Erick Arellano highlights the passion and achievements of Leones de Yucatán

When Erick Arellano, executive president of the Yucatán Lionscame to Merida more than a decade ago it was found something I hadn’t seen before in it mexican baseball.

(In 2012) in a series against Tigres, the team was already eliminated, I see the stands and there was 80 percent attendance, and the people were involved with the team,” recalled Arellano, who was deciding at that moment whether to accept the proposal that They had offered him and his brother Juan José to acquire the Mexican Baseball League (LMB) team.

I had never seen that, when you are eliminated, they generally leave the team alone, very few fans take the trouble to go to the stadium… There we understood that this fan base was different,” he added.

United we are stronger!–#SwingsMásVerdes #SomosLeones pic.twitter.com/qmnDRgog0C

— Lions of Yucatán (@leonesdeyucatan) May 9, 2024

In 2014, when Leones was acquired by themthe franchise was going through one of its worst moments. They came to have four consecutive seasons without advancing to the postseasonsometimes far behind the qualifying positions.

A decade away Leones has, in that period of time, two championships, four appearances in the Serie del Reythree of them consecutively between 2019 and 2022 and eight consecutive participations (active streak) in the Southern Zone Championship Series. But there is something that Erick appreciates just as much, or even more, than team sports achievements.

“It has been very nice”Arellano said. “We have had a lot of satisfaction, obviously there are the championships we have won, the times we have been in the South Final”.

But also another great moment was when Manuel Rodríguez, a player we signed since he was practically a child, and who played with us, was Rookie of the Year in LMB, we saw him become the first Yucatecan in the major leagues,” he mentioned.

When the Arellano brothers, natives and residents of Mazatlánthey officially acquired the team, the concern of the Yucatecans was great: they felt they would operate the equipment partially while They were preparing the move to take the team to play in the port of Sinaloa.

The first time we had an offer to take on an LMB team was with Delfines de Ciudad del Carmen and the option we had thought about was to eventually move the team,” Erick recalled. In the end the transaction was not completed. But when we got to know Mérida and saw what it was about, we never thought about moving the team. “Leones is the heritage of Yucatán and I believe they will never be left without a team,” he added.

The Yucatecans, who They had never had their team in the hands of people who were not linked to their statusThey were very difficult to convince.

In the presentation we had as owners, the first question we had was ‘When are they going to take the team?’ And for a long time they didn’t have much confidence in us. They saw that we invested money in bringing good players, in fixing the stadium, in giving them a good experience and I think it took us at least three years for them to have that faith in us and give us that support that we now have,” Arellano explained.

Before his arrival in Yucatán, Erick and Juan José had experience as baseball sponsorsbut at very different levels.

“As children we always played baseball, we are passionate about this sport, but over time, we realized that we had everything but talent to play”says Eric, laughing. “Juan José was worse than me”.

We began to sponsor, first children’s league teams, and then other levels, practically all levels in Sinaloa, we met people related to professional baseball, and that was how we suddenly entered this world, which was totally foreign to us. ”, he recalled.

He Professional sport in Mexico is very far from being the mega business which is in first world countries like USA. Year with year Professional team owners report lossesand according to many, they maintain the equipment for his love of sports. With Yucatán, Eric confesses, the story is different.

“It’s true, there are many team owners who lose a lot of money with their teams”said Eric. “I’m not going to tell you that we have the super business, but fortunately we have known how to work well and we are supported by a unique hobby in Mexico, a hobby that works very differently from the others”.

Although they have never intended to move to Mazatlán, The Arellanos did not completely forget their homeland. Along with the Lions project They have the Pacific Academy therewhere toyour signed prospectuses existwhich aspire to be sold to organizations Big leaguesor mature enough to play in the LMB.

In the last decade Leones has been one of the main exporters to organized baseball and boasts four players sold for those who have debuted in the Major Leagues: Javier Assadone of the current MLB effectiveness leaders, the Sonorans Miguel Aguilar and Esteban Quirozand the crown jewel ‘el Bolón’ Rodríguez.

“Our goal, with all the guys we sign, is to sell them to the United States, and for them to do very well, so that they no longer need to return to Mexico”said Eric. “Obviously if they return, if they are not sold, we have good players available to us that we can take advantage of very well, but that is not really the purpose”.

What happened with Bolón is magical, because Yucatán is really a very baseball land and one could not explain why they have never had a Major League player before. Having signed it, having taken it on that path, makes us feel like we are part of history,” he mentioned.

After the first 10 years of the Arellanos in Yucatán, the story seems to be not yet at its highest point. The Lions now have to play in a park with a capacity for less than 6 thousand fans, since the Kukulcanis in full remodelingso in the years to come, could consolidate one of the goals that still have pending.

“The idea is to bring Major League baseball”said Eric. “We have already spoken with the MLB Mexico authorities, they are very interested in Mérida, and with the park remodeled, it is very likely that next year, or at the latest in 2026, we will be able to have Major League teams playing preseason in Yucatán”he finished.

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