1984-1985 Cuban National League

The 1984-1985 season was the twenty-fourth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 24th Serie Nacional was was dominated by the Pinar del Río teams. Vegueros, managed by Jorge Fuentes, won the Serie Nacional by winning the Primera División by seven games over Camagüey. It was the team's fourth title. For the second straight season, Forestales won the Segunda División.

Anchoring the Vegueros staff was Reinaldo Costa, who won a league leading 14 wins and was named the pitcher of the year. Nineteen-year-old Omar Linares wins the league's MVP award by becoming the first batter in league history to hit over .400. Linares also leads the league in runs scored (65) and ties for the league lead in triples with 9 (with Villa Clara's 115-base hitter, Amado Zamora). Other players on the team included Omar Ajete, José Cano, Luis Giraldo Casanova, and Fernando Hernández.

On December 29, Santiago de Cuba's Braudilio Vinent wins his 200th Serie Nacional game – the first pitcher to reach that mark – against Granma. Wilfredo Sánchez of Citricultores is the first player to reach 2,000 hits on against Guantánamo hurler Osvaldo Duvergel on January 19. Three months later, on April 11, Camagüey's Sergio Quesada hits his 2000th against Luis Tissert.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Primera División

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Vegueros	75	57	18	0.760	-.-
Camagüey	75	50	25	0.667	7.0
La Habana	75	46	29	0.613	11.0
Villa Clara	75	46	29	0.613	11.0
Santiago de Cuba	75	45	30	0.600	12.0
Industriales	75	44	31	0.587	13.0
Citricultores	75	43	32	0.573	14.0
Guantánamo	75	42	33	0.560	15.0
Cienfuegos	75	32	43	0.427	25.0

Segunda División

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Forestales	70	34	36	0.486	-.-
Henequeneros	75	37	38	0.493	2.0
Sancti Spíritus	74	32	42	0.432	6.5
Ciego de Ávila	75	31	44	0.413	8.0
Granma	75	31	44	0.413	8.0
Metropolitanos	74	30	44	0.405	8.5
Las Tunas	75	24	51	0.320	15.0
Isla de la Juventud	75	23	52	0.307	16.0
Holguín	75	22	53	0.293	17.0

All-Star Game

The tenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Havana. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 5 to 1. Both teams had 7 hits, while the errors were 3 to 0 in favor of Occidentales. The winning pitcher was Reinaldo Costa and the losing pitcher was Andrés Luis.

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Omar Linares	Vegueros	.409	108 hits in 264 at-bats
Runs Scored	Omar Linares	Vegueros	65
Base Hits	Amado Zamora	Villa Clara	115
Doubles	Fernando Hernández Pedro L. Rodríguez	Vegueros La Habana	20
Triples	Omar Linares Amado Zamora	Vegueros Villa Clara	9
Home Runs	Lázaro Junco	Citricultores	24
Runs Batted In	Lázaro Junco	Citricultores	72
Base-on-Balls	Antonio Muñoz	Cienfuegos	63
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	12
Hit-by-Pitch	Luis Cuesta José García	La Habana Ciego de Ávila	10
Strikeouts	Luis Cuesta	La Habana	70
Sacrifice Hit	José L. Martínez	Forestales	11
Sacrifice Fly	Ernesto Baró	Ciego de Ávila	7
Stolen Bases	Lázaro Madera	Vegueros	37

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Reinaldo Costa	Vegueros	14
Win-Loss Percentage	Ramón Espinosa	Camagüey	1.000	6 - 0
Earned Run Average	Andrés Luis	Camagüey	1.67	25 ER in 135 IP
Innings Pitched	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	170.1
Games Pitched	Fidencio Serrano	Holguín	31
Games Started	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	23
Games Relieved	Fidencio Serrano	Holguín	24
Complete Games	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	15
Shutouts	Carlos Pérez Octavio Gálvez	Forestales Cienfuegos	6
Hits Allowed	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	176
Strikeouts	Félix Núñez	Las Tunas	138
Base-on-Balls	Raúl Villa	Sancti Spíritus	67
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Carlos A. Yánes Ernesto Acosta	Isla de la Juventud Las Tunas	12
Hit Batters	Rafael Castillo	Holguín	14

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Omar Linares a third baseman with Vegueros. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Reinaldo Costa of Vegueros. Eddy Rojas of Villa Clara was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The eleventh Series Selectivas was won by Las Villas, managed by the Eduardo Martín.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Las Villas	45	26	19	0.578	-.-
Habana	45	25	20	0.556	1.0
Matanzas	45	24	21	0.533	2.0
Orientales	45	20	25	0.444	6.0
Camagüeyanos	45	20	25	0.444	6.0
Pinar del Río	45	20	25	0.444	6.0

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .361 - Amado Zamora, Las Villas
• Base Hits: 60 - Antonio Pacheco, Orientales; Fernando Sánchez, Matanzas
• Runs Scored: 35 - Pedro Medina, Habana
• Doubles: 12 - Fernando Sánchez, Matanzas
• Triples: 4 - Antonio Pacheco, Orientales
• Home Runs: 13 - Pedro Medina, Habana
• Runs Batted In: 36 - Fernando Sánchez, Matanzas
• Stolen Bases: 12 - Victor Mesa, Las Villas

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (4 - 0) - José Pedroso, Habana
• Games Pitched: 18 - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Complete Games: 6 - Reinaldo Costa, Pinar del Río
• Wins: 9 - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Innings Pitched: 109.2 - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Strikeouts: 63 - José Riveira, Las Villas
• Earned Run Average: 1.98 - Manuel Álvarez, Camagüeyanos

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1985 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXIV serie 1985 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295