Next up in the League Primer series is Liga Nacional de Béisbol (LNBSV). The only pro league out of El Salvador. The information herein is as accurate as it can be thanks to internet sleuthing. However, if anyone from El Salvador reads this and wants to help make it more accurate I will gladly accept the help.
History
LNBSV has been around for 25 years. The league has a rich and long history. It’s kind of hard to get a handle on their history because there’s honestly not much information about the league to be found, anywhere. The league serves as a national league similar to what you find in Cuba. Meaning that technically it’s amateur, but in reality, it’s a professional league just without the professional label attached. Unlike in Cuba, baseball in El Salvador isn’t a national pastime. Basketball and football (soccer) both dwarf baseball and that can be seen in such a long-running league still functioning at a bare-bones level. This also results in a lack of consistency among the teams. The number of teams competing usually stays at four, but teams come and go based on sponsorship deals.
Format
League play lasts from February 8th until May 19th, or somewhere around that May date as I had to approximate based on last year’s results. A 21 game regular season results in a final best of 7 championship series known as the FESA Cup. The season lasts as long as it does despite the low number of games because said games are usually only played two days a week. LNBSV play follows most of the standard baseball rules and a designated hitter is in use.
Level of Play
The scale,
ML
AAAA
AAA
AA
A
Rookie
It’s tough to grade out the LNBSV talent because the league consists mainly of El Salvadorians. There are however a few foreign imports, but calling them that would be a misnomer. They are more like foreign travelers, baseball players who have run out of places to play and find their way to LNBSV. That doesn’t make them bad players or the league itself bad, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, the fact that these foreign travelers thrive in LNBSV and that El Salvador itself doesn’t really support baseball to any great effect places LNBSV at the Rookie-level.
Teams
- Águilas de la Universidad Tecnológica
- Halcones de Sonzacate
- Periquitos de Santa Tecla BC
- Shopping Center
Statistics
There doesn’t appear to be any source for LNBSV statistics. None can be found on Baseball Reference and there is no LNBSV site that contains statistics beyond random box scores here and there.
People to Follow
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of online traffic about LNBSV. Your best bet is most likely to follow LNBSV on Twitter and see if anyone replying to their account catches your fancy. There are devoted fans of the league out there, but they aren’t vocal or online enough to warrant a follow on their own. The league website did offer a fair amount of analysis and game reports in the past but has been dormant for a year now. However, if it kicks back up I’d definitely check that out if you are interested in following the league.
Websites
FEDEBEISSV – @LNB_SV – LNB El Salvador
Streaming
Here’s where things get interesting because LNBSV does appear to have once been available to stream. It’s unclear at this time about the number of games that were streamed or the quality of the streams. However, Tigo Sports advertised streaming games in the past. It appears only to have been live streams as the games were happening. But, it doesn’t seem as if the league is still supporting any sort of streaming.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – LNB El Salvador
