Antonio Santos closed the 2026 Liga Mexicana de Béisbol Banorte regular season as the circuit’s winningest pitcher: 10-3, 3.95 ERA in 20 starts with the Pericos de Puebla. The Dominican right-hander edged four pitchers who finished with 9 wins and became just the ninth hurler in Puebla baseball history to lead the LMB in victories. And he did it less than two years after the Cubs sent him to the minors.
Ten Wins That Mean Something
Santos logged 93.1 innings during the regular season, striking out 71 batters while issuing only 29 walks. Those numbers don’t describe a guy on a hot streak — they describe a reliable, controlled starter who showed up every five days and delivered.
Win No. 10 came on August 4 against El Águila de Veracruz: five shutout innings, 4 hits, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in an 11-4 blowout at Estadio Hermanos Serdán. That performance sealed the wins title over Austin Warner, Zac Grotz, Noah Skirrow and A.J. Puckett — all stuck at 9. Four pitchers, one win away. Santos was the only one who got there.
The historical weight is real: he is the ninth pitcher in Pericos history to lead the LMB in wins, joining a list that includes Salvatore Maglie (1946), Miguel Sotelo (1963 and 1964), Ernesto Escárrega (1980), Germán Jiménez (1986), Armando Valdez (2004), Eric Knott (2005), Andrés Iván Meza (2009) and Yoimer Camacho (2023). He’s also the tenth Dominican pitcher to top that category in Mexican baseball history.
The Road Back to Puebla
Born October 6, 1996, in Villa González, Dominican Republic, Santos made his MLB debut on September 1, 2020, with the Colorado Rockies. His big-league stint was short and rough: 10 appearances across 2020 and 2021, a 0-2 record and an 8.83 ERA. Not the story he was writing.
He landed with the Pericos in December 2023 and made four starts in 2024, posting a 2.49 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 21.2 innings — enough for the Cubs to purchase his contract and slot him into their minor-league system. But Santos came back to Puebla for 2026, and this time he stayed put long enough to build the best season of his professional career.
Pericos, Playoffs and What Comes Next
Santos’s individual milestone fits inside a solid team season. The Pericos finished the regular phase 47-41 and punched their ticket to the postseason for the sixth consecutive year. It’s not the best record in the South Zone — the Diablos Rojos del México dominated at 61-29 — but it’s enough to be in the fight.
The 2026 LMB Banorte postseason opens August 9. Puebla will sort out its seeding against the Piratas de Campeche. If Santos takes the ball as the ace of the rotation, he’ll carry with him the best campaign of his career and a mark no one can take away: wins leader of the entire league.
From the Rockies to the Cubs, from the Cubs back to Puebla. Sometimes the best place to find yourself is the one you already knew.
