Greetings to everyone here at The Crawfish Boxes. I'm a newcomer to your site, but following a comment I made about a picture of new Astro Yulieski Gurriel in one of your articles, I received some encouragement to hang around and share a little bit about baseball in Cuba, the "last great frontier in baseball" as one commenter referred to it.

I thought that it would be appropriate to begin our discussion here with a little run down of how domestic baseball in played in Cuba, how it differs from the Major Leagues, and why it is organized the way that it is. I figured it would be good to have a little bit of the basic background information before we start talking about players and the like. Let's dive in!

La Serie Nacional de Béisbol

The closest equivalent to the MLB regular season/post season in Cuba is the Cuban National Baseball Series. In this competition, 16 teams compete in a 90 game regular season followed by an 8 team playoff, with the top 4 teams from the Western Division and Eastern divisions qualifying for the playoff. The location of the 16 Serie Nacional teams is shown below.

Western Division Teams

The western division consists of the following teams.

Industriales Leones Azules (Blue Lions)

Matanzas Cocodrilos (Crocodiles)

Pinar del Río Vegueros (Tobacco Farmers)

Pinar del Río Vegueros (Tobacco Farmers) Sancti Spíritus Gallos (Roosters)

Sancti Spíritus Gallos (Roosters) Isla de Juventud Toronjeros (Grapefruit Farmers)

Isla de Juventud Toronjeros (Grapefruit Farmers) Cienfuegos Elefantes (Elephants)

Cienfuegos Elefantes (Elephants) Artemisa Cazadores (Hunters)

Artemisa Cazadores (Hunters) Mayabeque Huracanes (Hurricanes)

Eastern Division

While the eastern division contains these teams.

Camagüey Ganaderos (Ranchers)

Camagüey Ganaderos (Ranchers) Ciego de Ávila Tigres (Tigers)

Ciego de Ávila Tigres (Tigers) Las Tunas Leñadores (Lumberjacks)

Las Tunas Leñadores (Lumberjacks) Villa Clara Naranjas (Orange Farmers)

Villa Clara Naranjas (Orange Farmers) Granma Alazanes (Brown Horses)

Granma Alazanes (Brown Horses) Guantánamo Indios (Indians)

Guantánamo Indios (Indians) Holguín Sabuesos (Hounds)

Holguín Sabuesos (Hounds) Santiago de Cuba Avispas (Wasps)

One interesting quirk must be mentioned regarding Serie Nacional play. Following the first 45 games of the regular season, the teams with the 8 worst records are eliminated from post-season contention. At this point the 8 remaining teams hold a 7 round draft to draft players from the eliminated squads to bolster their own teams. These drafted players remain with their new teams through the rest of the regular season as well as the playoffs, but return to their native provinces for the next regular season. This is intended to consolidate the best talent on the island on a smaller number of teams to ensure that all players are facing the highest competition possible to help with selection for the national team.





Súper Liga

Following Serie Nacional play, which runs from November until April, there is a second competition called the Súper Liga. Unlike the Serie Nacional, in which players compete for the local teams of their provinces, the Súper Liga is an all-star competition in which the best players from across the island are divided into 5 teams (Orientales, Occidentales, Centrales, Santiago de Cuba and Habana) based on their location. These 5 all-star teams then compete in a 28 game schedule to determine the champion. The two teams with the best overall record face each other in a 7 game series following the regular season.

While the Súper Liga is generally less popular than the Serie Nacional (due to less local attachment to the teams), it is an important part of the Cuban baseball season, since the national team for the upcoming tournament season is selected from the pool of players on the 5 Súper Liga teams. A strong performance in the Súper Liga is often the way the young stars aspiring to the national team (or to leave the island for the US) make a name for themselves in the domestic baseball scene.

Sadly, the Super Liga format was discontinued due to a lack of resources for year round baseball.

Summer Tournaments

Although it is difficult for American baseball fans to fathom, this is the most important portion of the season in Cuba. All other domestic baseball operations are set up to support the Cuban national team's participation and performance in the summer tournaments. The Serie Nacional and Súper Liga both take place during the winter months because almost all baseball tournaments (excluding the irregularly scheduled WBC) take place during the summer. Both of the other leagues are likewise designed to funnel top talent towards selection for the national team.

The tournaments which occur during any given summer season vary depending on the year, but include the World Baseball Classic, the Pan-Am Games, the Premier 12, the Caribbean/Central American games, the World Port Tournament, and formerly the Summer Olympics (and hopefully again soon!).

The performance of the national team has suffered in recent years, as the island has been rocked by departures of quite a bit of high end baseball talent. One of the largest tasks currently facing the Cuban Baseball Federation is the establishment of formal procedures for player transfer from the island to the Major Leagues, possibly akin to the posting agree that MLB has with Nippon Professional Baseball, which would allow both for the safer movement of players from Cuba to the US (without the need, for instance, for MLB teams to engage with human traffickers, as in the case of Yasiel Puig) as well as a return to a higher quality of play in domestic Cuban baseball.

I hope you've enjoyed this small foray into the world of baseball in Cuba. I would gladly answer any questions that folks have in the comments (if I'm able), and would likewise welcome any suggestions for forthcoming topics of interest. Up next on the docket: a closer look at your favorite new Astro and mine, Yulieski Gurriel.