Jalisco’s baseball team wasn’t having a great night, but you wouldn’t have known it from the crowds, chants, fireworks, dancing and lassoing. 

Wednesday’s game against the heavy hitting Sultanes de Monterrey marked the season opener as well as the reentry of the Charros de Jalisco into the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol after a 30-year absence. And by the time the game wound down around 11 p.m. with a disappointing score of 13-7 in Monterrey’s favor, Charros fans still seemed energized not only by this auspicious new link with the LMB, but also by the evening’s hoop-la and very pleasant weather.

For one American non-sports fan and one American baseball lover, it was all fun and novelty watching the play of the Jalisco and Monterrey teams and the spectacle of the opening show and the scoreboards, cheerleaders, mascot, restaurants, vendors and crowd. (Attendance was about twice as high on opening night as for a normal game, although games against Sinaloan teams are said to be extra popular.) 

For someone who’s not a fan, baseball is all slowness, punctuated by bursts of inexplicable activity. A fast-moving, small ball does not invite easy comprehension. However, the game is not a total mystery to anyone from the country where it originated, and this American non-fan actually played neighborhood baseball as a girl. And the kind explanations of a true sports fan in one ear immensely boosted my enjoyment. 

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