The second phase of the 83rd National Major Baseball Championship begins this Gloria Saturday with the start of the Series of 8, which will have one of its main focuses in the city of David, where Chiriquí will host Veraguas at the Kenny Serracín Stadium. The start of this stage comes after Veraguas's victory, a result that officially eliminated the Panama Metro and Los Santos teams, thus defining the eight teams that advance to the next round. The Veraguas team arrives with just one day of rest, after playing pending games on Wednesday in Santiago and Thursday in Monagrillo. During the regular phase, Chiriquí dominated direct matchups against Veraguas with two close victories. The first of those duels was held on Tuesday the 24th in David, where the home team won 4-3 in a game that went to 12 innings. In that match, Luis Jordán decided it with a sacrifice fly that allowed Ariel Serrano to score the winning run. However, in that campaign, they suffered an early elimination in the second phase under a round-robin format, being knocked out of the title defense won in 2024. Offensively, the Chiriquí team features figures like catcher Erasmo Caballero, who has two home runs and 14 RBIs, as well as Iraj Serrano, the team leader with 14 runs scored. In production, Navid Sánchez stands out with nine RBIs, Miguel Atencio with eight, and Edder Cedeño and José Mordock with six each. In terms of pitching, both teams present depth. The Series of 8 will be played in a best-of-five format. To this is added veteran Jonathan Saavedra, who has a .486 on-base percentage, placing him among the best in the tournament. For its part, Veraguas returns to this instance for the first time since 2019, when it finished in third place with an 11-5 record. The team closed this year's regular season with a 9-7 record, showing more offensive balance with seven players who have accumulated at least five runs scored.
