1985-1986 Cuban National League

The 1985-1986 season was the twenty-fifth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 25th Serie Nacional was won by Industriales, who were managed by their former sixties star Pedro Chávez. It was the team's first title in thirteen years. This season featured the splitting of the teams into two geographically-based divisions and the first scheduled playoffs to determine a champion. The schedule was also reduced to 48 games.

Prior to the season the Serie Nacional's eighteen teams were split into two nine- team divisions. The Zona Occidental (West Zone) featured teams from Cienfuegos Province and west while the rest of the teams were placed in the Zona Oriental (East Zone). Thus the divisional alignment for the twenty-fifth Serie Nacional was:

Zona Occidental	Zona Oriental
Cienfuegos	Camagüey
Citricultores	Ciego de Ávila
Forestales	Granma
Henequeneros	Guantánamo
Industriales	Holguín
Isla de la Juventud	Las Tunas
La Habana	Sancti Spíritus
Metropolitanos	Santiago de Cuba
Vegueros	Villa Clara

At the end of the regular season, the first and second place teams from each Zona qualified for a four-team playoff – consisting of a six-game round robin, two games versus each opponent. The winner of the round-robin would then be crowned Serie Nacional champion. From the Zona Oriental first place Villa Clara and runner-up Santiago de Cuba made it into the playoffs while the serie's top team Industriales and the second place Vegueros were the Zona Occidental representatives. The Vegueros ended the season tied at 33 – 15 with Henequeneros, but made the playoffs over the Matanzas team.

In the playoffs Industriales went undefeated at 6 – 0 to win their sixth Serie Nacional title. The final game of the playoff at Estadio Latinoamericano between the 4 – 1 Vegueros and 5 – 0 Industriales went tweleve innings. Against longtime strikeout king Rogelio García, Agustín Marquetti hit a home run to right field with a runner on first to win the game for the capital's team 7 to 5. Other players of note on the championship team were Pedro Medina, Javier Méndez, Juan Padilla, and Rolando Verde.

Vegueros' Omar Linares repeats as the serie batting champion by hitting .426 - 63 hits in 148 at-bats. Industriales third baseman Lázaro Vargas wins the MVP award by getting 75 hits and scoring 48 runs. Vargas also breaks Felipe Sarduy's 17-year old record of 29 consecutive games with a hit by going 31 games with a hit. Three pitchers tied for the league lead with 11 wins; pitcher of the year Lázaro de la Torre of Industriales, José Riveira of Villa Clara, and Luis Tissert of Santiago de Cuba. Vegueros rookie hurler Omar Ajete had a perfect record of 5 – 0.

Standings

Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion

Zona Occidental

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Industriales	48	37	11	0.771	-.-
Vegueros	48	33	15	0.688	4.0
Henequeneros	48	33	15	0.688	4.0
Citricultores	48	26	22	0.542	11.0
Metropolitanos	47	21	26	0.447	15.5
La Habana	48	18	30	0.375	19.0
Forestales	48	18	30	0.375	19.0
Cienfuegos	47	15	32	0.319	21.5
Isla de la Juventud	48	14	34	0.292	23.0

Zona Oriental

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	48	35	13	0.729	-.-
Santiago de Cuba	48	34	14	0.708	1.0
Camagüey	48	32	16	0.667	3.0
Ciego de Ávila	48	24	24	0.500	11.0
Granma	48	21	27	0.438	14.0
Sancti Spíritus	48	21	27	0.438	14.0
Guantánamo	48	19	29	0.396	16.0
Las Tunas	48	16	32	0.333	19.0
Holguín	48	14	34	0.292	21.0

Playoffs

The playoffs consisted of the top two teams from each zona playing in a six-game "round robin" against each other, with two games against each other. Industriales swept the table to win the championship.

Team	Zona	G	W	L	WPCT
Industriales	Occidental - First	6	6	0	1.000
Vegueros	Occidental - Second	6	4	2	0.667
Villa Clara	Oriental - First	6	1	5	0.167
Santiago de Cuba	Oriental - Second	6	1	5	0.167

All-Star Game

The eleventh Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Havana. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 4 to 0. Oriente had 6 hits to Occidentales's 5, while the errors were 2 to 0 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Regino Robaina and the losing pitcher was Pablo Miguel Abreu.

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	.426	63 hits in 148 at-bats
Runs Scored	Lázaro Vargas	Industriales	48
Base Hits	Lázaro Vargas	Industriales	75
Doubles	Pablo Pérez	Isla de la Juventud	16
Triples	José L. Lombillo	La Habana	5
Home Runs	Reynaldo Fernández	Camagüey	18
Runs Batted In	Julio G. Fernández	Henequeneros	52
Base-on-Balls	Luis Crespo Alejo O'Reilly	Forestales Ciego de Ávila	37
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Vegueros	8
Hit-by-Pitch	Ramiro Díaz	Granma	12
Strikeouts	José M. Rodríguez	La Habana	50
Sacrifice Hit	Luis E. Gourriel	Sancti Spíritus	7
Sacrifice Fly	Rafael O. Acebey	Villa Clara	5
Stolen Bases	Antonio González	Industriales	21

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Lázaro de la Torre José Riveira Luis Tissert	Industriales Villa Clara Santiago de Cuba	11
Win-Loss Percentage	Omar Ajete	Vegueros	1.000	5 - 0
Earned Run Average	Jorge L. Valdés	Henequeneros	1.56	20 ER in 115.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Jorge L. Valdés	Henequeneros	115.1
Games Pitched	Osvaldo Duvergel	Guantánamo	24
Games Started	Pedro L. Palma	Granma	15
Games Relieved	Francisco Despaigne	Industriales	20
Complete Games	Jorge L. Valdés	Henequeneros	11
Shutouts	Lázaro de la Torre Regino Robaina	Industriales Ciego de Ávila	4
Hits Allowed	Israel Alonso	Isla de la Juventud	134
Strikeouts	Pablo M. Abreu	Industriales	97
Base-on-Balls	Silvio Pérez José A. Machiran	Forestales Guantánamo	45
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Jorge Vidal	La Habana	9
Hit Batters	Claudelino Jiménez Osvaldo Duvergel Félix Núñez	Camagüey Guantánamo Las Tunas	7

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Lázaro Vargas a third baseman with Industriales. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Lázaro de la Torre of Industriales. Buenafé Nápoles of Camagüey was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The twelfth Series Selectivas was won by Serranos, managed by the Frangel Reynaldo.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Serranos	63	41	22	0.651	-.-
Habana	64	39	25	0.609	2.5
Pinar del Río	63	36	27	0.571	5.0
Camagüeyanos	63	34	29	0.540	7.0
Las Villas	63	29	34	0.460	12.0
Matanzas	63	27	36	0.429	14.0
Agropecuarios	63	24	39	0.381	17.0
Mineros	63	22	41	0.349	19.0

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .392 - Amado Zamora, Las Villas
• Base Hits: 96 - Jorge García, Serranos
• Runs Scored: 63 - Orestes Kindelán, Serranos
• Doubles: 18 - Rolando Verde, Habana
• Triples: 9 - Evenecer Godinez, Serranos
• Home Runs: 30 - Orestes Kindelán, Serranos
• Runs Batted In: 84 - Orestes Kindelán, Serranos
• Stolen Bases: 30 - Jorge García, Serranos

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (5 - 0) - Jesus Bosmenier, Pinar del Río
• Games Pitched: 27 - Fidencio Serrano, Mineros
• Complete Games: 11 - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Wins: 12 - Luis Tissert, Serranos
• Innings Pitched: 128.2 - Enrique Cutiño, Serranos
• Strikeouts: 111 - Enrique Cutiño, Serranos
• Earned Run Average: 2.36 - Buenafe Napoles, Camagüeyanos

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1986 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXV serie 1986 (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