Rewind of the week: Pinar del Río continues to dominate the league; Las Tunas at an elite pace; 3 key takeaways and more
After going through the first half of the season, this 63rd National Series of Cuban baseball is about to enter the final stretch.
So far, 55% of the games have been played. If you've followed this campaign at any point, I don't think it's necessary to remind you of the huge drop in league standards. Either way, I know many of you are following your favorite team. And although there will still be many outcomes to be seen, we can now begin to visualize the postseason contenders.
We will follow up in this weekly column. I hope you enjoy it!
The story to follow this week
Since the beginning of this 63rd Cuban National Baseball Series, there has been no more relevant story than the passage of Pinar del Río. The Vegueros have won all of their series!—including eight five-game series and a two-game mini-series against the Artemisa Hunters.
The offense has been the key point, with five knockouts and an average of 7.4 runs scored per game, led by the trio of Alexei Ramírez (12 HR, 50 RBI), William Saavedra (12 HR, 43 RBI) and Yasser Julio González ( 13 HR, 45 RBI), who have combined to produce 37 home runs and 138 RBIs.
The return of Alexei Ramírez has become the great inspiration for the Vegueros, but each of their main hitters has contributed significantly:
—Alexei Ramírez leads the league with 50 RBI.
—William Saavedra leads the league with an unexpected average of .467!... and 1,400 OPS!
—Yasser Julio González, who apparently seems to be left in the shadow of Ramírez and Saavedra, has been the most timely hitter, leading the season with 18 RBIs that have produced the team's tie or lead.
We'll get back to talking about the overall impact of Pinar del Río's offense in a moment, but now I wanted to give credit to the pitching. At the beginning of the season, the Pinar del Río rotation suffered the losses of right-handers Erly Casanova and Frank Luis Medina, who traveled to fulfill their contracts in foreign leagues.
Casanova and Medina had combined for four wins in six starts, with a 1.93 ERA. Without them, an improvement in the rotation was not really expected. On the other hand, the effectiveness of Pinar del Río's pitchers has been surprising. The team has found new emerging aces in rookie Randy Martínez (4-1 and 3.09 ERA in six starts) and Jenier Álvarez (3-0, 4.18 in six starts), who have joined veteran Vladimir Baños (3-2, 4.26) and lefty Branlis Rodríguez (3-1, 5.01 in nine starts, but leads the rotation with four quality starts).
In 42 games started, Pinar del Río's starters have recorded a record of 18-6—the highest of any team this season—and a solid 14-6 after the departure of Casanova and Medina. Within a league where the offense has been on the prowl all the time, Pinar del Río pitchers will begin this week leading in ERA (4.25), lowest rate of hits allowed per nine innings (9.2), lowest opponent batting average ( .266), slugging (.376) and OPS (.735). Of course, having the offense that leads this season has undoubtedly helped the pitching performance. The Vegueros lead in elite statistics such as home run percentage (3.4 HR), they exhibit the only slugging average above .500 (.510) and, at the same time, they have been the lineup that strikes out the least (9.0% ).
Pinar del Río's offensive success has been so notable that hitters like catcher Jorge Yoán Rojas (34 RBI) and Tailor Sánchez (25 RBI) could appear in the Top RBI of other teams such as Isla de la Juventud, Holguín, Sancti Spíritus or Industriales. Returning to the topic of Pinar del Río's pitching, there is another very interesting point to highlight, and that is the performance of the bullpen. Pinar del Río's relievers have allowed the lowest opponent batting average (.231), and the second lowest OPS (.572) from the seventh inning onward, which has allowed them to maintain a high percentage of the leads in the marker.
If we had to highlight the weakest point of the Vegueros de Pinar del Río, it would be the defense. In 42 games, the 60 errors they have made have cost them 30 runs. Pinar del Río occupies eleventh place in the ranking in Defensive Range Factor (4,260), which is among the most viable defensive statistics in a league without technology to extend the use of advanced metrics. That has been a negative record, but the Vegueros complement that collective deficiency with the fourth highest average of defensive double plays (3.9%). In the end, Pinar del Río's batting and pitching performances have led to an outstanding 29-13 record. They have won all the series so far, becoming the team to watch in this 63rd National Series of Cuban baseball.
Replay of last week's chaos
Difficult to choose? I don't think so: the game that Industriales lost after using an “ineligible” player, Ariel Hechevarría, last Tuesday. Hechevarría was sent in to pinch hit and hit a solo home run off reliever Israel Sánchez, tying the score in the bottom of the eighth. At the end of the ninth, a single walk off by rookie Dayron Miranda apparently gave the Industriales success 8-7, but the game ended up being “confiscated”, with victory for the Artemisa Hunters. Just in case you're wondering, all the stats from that game are valid, except for winning and losing pitchers. In such cases, the victory is recorded for the collective statistics of the winning team (Artemisa) and losing team (Industriales), respectively. Here's a story I wrote last week where I went a little deeper into confiscated games in National Series:
Historical moment to remember
Alexei Ramírez hit his 100th home run last Thursday, May 2 and joined José “Pito” Abreu and Yoenis Céspedes, becoming the third Cuban hitter to have surpassed the 100 HR mark in the National Series and the Major Leagues, respectively:
Abreu: 184 HR in CNS and 261 in MLB
Céspedes: 177 HR in CNS and 165 in MLB
Ramírez: 102 HR in CNS and 115 in MLB
“El Pirineo”, as Alexei is affectionately called since he debuted in Cuban baseball in the early 2000s, hit 115 home runs in MLB. His season with the most home runs in the National Series was in the 2006-2007 season, when he hit 20 and led the league before leaving Cuba. A year later, he hit 21 in his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox, the highest mark of his nine-season career. That year Alexei Ramírez caused a sensation by hitting four grand slams, setting a new record for rookies. The last one was on September 29, 2008, and he contributed to an important success against the Detroit Tigers in the White Sox's run to reach the postseason.
Relive that moment here, with Hawk Harrelson's unmistakable home run call: “You can put it on the board, yes!”
3 key takeaways from the week:
1- The Bulls' pitching deserves more attention: they are leading the league with seven shutouts, a record that surpasses the four they achieved in the 61st National Series. Last week, Bulls pitchers combined for a 0.23 ERA, with one earned run allowed in 39 innings. The team won three of the first four games thanks to the pitchers' performance against the Holguín Cubs. Here is what totally validates that criterion: Camagüey's offense won three games with only eight runs scored, three of them driven in by Alexander Ayala. The lineup failed to drive in 26 of the 29 runners who reached scoring position. Consistent pitching performances: that has been one of the big keys why the Toros lead the league with a 6-1 record in games decided by a one-run difference.
2- The Crocodiles are recovering. Without Yurisbel Gracial, Rusney Castillo, Dariel Álvarez, Ruby Silva, Erisbel Arruebarena, Ariel Martínez, Yadir Drake and Yadir Mujica in their starting lineup regularly, the Crocodiles are leading the league with 330 runs scored. Much of that success has been fueled by the swings of José Amaury Noroña (he has 10 home runs, 11 stolen bases and leads the team with 44 RBI), Eduardo Blanco (43 RBI), Yariel Duque (31 RBI) and Moisés Esquerré, who He has taken advantage of the opportunity to be a starter and is hitting .439 in 121 plate appearances. However, the Crocodiles' big problem has been the inconsistency of their pitchers.
Of the nine series the Crocodiles have played this season — including the opening mini-series when they played two games against the Hurricanes — the pitching has dipped below the 3.00 ERA mark only twice: first, in late March against Villa Clara, when they threw for 3.20. And then last week when they faced Sancti Spíritus, and the pitching staff recorded a 3.35 ERA in 43 innings. But that hasn't even been the turning point here. The most worrying breakdown is that, from the seventh inning on, the Crocodiles bullpen has allowed the third highest OPS (.731) in the league starting. And when that situational context is reduced to save situations, the results have been worse: allowing the highest opponent batting average (.375) of the season. 45% of the runners inherited by the Matanzas relievers have ended up scoring. That's also the worst average in the entire league. To move forward, the Crocodiles will urgently need to find more effectiveness from their bullpen. Or, otherwise, rely on their offensive to survive.
3- The Pirates continue to be one of the most exciting teams in the National Series. Last week, the Pirates won two of their five games against the most consistent team in the league, the Vegueros of Pinar del Río. Yes, that reminded me of something. When the season began, and the Industriales offense bombarded the Pirates' pitching, that first impact cast multiple doubts. Some of my Pirates fan friends ran out of hope early on. However, here is a result that seemed impossible: the Pirates have been the second best team in games defined by a difference between 1 and 3 runs. Yes, they are 12-6 in 18 decisions! And unexpected heroes have appeared like right-handers Yadier Garay (he has 4 wins and has saved 6 games) and Roberto Rodríguez (4-0).
Rising trends
The Lumberjacks are back. Last week, the reigning national champions extended a streak to seven consecutive successes, and came within one game of sweeping the Santiago de Cuba Wasps. Las Tunas (25-12) will begin this week in second place in the standings, 1.5 games behind Pinar del Río (29-13). The last third will be key to defining who will end up leading the league, but so far, the Lumberjacks remain among the favorites, and their impressive 17-5 record in April is setting off alarms. The Camagüey Bulls and the Artemisa Hunters have also been consistent over the last two weeks, and starting this Tuesday they will face each other at the 26 de Julio stadium.
Alerts on the border of the qualifying zone: The Ciego de Ávila Tigers, the Mayabeque Hurricanes and the Matanzas Crocodiles had a great week, recording four wins in five games, respectively. Matanzas and Mayabeque have won seven of their last 10 games, while the Tigres are 5-5. Of course, we should never say that any series will be easy, but the Hurricanes will travel this week to face Guantánamo, one of the worst teams this season. Mayabeque is 15-6 in the last 5 years against the Indians, so they will need to maintain their dominance in order to climb the standings.
Matanzas will also be on tour, facing the Wasps of Santiago de Cuba. The Crocodiles are having a great moment on offense, but the pitching rotation will have the greatest challenge. Although, well, if it comes to challenges, I think the big test is coming for the Tigers, who will host Pinar del Río at the José Ramón Cepero stadium. Yes, that will be a good test to see if the Tigers are really recovering the victorious pace that led them to go 15-2 during a dream start in March.
Downward trends
The Sancti Spíritus (3-7) and the Villa Clara (2-8) teams have not been able to extend the impact of their best weeks in this second half of the season. After displaying its best OPS (.815) in early April against Industriales, Villa Clara's offense has faded. Here are the following OPS they recorded: .781 vs Santiago de Cuba, .731 vs Las Tunas, .687 vs Ciego de Ávila. With those tendencies, it is quite difficult for them to support pitching. The case of the Sancti Spíritus Roosters has also been alarming: they have allowed 103 runs in their last 167 innings.
Trivia question of the week
If you have followed this 63rd Cuban National Series, you already know that Alfredo Despaigne leads the league with 14 home runs in 39 games. To be honest, that's not surprising news, but this trivia question probably is:
Who has been the batter with the highest percentage of home runs per extra base hit in the National Series of Cuban baseball from 1999 to date? Wait, don't worry! I'll give you some clues. First, I chose the period from 1999 to date, because that was when the wooden bat began to be used again in the Cuban National Series.
Here are five names to select the correct answer:
A.__ Alfredo Despaigne, 2011
B.__ José Dariel Abreu, 2011
C.__ Lisbán Correa, 2021
D.__ Juan Manrique, 2004
E.__ Joan Carlos Pedroso, 2005
Series to watch this week
Camagüey vs Artemisa
Villa Clara vs Isla de la Juventud
Holguín vs Industriales
Granma vs Cienfuegos
Las Tunas vs Sancti Spíritus
Pinar del Río vs Ciego de Ávila
Matanzas vs Santiago de Cuba
Mayabeque vs Guantánamo
