifying LMB players sign directly with MLB clubs. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and LMB leadership have continued meeting in recent years, including in 2026, to deepen cooperation on player development and business operations.

Yes, LMB uses the designated hitter in all of its games, unlike NPB's Central League in Japan, where pitchers still bat.

LMB is a summer league playing its regular season roughly from March through September, while the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, or LMP, is a separate winter league played from October through January, mainly in northwestern Mexico. Some LMB players move directly into LMP rosters during the off-season, and it is the LMP champion, not LMB's, that goes on to represent Mexico at the Caribbean Series.

The Zona Norte's 10 teams are Acereros de Monclova, Algodoneros de Union Laguna, Caliente de Durango, Charros de Jalisco, Dorados de Chihuahua, Rieleros de Aguascalientes, Saraperos de Saltillo, Sultanes de Monterrey, Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, and Toros de Tijuana.

The Zona Sur's 10 teams are Diablos Rojos del Mexico, Guerreros de Oaxaca, Piratas de Campeche, Pericos de Puebla, Aguila de Veracruz, Olmecas de Tabasco, Bravos de Leon, Leones de Yucatan, Conspiradores de Queretaro, and Tigres de Quintana Roo.

Diablos Rojos del Mexico are LMB's most successful recent franchise, entering the 2026 season as back-to-back Serie del Rey champions after sweeping Charros de Jalisco in the 2025 Serie del Rey.

Yes. Businessman Alfredo Harp Helu, one of Mexico's wealthiest individuals and a part-owner of MLB's San Diego Padres, has owned Diablos Rojos del Mexico since 1994 and Guerreros de Oaxaca since 1996, making him the owner of two separate LMB franchises at once.

Yes, LMB team names and locations shift more often than in MLB. Recent seasons have seen rebrands and relocations, such as the arrival of Caliente de Durango, reflecting the league's practice of periodically adjusting its lineup of franchises.

Many LMB organizations run academies and development programs to train young Mexican talent, and the league as a whole has increasingly emphasized producing homegrown players rather than relying only on veteran imports.

LMB played a 93-game regular season in 2026, considerably shorter than MLB's 162-game schedule, running from spring through late summer ahead of the playoffs.

The Zona Norte and Zona Sur Championship Series were scheduled for late August in 2026, with the Serie del Rey, LMB's championship series, following in September.

LMB holds an annual All-Star Game pitting a Zona Norte roster against a Zona Sur roster, complete with its own Home Run Derby, similar in spirit to MLB's All-Star festivities.

Yes, LMB has had to plan around events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Mexico. League president Horacio de la Vega has said LMB will continue its season through the tournament rather than pausing, aiming to benefit from extra sports tourism rather than compete directly with the World Cup's biggest matches.

LMB's regular season generally begins in the spring, with Opening Day timed so the 93-game schedule and subsequent playoffs conclude before the league's traditional autumn end date.

Yes, like most leagues outside MLB, LMB limits how many import players, meaning foreign-born players without Mexican citizenship or qualifying heritage, each team can carry, alongside separate rules for Mexican-American players. The exact quotas have been adjusted multiple times over the years to balance roster quality with the development of homegrown Mexican talent.

LMB is generally regarded as a strong, MLB-adjacent professional league, often compared to the upper levels of MLB's minor league system in talent, though it operates as its own fully independent league rather than as an official MLB affiliate.

Yes, LMB games are broadcast primarily in Spanish for Mexican and Latin American audiences, though some games and highlights are increasingly available through streaming platforms reaching audiences in the United States and beyond.

LMB has incorporated video replay review for certain disputed calls in recent seasons, following a trend common across most major professional baseball leagues worldwide.

Yes, some LMB cities sit at significant elevation, most notably Mexico City, and thinner air at altitude is generally understood to help batted balls travel farther, an effect similar to the one seen at MLB's Coors Field in Denver.

The top six teams in each zone qualify for the playoffs, 12 of the league's 20 teams in total. They advance through a Zone Series and a Zone Championship Series, all played best-of-seven, to determine a Zona Norte champion and a Zona Sur champion.

The Serie del Rey, meaning Series of the King, is LMB's championship series, a best-of-seven matchup between the Zona Norte champion and the Zona Sur champion that determines the league's overall champion each season.

Diablos Rojos del Mexico won the 2025 Serie del Rey, sweeping Charros de Jalisco in four games to become back-to-back champions, with Jose Marmolejos named series MVP after a decisive home run in the clinching game.

Every round of the LMB playoffs, from the opening Zone Series through the Serie del Rey itself, is played as a best-of-seven series.

Yes. Under a formal player transfer agreement first reached in 2019 and approved by the MLB Players Association, LMB players who qualify as a foreign professional, generally meaning at least 25 years old with six or more years of professional experience, can sign directly with any MLB club during the off-season.

Yes, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred met with LMB leadership as recently as 2026 to discuss cooperation in areas such as player and coach development, sports operations, and business growth, part of MLB's broader push to grow the game internationally.

Yes, MLB has scheduled regular-season games in Mexico City in recent seasons as part of its international schedule, separate from LMB's own season, giving Mexican fans a direct look at MLB talent without leaving the country.

Mexico City has occasionally come up in broader conversations about international MLB expansion, but Commissioner Rob Manfred has downplayed it as a near-term option, with Nashville and Salt Lake City viewed as far more likely candidates for MLB's next new franchises.

Yes, Mexico has produced several notable MLB players over the years, and LMB and its academies remain an important part of the pipeline that develops Mexican talent before some players eventually move on to MLB organizations.

LMB teams are generally owned by private individuals or business groups rather than large media conglomerates, with some owners, such as Alfredo Harp Helu, holding stakes in multiple LMB clubs as well as ties to MLB ownership groups.

No, LMB salaries are far below MLB levels, generally closer to the pay scale of MLB's minor leagues, which is part of why the transfer agreement with MLB matters so much to LMB's top talent.

LMB teams generate revenue primarily through ticket sales, local sponsorships, and broadcasting arrangements, with individual clubs often playing a larger role in their own commercial operations than is typical in MLB's more centralized revenue model.

In recent years LMB has pursued streaming deals and broadcasting partnerships aimed at reaching Mexican-American and wider Latino audiences in the United States, part of a broader push to grow its commercial footprint beyond Mexico's borders.

LMB names a Most Valuable Player for the Serie del Rey each year, recognizing the standout performer of the championship series, such as Jose Marmolejos, who won the honor after his decisive home run clinched the 2025 title for Diablos Rojos.

Yes, LMB presents an annual league Most Valuable Player award recognizing the top overall performer of the regular season, alongside other individual honors for hitting, pitching, and fielding excellence.

Yes, LMB holds its own Home Run Derby as part of its annual All-Star Game festivities, featuring sluggers from both the Zona Norte and Zona Sur.

Yes, like most professional leagues, LMB recognizes season-long individual statistical leaders in categories such as batting average, home runs, and ERA, in addition to its overall MVP and Serie del Rey MVP awards.

Hector Espino, widely considered the greatest player in Mexican League history, hit 453 home runs in LMB play across a 25-year career split between eight teams, part of a combined 484 home runs across all Mexican professional baseball, a total that stands as a professional baseball record outside the major leagues.

Nicknamed the Mexican Babe Ruth, Espino turned down MLB opportunities to remain in Mexico for almost his entire career and is regarded as a national hero and the greatest native-born hitter in Mexican baseball history.

LMB expanded significantly in the years following World War II thanks to businessman Jorge Pasquel, who raised the league's profile and competitiveness by signing established Negro Leagues and Major League players to play in Mexico.

Diablos Rojos del Mexico, based in Mexico City and owned by Alfredo Harp Helu since 1994, are widely regarded as LMB's flagship franchise and have been the league's most successful team in recent seasons, including back-to-back Serie del Rey titles.

Beyond Hector Espino's home run mark, LMB's century-long history has produced numerous other individual career records in categories such as hits, wins, and strikeouts, many of them held by legendary players from the league's mid-20th century golden era.

Not directly. It is Mexico's winter league, the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, whose champion represents Mexico at the annual Caribbean Series against the champions of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, rather than LMB's own summer-league champion.

Mexico's national team draws on talent from LMB, MLB, and other leagues to compete in the World Baseball Classic, where Mexico has been one of the more competitive Latin American entries in recent editions.

Yes, LMB games are increasingly available through streaming platforms aimed at fans outside Mexico, in addition to the league's traditional Spanish-language television coverage within the country.

LMB sits alongside Mexico's winter league, the LMP, and various amateur and academy systems as part of a broader baseball structure in the country, with LMB serving as the top summer professional league and the sport's most visible showcase for homegrown Mexican talent.