Text: Raul del Pino
Photos: RL Hevia
The postseason party of the 63rd National Series opens its curtains this Thursday and everything points to a much more attractive battle for the title than what was experienced during the regular season. The Cuban pastime par excellence, although far from its golden years, still arouses passions and captures the attention of a country that has never stopped breathing baseball.
Each of the eight qualifiers has elements to support their case, some with more history than others, but all the confrontations promise to provide spectacle. For this reason, in Cuba Noticias 360 we propose a duel by duel review, with their respective playoff antecedents. Let’s get to the point.
Pinar del Rio (1) vs Sancti Spiritus (8) Debut: Thursday June 27. Captain San Luis Stadium. 2:00pm.
The Gallos appear to be the ninth with the most doubts on paper, since they managed to get into the postseason in the last agonizing date of the qualifiers. However, they sealed their ticket after an excellent streak that allows them to arrive with high morale to the quarterfinals where they will have in front of them the main contender for the title, the reborn Vegueros de Pinar del Río, who added to this contest an ex-MLB player of the caliber of Alexei Ramírez, absolute leader of the squad.
With the guarantee of having won all the subseries of the regular phase, something that no team had achieved before, Alexander Urquiola’s pupils hope to repeat the same victory that they already won in the same instance of series 60 against the same rival. However, that match, which they reached in reverse positions (Sancti Spíritus was the leader and Pinar eighth), was defined in seven games, something that seems too much for this occasion. Historically, they have met in six postseasons, with four smiles for the Westerners, who also won 20 of the 34 games played between them.
Santiago de Cuba (4) vs Industriales (5) Debut: Thursday, June 27. Guillermón Moncada Stadium. 6:30 pm.
The classic of Cuban pelota, an adjective that some attribute to the press, mainly responsible for the disagreement between the two main provinces of the country reaching stratospheric levels in past decades. However, history also proves it, because it is not by chance that they are the two teams that have trodden the promised land of the playoffs the most times, 29 times those from the capital and 25 times those from the east.
After almost three decades without facing each other since those finals they played in the mid-2000s, the fight between Leones and Avispas revived in the semifinals of the previous season, with the Havana team winning seven games. For this Series, the forecast does not vary too much, since the absence of Yoelquis Guibert balances the action somewhat with respect to the multiple absences that Guillermo Carmona has had to deal with throughout the championship.
Both teams have seven previous postseason appearances, with the curious fact that two of them ended in a tie when the playoffs were played in a round-robin format in the 1980s, according to Benigno Daquinta’s data. Afterwards, the balance tipped 3-2 in favor of the self-proclaimed flagship team of Cuban baseball, which also dominates the overall standings with 17 wins, compared to 15 for the team from Santiago.
Granma (2) vs Matanzas (7) Debut: Friday, June 28. Martyrs of Barbados Stadium. 2:00pm.
Without a doubt, the hottest rivalry in recent years, and proof of the two consecutive finals they starred in in series 60 and 61. But the particular confrontation in the postseason extends to four duels in total, all with smiles for some Alazanes who always They had Carlos Martí at the helm. Now the Granma manager is Ángel Ortega, so those who believe in cabals will have something to cling to here, while those who prefer the field to have the last word will say that they have an Alfredo Despaigne in MVP mode who can perfectly score the goals. differences alone.
The truth is that these Crocodiles plagued by losses do not look like those who won, for example, the last Elite League, although they will receive an important injection in their bullpen with the arms of Yoennis Yera, Yamichel Pérez and Renner Rivero. And what will they do to try to put a stop to the powerful team of the Orientals, who have 16 successes in the 25 postseason matches held between them.
Las Tunas (3) vs Ciego de Ávila (6) Debut: Friday, June 28. Julio Antonio Mella Stadium. 6:30 pm.
The current national champions from Las Tunas carved out another successful contest without making much noise. After a handful of suspended games at the beginning of the series, they never managed to settle on the top spot they conquered the previous year, however, they climbed to the top positions and were fighting for the lead until the end of the regular season.
Now they find themselves again in the quarterfinals against a Tigres team that they already defeated in the same instance on the way to the title of the 62nd series. Abeisy Pantoja’s Leñadores will depend again on their explosive batting and in the team work of a team that he knows by heart. They have won the last two of the three times they have faced Ciego de Ávila in the playoffs, with the overwhelming difference of 11 victories and only five defeats.
