A WEEK OF GAMES TO BE PLAYED
The second phase of the 59th Cuban National Baseball Series ends in one week, and team standings are not what we expected at the beginning of the second phase in October. Santiago de Cuba was the team to beat in October and is now in second to the last place and will likely be eliminated. We had predicted Havana’s demise several weeks ago, but the Cuban capital’s team now looks likely to make the playoffs and is the most improved team over the past month. Matanzas barely made it to the second phase and is currently the second-best team and our favorite to win the championship in January. Positions as of today are from first to last Camaguey, Matanzas, Las Tunas, Havana, Santiago, and Cienfuegos. Only the top four teams make the playoffs.
Matanzas has two of the best batters in the league, with Yasiel Santoya, .369 batting average, and Jefferson Delgado, .365 average. On their heels are Havana’s Yhosvani Penalver with 8 home runs and Frederich Cepeda with a league-leading 18 home runs, both with .358 batting average. Yordanis Alarcon of Las Tunas leads the league with a .382 batting average and his teammate Carlos Viera is Cuba’s most consistent starter with a 2.19 ERA.
CUBA BASEBALL PLAYOFFS 2019/2020 SEASON
The playoffs begin at the end of December, with the championship series scheduled for the end of January. We would love to see Havana in the championship series against Matanzas but predict a championship series between current champion Las Tunas and Matanzas.
By Frank Gonzalez
Comments