1988-1989 Cuban National League

The 1988-1989 season was the twenty-eighth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 28th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, who were managed by future national team manager Higinio Vélez.

During the regular season four Zona Occidental clubs had better records then that of Zona Oriental champion Santiago de Cuba. Three teams (Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Camagüey) were tied at the top of the Zona Oriental at 29 – 19, Camagüey was left out of the playoffs. In the playoffs, Santiago de Cuba went 5 - 1 to take the title.

The champions are led by a triple crown season by Orestes Kindelán. He hits .402 by having 66 hits in 164 at-bats, with 24 home runs, and 58 runs batted in – all tops in the Zona Oriental. José Luis Alemán leads the team with 9 wins and 105.1 innings pitched. Other Santiago de Cuba players are Fausto Álvarez, Jorge García, Evenecer Godínez, Antonio Pacheco, Gabriel Pierre, and Luis Tissert.

First-place Industriales is the class of the Zona Occidental with the team's players dominating many leader board categories. Germán Mesa of Industriales steals 25 bases for the second straight season, but once again comes up one steal short, losing the league leadership to Villa Clara's Víctor Mesa. Industriales pitcher Orlando Hernández posts a perfect 7 – 0 record, while teammate Lázaro Valle has a 1.93 ERA with 15 earned runs in 70 innings.

Two interesting events coincided in that championship. Fernando Hernandez from Pinar del Rio, became the first Cuban in history to have 12 RBIs in a single game, whereas the Granma outfielder Ibrahim Fuentes connected 14 consecutive hits, something without precedents in the world-wide baseball.

Camagüey's Leonel Moa became the first Cuban player in the history of the island both (amateur and professional) to hit four home runs in a game.

Standings

Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion

Zona Occidental

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Industriales	48	38	10	0.792	-.-
Henequeneros	48	36	12	0.750	2.0
La Habana	47	31	16	0.660	6.5
Vegueros	48	31	17	0.646	7.0
Metropolitanos	47	25	22	0.532	12.5
Cienfuegos	47	18	29	0.383	19.5
Isla de la Juventud	48	14	34	0.292	24.0
Forestales	48	12	36	0.250	26.0
Citricultores	47	9	38	0.191	28.5

Zona Oriental

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Santiago de Cuba	48	29	19	0.604	-.-
Granma	48	29	19	0.604	-.-
Camagüey	48	29	19	0.604	-.-
Villa Clara	48	26	22	0.542	3.0
Ciego de Ávila	48	26	22	0.542	3.0
Guantánamo	48	25	23	0.521	4.0
Sancti Spíritus	48	20	28	0.417	9.0
Las Tunas	48	19	29	0.396	10.0
Holguín	48	13	35	0.271	16.0

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. Santiago de Cuba won five games to take the championship

Team	Zona	G	W	L	WPCT
Santiago de Cuba	Oriental - First	6	5	1	0.833
Industriales	Occidental - First	6	4	2	0.667
Granma	Oriental - Second	6	2	4	0.333
Henequeneros	Occidental - Second	6	1	5	0.167

Leaders

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

Batting

Stat		Zona Occidental					Zona Oriental
		Leader	Team	Number	Notes		Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average		Juan Bravo	Metropolitanos	.414	58 hits in 140 at-bats		Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	402	66 hits in 164 at-bats
Runs Scored		Omar Linares	Vegueros	53			Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	57
Base Hits		Luis A. Guerra	Vegueros	78			Pedro Mora	Granma	75
Doubles		Lázaro Madera	Vegueros	15			Víctor Arrieta Agustín Lescaille	Ciego de Ávila Guantánamo	14
Triples		Reemberto Rosell	Cienfuegos	7			Víctor Bejerano	Granma	5
Home Runs		Lázaro Junco Lázaro Madera	Henequeneros Vegueros	20	Leader in less at-bats (190)]] [[192 at-bats		Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	24
Runs Batted In		Juan C. Millán	La Habana	59			Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	58
Base-on-Balls		Romelio Martínez	La Habana	49			Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	49
Intentional Base-on-Balls		Juan C. Calvo	Isla de la Juventud	6			Orestes Kindelán	Santiago de Cuba	7
Hit-by-Pitch		Joel García	Citricultores	8			Eleazar González Jorge Cruz	Granma Holguín	10
Strikeouts		Iván Correa	Metropolitanos	51			Óscar Machado Eleazar González Juan C. Luna	Villa Clara Granma Las Tunas	47
Sacrifice Hit		Armando Dueñas Sr.	Henequeneros	7			Gustavo León	Santiago de Cuba	7
Sacrifice Fly		Juan C. Millán Iray García Lázaro Junco	La Habana Citricultores Henequeneros	4			Pedro Jova Osmel Rodríguez Carlos Barrabí	Villa Clara Ciego de Ávila Granma	4
Stolen Bases		Germán Mesa	Industriales	25			Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	26

Pitching

Stat		Zona Occidental					Zona Oriental
		Leader	Team	Number	Notes		Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins		Mario Véliz Jorge L. Valdés	La Habana Henequeneros	11			Osvaldo Duvergel José L. Alemán	Guantánamo Santiago de Cuba	9
Win-Loss Percentage		Orlando Hernández	Industriales	1.000	7 - 0		Buenafé Napóles	Camagüey	.833	5 - 1
Earned Run Average		Lázaro Valle	Industriales	1.93	15 ER in 70 IP		Andrés Luis	Camagüey	2.33	21 ER in 81 IP
Innings Pitched		Mario Véliz	La Habana	100.1			José L. Alemán	Santiago de Cuba	105.1
Games Pitched		Héctor Domínguez	Citricultores	20			Reinaldo Santana	Villa Clara	27
Games Started		Roberto Almarales	Cienfuegos	14			José M. Báez	Las Tunas	16
Games Relieved		José L. Molinet	Forestales	17			Reinaldo Santana	Villa Clara	27
Complete Games		Jorge L. Valdés	Henequeneros	9			José L. Alemán	Santiago de Cuba	11
Shutouts		Rafael Gómez	Metropolitanos	3			Andrés Luis	Camagüey	2
Hits Allowed		Roberto Almarales	Cienfuegos	118			Osvaldo Duvergel	Guantánamo	131
Strikeouts		Domingo Ordaz	Vegueros	87			José L. Alemán	Santiago de Cuba	87
Base-on-Balls		Carlos Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	41			Roberto Compte	Sancti Spíritus	51
Intentional Base-on-Balls		Jorge A. Martínez Adeivis Manso	Citricultores Cienfuegos	5			Richard Carrero Fidencio Serrano Isidro González	Ciego de Ávila Holguín Las Tunas	5
Hit Batters		Jorge L. Pérez	Citricultores	14			Teófilo Pérez	Camagüey	13

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Orestes Kindelán a outfielder-catcher with Santiago de Cuba. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was José Luis Alemán of Santiago de Cuba. Idalberto Castillo of Granma was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Series Selectivas

The fifteenth Series Selectivas was won by Las Villas, managed by the Abelardo Triana. The team defeated Habana in a best-of- series to break the regular season tie.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Las Villas	63	45	18	0.714	-.-
Habana	63	45	18	0.714	-.-
Serranos	63	33	30	0.524	12.0
Camagüeyanos	63	32	31	0.508	13.0
Pinar del Río	63	30	33	0.476	15.0
Mineros	63	27	36	0.429	18.0
Agropecuarios	61	24	37	0.393	20.0
Matanzas	61	14	47	0.230	30.0

Playoffs

After Las Villas and Habana ended the regular season in a tie, a best-of-three series was played to crown a champion. Las Villas won the series, 2 - 0.

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .413 - Amado Zamora, Las Villas
• Base Hits: 100 - Eddy Rojas, Las Villas
• Runs Scored: 72 - Eddy Rojas, Las Villas
• Doubles: 28 - Gabriel Pierre, Serranos
• Triples: 8 - Aldo Suarez del Villar, Las Villas
• Home Runs: 25 - Eddy Rojas, Las Villas
• Runs Batted In: 76 - Eddy Rojas, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 21 - Luis Ulacia, Camagüeyanos

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (10 - 0) - Lázaro Valle, Habana
• Games Pitched: 26 - Reinaldo Santana, Las Villas
• Complete Games: 10 - Osvaldo Duvergel, Serranos
• Wins: 10 - Lázaro Valle, Habana; Osvaldo Duvergel, Serranos; Reinaldo Santana, Las Villas; René Arocha, Habana
• Innings Pitched: 111.0 - José Baez, Mineros
• Strikeouts: 98 - Buenafe Napoles, Camagüeyanos
• Earned Run Average: 2.85 - Fidel Azcuy, Pinar del Río

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1989 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXVIII serie 1989 (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