FARMINGTON – From a pure talent perspective, the pitching was the thing as the 2026 Connie Mack World Series took a victory lap around Ricketts Park with D-Bat claiming their first championship in more than a decade.
A pair of stars from the Dallas-based organization, Garner Rodriguez and Trevor Moore, dominated the hill during the weeklong event.
In addition to combining for four of the team’s eight wins between pool play and bracket play, Rodriguez recorded 13 strikeouts over nine innings including the only seven-inning complete game of the event in the CMWS semifinals win over the Midland Redbirds. Moore struck out seven in the tournament, stifling a high-profile Dulins Dodgers National lineup for 4 1/3 innings in the championship game.
The entire D-Bat roster of pitchers combined for 53 strikeouts over 54 innings of play while going undefeated in the process.
At the same time, fans of players from the state of New Mexico have much to be excited about following an impressive showing from Carlsbad High’s Wade Cozart.
Appearing in a pair of games for the Midland Redbirds on the mound, Cozart couldn’t have been more dominant, striking out 21 batters, surrendering only two hits and four runs in a total of 12 innings of work.
The Albuquerque Baseball Academy saw a couple of players have an important role in the series.
Wyatt Tinker, from Rio Rancho High, had a batting average of .400 with a pair of home runs, 10 RBIs and six runs scored.
Luke Feist, from La Cueva High, struck out eight batters over three games and 4 2/3 innings pitched, giving up only one run on three hits.
The ABA squad, coached by Tim Campos, advanced to the final six teams before being eliminated by the Dulins Dodgers National team.
There’s also, for me at least, a story or two that gets lost in the shuffle. Some intimate piece of information that I have to remind myself to get into print once the chalk on the baselines have settled.
One of those stories is that of another New Mexico-based prospect, Anthony Del Angel, who suffered an injury early in the tournament representing the Dulin’s Dodgers Nationals and was held out of the rest of the series as he prepares for a collegiate career at Oklahoma University.
“If he had it his way, he would’ve played all week,” said Nationals coach Chris Godwin of Del Angel. “He’s got a bright future and you cannot replace a guy like that but it’s not worth risking his future. He’s won it before and he knows what it takes to be a winner, and I told him to go home to get ready to go to school and prepare, but it just shows what kind of teammate he is.”
Sometimes, the same conclusion becomes remarkably clear.
Regardless how much I enjoy covering a sporting event, no matter the painstaking thrill I experience in being a part of the process of writing about a game, there’s a reality that the enjoyment and process of it is misunderstood by those around me during those moments.
I’m not trying to be a personal cheerleader for any one athlete or any one team. For the most part, I shy away from opportunities to be a part of events where it could be seen as if I have a personal or professional bias, both for and against any particular entity.
If a school or a team or a coach has a personal or professional affront with me and my work, I’ll acquiesce and allow another of my colleagues to fill in my place. I’d like to believe we practice what has been mockingly referred to by some as “journalistic integrity.”
Maybe I go about those decisions a slightly different way. My sense of humor, my approach and my candor might not be everyone’s cup of iced coffee. But I’ll do my best in print to stay away from putting myself in situations where it could be seen as showing a bias.
Having a “hot take” or delivering a strong partisan stance is often rewarded with high engagement and cheap applause. I’d like to avoid that at all costs, if for no other reason than just to maintain balance which requires far more rigor and restraint.
When I did radio for nearly 20 years, it was different, though not all the time. In the final decade or so of my time on local airwaves, when sports coverage took a political or social theme, I tried to bridge the gap between differing sides. Being in the middle is a lot more difficult than taking one person’s version of truth over another.
The best definition of this argument was made by the fictional character Josh Lyman in a show called “The West Wing“, when he said, ”Remember pluralism. Keep accepting more than one idea. Makes them absolutely crazy.“
That said, the 2026 Connie Mack World Series is in the books. And not a moment too soon.
That’s all.