La Vida Baseball’s World Series Lotería
By Andy Martinez
In any Mexican or Mexican American household, you grew up playing Lotería, the Mexican equivalent of Bingo. Whether you played with coins or frijoles, most Mexicanos played the game. You grew accustomed to hearing someone bark, “La rana!” “El gallo!” or “El alacrán!”. And, boy, oh boy did you get nervous when all you needed was “La bandera” or “El gorrito.”
So, what better way to celebrate the start of the World Series with a gameboard of our own, centered around baseball, the World Series and the two teams, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers?
Let’s take out “La calavera” and replace it with Boston’s Dominican star, Rafael “La Carita” Devers. Or, instead of an actual star for “La estrella” let’s replace it with Cuban American MVP-candidate JD Martinez. Replace “El músico” with one of our favorite Dodger superfans, El Mariachiloco.
Lotería, like baseball, is meant to be fun and competitive. What better way to intertwine the two? Print out your gameboard at home and make a game out of it. Without further ado, here’s La Vida Baseball’s Lotería pieces:
“La Pelota” – The Ball
A fundamental piece of baseball.
“El Bate” – The Bat
Another piece instrumental to baseball.
“El Guante” – The Glove
Pretty hard to catch a ball without it, well, without hurting yourself!
“El Trofeo” – The Trophy
The piece of hardware both teams are fighting for.
“Los Anillos” – The Rings
Both teams’ last World Series rings.
“El Estadio” – The Stadium
Fenway Park, and homes to Games 1-2 and 6-7 (maybe).
“La Casa” – The House
Dodger Stadium, site of Games 3-5.
“El Músico” – The Musician
Dodger superfan, Mariachiloco. You’ll find him near a Dodger game with his Mariachi hat and Dodgers gear from head to toe, literally! ¡Ajua!
“La Estrella” – The Star
JD Martinez, Cuban American star, MVP-candidate and a near-Triple Crown winner.
“El Toro” – The Bull
You can’t honor a Mexican card game without arguably Mexico’s greatest player, Fernando Valenzuela!
“El Jefe” – The Boss
Álex Cora, the Puerto Rican manager is seeking to become the first Puerto Rican manager to win a World Series and the second ever Latino (Ozzie Guillén, 2005) to win the Fall Classic.
“El Zurdo” – The Lefty
Clayton Kershaw is arguably one of the greatest lefties of all time, so he was a no-brainer!
“El Hot Dog” – The Hot Dog
What better way to represent a baseball game than the most popular food?
“El Valiente” – The Brave Man
Manny Machado has become public enemy number one across baseball, so why wouldn’t he be “El Valiente”?
“La Carita” – The Little Face
Dominicano Rafael Devers proudly wore “Carita” on his players weekend jersey.
“El Teenager” – The Teenager
Julio Urías made his debut as a 19-year-old. Now 22, the lefty is looking to become the next Mexican star, even if he still carries the nickname “The Teenager”.
Featured Image: La Vida Baseball
Inset Images: La Vida Baseball