ESPN Deportes to Televise More Than 60 Winter League Baseball Games

As the
2007 Major League Baseball season comes to an end, ESPN Deportes will present
the most extensive coverage of winter baseball from the
Dominican Republic,
Mexico
and

Venezuela.
ESPN Deportes will televise more than 60 winter league baseball games,
including each league’s championship series.

Winter
baseball-related content will be featured across various platforms: ESPN, ESPN
Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN Deportes La Revista.
ESPN Deportes will feature more than 200 hours of winter baseball-related
programming – the most ever televised by any network in the

U.S. – with a
group of at least 12 commentators, including hosts, analysts, reporters and
contributors.

Live
coverage begins Wednesday, Oct. 17, with the Venezuelan League featuring
Aguilas de Zulia, leaders in the West division, at Tigres de Aragua at 7:30
p.m. ET. Coverage of winter baseball from the
Dominican
Republic and

Mexico begins Sunday, Nov. 4, and
Wednesday, Nov. 7, respectively.

Venezuelan
Professional Baseball League

This
season, ESPN Deportes will televise one regular-season game per week, mainly on
Wednesdays, plus exclusive select playoffs games and the championship series.
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League consists of eight teams in two
divisions (East Division: Navegantes del Magallanes, Leones de Caracas,
Tiburones de la Guaira, Caribes de Anzoategui; and West Division: Tigres de
Aragua, Aguilas de Zulia, Cardenales de Lara, Bravo de Margarita). The league’s
elimination (opening) round includes 62 games from October to December. The top
two teams from each division, as well as the best third place team, move on to
the 16-game round robin semifinals in January. The top two teams from the
semifinals advance to a best-of-seven series in a 2-3-2 homefield format at the
end of January. The Venezuelan champion moves on to the Caribbean World Series.

Venezuela
has won the Caribbean World Series six times, most recently in 2006, when the
Leones del Caracas took the title.

Commentator
Lineup

Luis
Alfredo Alvarez, play-by-play

Alvarez
joined ESPN in 1995 and continues to handle play-by-play for a variety of
sports. His assignments have included baseball, golf and tennis. He also serves
as host for Beisbol Esta Noche, the company’s Spanish-language original
production of Baseball Tonight, and Cronometro, modeled after Pardon the
Interruption. He has covered high-profile events such as tennis’ Australian
Open and French Open, golf’s PGA Tour, Champions Tour and LPGA, and both the
Summer and Winter X Games. A native of

Caracas,

Venezuela,
Alvarez began his broadcasting career at Omnivision, where he served as a
play-by-play commentator for baseball and basketball.

Fernando
Alvarez, analyst

A native
of
Caracas, Alvarez returns for his second
consecutive season as play-by-play commentator of winter baseball from

Venezuela.
Since joining ESPN, Alvarez has become one of the network’s most versatile
sportscasters, covering a variety of sports, including Major League Baseball,
the NBA and golf.

Guillermo
Celis, play-by-play commentator

An
experienced baseball commentator for ESPN Deportes, Celis serves as sideline
reporter for the company’s Spanish-language telecast of Major League Baseball.
In addition to calling more than 700 baseball games, Celis has covered
broadcasts of Mexican soccer, NCAA football and basketball.

Carolina
Guillen, sideline reporter

Guillen
joined ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor for ESPN+ (serving the Southern Cone) in
May 2004. Her work outside of SportsCenter has included a variety of
assignments. She served as co-host for ESPN’s Spanish-language coverage of the
Summer X Games and has served as sideline reporter for the MLB All-Star Games,
Little League World Series and Caribbean World Series. Guillen began her career
in her native

Venezuela
with Meridiano Television as a reporter for winter baseball.

Dominican
Baseball League

Exclusive
coverage begins Sunday, November 4, at 4 p.m. ET a live telecast of archrivals
Aguilas Cibaenas, the defending champions, at Tigres del Licey. This season,
ESPN Deportes plans to telecast more than 30 Dominican Baseball League games,
mainly on Fridays nights and Sunday afternoons. The Dominican Baseball League
consists of six teams: Aguilas Cibaenas; Azucareros del Este; Estrellas del
Oriente; Gigantes del Cibao; Leones del Escogido; and Tigres del Licey, the
oldest active team in
Latin America,
celebrating its 100th anniversary this season. Each team plays a 50-game
schedule, with the top four teams advancing to the playoffs. The titleholder
then goes on to represent the

Dominican
Republic in the Caribbean Series.

Commentators
Lineup

Kevin
Cabral, play-by-play commentator

One of the
most respected sportscasters in the

Dominican Republic, Cabral returns
for his third consecutive season of Dominican Baseball League. Cabral started
his broadcasting career in 1983 as the host of the radio program Frente al
Deporte. In 1986, he began what would become an 18-year stint as a television
commentator and announcer for Major League Baseball games on the regional
channel Circuito del Cibao.

Ernesto
Jerez, play-by-play commentator

A native
of
Santiago,
Dominican
Republic,

Jerez
joined ESPN in 1995 as a baseball announcer and has become the signature voice
for the company’s Spanish-language Major League Baseball games. He primarily
serves as game announcer during ESPN’s Spanish-language Sunday Night Baseball
telecasts. Known to viewers for his famous home run call, he also regularly
contributes to SportsCenter, ESPN Deportes Radio and ESPNdeportes.com.

Carlos
Jose Lugo, sideline reporter

Lugo
brings vast baseball knowledge and
more than 17 years of broadcasting experience in radio, television and print
media to his role as field reporter for ESPN Deportes’ telecasts of the
Dominican Baseball League.
Lugo launched his
broadcasting career in 1987 as an MLB analyst on Radio Dial in San Pedro de
Macoris,

Dominican Republic.
He is a familiar voice on radio, known for his work as a sports commentator and
MLB analyst for FM-103, Radio Continental and Radio Clarin, and Rumba FM
(98.5).

Juan
Marichal, analyst

San
Francisco Giants great and Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal returns for his
third consecutive season. Marichal, the only Dominican-born player in the Hall
of Fame, started his career with Dominican League’s Leones del Escogido. The
high-kicking right-hander made his Major League Baseball debut against the
Phillies in 1960, finishing his first game with a one-hitter, striking out 12
in a 2-0 victory. Marichal won 243 games, was named to nine All-Star teams and
was named the All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player in 1965.

Mexican
Pacific League

Extensive
coverage of the Mexican Pacific League begins Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 4 a.m. ET.
The Mexican Pacific League is
Mexico’s
most important baseball league, and it consists of eight teams: Tomateros de
Culiacan, Algodoneros de Guasave, Naranjeros de Hermosillo, Venados de
Mazatlan, Aguilas de Mexicali, Caneros de

Los
Mochis, Mayos de Navojoa, Yaquis de Obregon. The
league’s regular season runs from October to December and is followed by a
playoff series in January.

Jorge
Eduardo Sanchez

Sanchez
currently serves as anchor for ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter. He first joined
ESPN in 2000 as a commentator and play-by-play announcer for ESPN 2 in

Mexico, serving
as a play-by-play announcer for Mexican Pacific League, the Caribbean World
Series, Tennis Masters Series, and NCAA Basketball.

Oscar
Soria, analyst

Longtime
Spanish-language voice of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oscar Soria returns for his
third consecutive season as Mexican Pacific League analyst on ESPN Deportes.
Soria is a veteran of 18 seasons as a broadcaster with Mexican Pacific League’s
Hermosillo Naranjeros and also covers the Diamondbacks for Spanish-language
paper El Imparcial, writing a daily column. The native of

Tijuana,
Mexico
graduated from Universidad del Noroeste.

Eitan
Benezra, sideline reporter

A native
of

Queretaro,
Mexico, Benezra brings vast
knowledge in Mexican baseball to ESPN Deportes’ telecasts. Benezra hosts show
“3 y 2 Cuenta Maxima” Estadio W in
Mexico
and serves as baseball commentator for Estadio W 730 AM in

Mexico.

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