1995-1996 Cuban National League

The 1995-1996 season was the thirty-fifth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 35th Serie Nacional was won by Industriales, who were managed by Pedro Medina.

Seeking their fourth consecutive title, which would tie them with Industriales' record from the mid-1960s, Villa Clara would dominate the regular season. However in the finals Industriales stops the Naranjas 4 – 2, preventing them from tying their franchise from three decades earlier. In the final game, long-time starter Lázaro Valle comes on in long relief and together with home runs by Ricardo Miranda, Juan Padilla, Carlos Tabares and Orbe Luis Rodríguez to win the game for the Leones. After the Serie Nacional, the first Copa de la Revolución replaced the Series Selectivas.

Camagüey's veteran outfileder Luis Ulacia hits .421 with 102 hits in 242 at-bats to lead the league. Ariel Benavides has 25 home runs for Guantánamo, top in the league. Future Major Leaguer Jorge L. Toca hits 26 doubles for Villa Clara. Óscar Gil has 11 wins for Holguín to lead the league, while Pinar del Río's Faustino Corrales leads the league in both strikeouts at 128 and base-on-balls with 63.

On March 19, 1996, Matanzas slugger Lázaro Junco hits his 405th and last home run against Las Tunas's Alejandro Cid. Earlier in the serie, Junco became the first Cuban batter to reach 400 career home runs. Junco will later be joined by Orestes Kindelán, who will surpass him, and Omar Linares.

All-time great shortstop, Germán Mesa, is left off of Cuba's gold medal winning baseball team at the 1996 Olympics. Later in the year he is suspended from league play in October under suspicion of taking money from a player agents. His suspension will be lifted in 1998.

Standings

Bold indicates Grupo champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion

Grupo A

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Pinar del Río	64	41	23	0.641	-.-
Matanzas	64	37	27	0.578	4.0
Metropolitanos	64	32	32	0.500	9.0
Isla de la Juventud	64	29	35	0.453	12.0

Grupo B

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Industriales	63	41	22	0.651	-.-
La Habana	64	37	27	0.578	4.5
Cienfuegos	65	28	37	0.431	14.0
Sancti Spíritus	65	21	44	0.323	21.0

Grupo C

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	65	48	17	0.738	-.-
Camagüey	65	38	27	0.585	10.0
Las Tunas	64	19	45	0.297	28.5
Ciego de Ávila	65	19	46	0.292	29.0

Grupo D

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Santiago de Cuba	65	40	25	0.615	-.-
Granma	65	33	32	0.508	7.0
Holguín	65	30	35	0.462	10.0
Guantánamo	65	23	42	0.354	17.0

Playoffs

	Semifinals					Finals
	A	Pinar del Río	0
	B	Industriales	4
						B	Industriales	4
						C	Villa Clara	2
	C	Villa Clara	4
	D	Santiago de Cuba	2

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	Luis Ulacia	Camagüey	.421	102 hits in 242 at-bats
Runs Scored	Juan Manrique Enrique Díaz	Matanzas Metropolitanos	76	Leader in less at-bats
Base Hits	Reemberto Rosell Jorge Salfrán	Cienfuegos Metropolitanos	106
Doubles	Jorge L. Toca	Villa Clara	26
Triples	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	8
Home Runs	Ariel Benavides	Guantánamo	25
Runs Batted In	Juan Manrique	Matanzas	79
Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Pinar del Río	70
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Pinar del Río	14
Hit-by-Pitch	Ordanis Duboys	Holguín	17
Strikeouts	Jorge Salfrán Daniel Lazo	Metropolitanos Pinar del Río	51
Sacrifice Hit	Eddy Cajigal Omar Arrozarena	Santiago de Cuba Sancti Spíritus	7
Sacrifice Fly	Gilberto Rodríguez	Las Tunas	6
Stolen Bases	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	35

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Óscar Gil	Holguín	11
Win-Loss Percentage	Luis A. González	Industriales	1.000	5 - 0
Earned Run Average	Jorge F. Fumero	Industriales	1.94	14 ER in 65 IP
Innings Pitched	Óscar Gil	Holguín	118.1
Games Pitched	Jorge Fumero Rafael Delgado	Industriales Matanzas	27
Games Started	Lázaro Garro	Matanzas	18
Games Relieved	Jorge F. Fumero Rafael Delgado	Industriales Matanzas	27
Complete Games	Faustino Corrales	Pinar del Río	11
Shutouts	Ernesto Guevara	Granma	4
Hits Allowed	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	141
Strikeouts	Faustino Corrales	Pinar del Río	128
Base-on-Balls	Faustino Corrales	Pinar del Río	63
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Dessy Lomba Arnaldo Bueno Rafael Delgado	Cienfuegos Cienfuegos Matanzas	7
Hit Batters	Leonides Turcás	Guantánamo	19

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Jorge Fumero a pitcher with Industriales. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Jorge Fumero of Industriales. Arael Sánchez of Villa Clara was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Copa de la Revolución

The first Copa de la Revolución was won by Santiago de Cuba who defeated Pinar del Río in the best-of-seven championship series. Santiago de Cuba (Copa de la Revolución)|Santiago de Cuba was managed by the Higinio Vélez.

Standings

Zona Occidental							Zona Oriental
	Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
	Pinar del Río	30	18	12	0.600	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	30	23	7	0.767	-.-
	Industriales	30	14	16	0.467	4.0		Villa Clara	30	20	10	0.667	5.5
	Matanzas	30	13	17	0.433	5.0		Camagüey	30	11	19	0.367	8.5
	Habana	30	12	18	0.400	6.0		Granma	30	9	21	0.300	12.0

Playoffs

The Copa de la Revolución Finals featured the winners of the Zona Occidental and Zona Oriental facing off in a best-of-seven series. Santiago de Cuba (Santiago de Cuba (Copa de la Revolución)|Santiago de Cuba) defeated the Pinar del Río (Occidental), 4 games to 1.

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .475 - Yobal Dueñas, Pinar del Río
• Base Hits: 52 - Juan Bruzón, Granma
• Runs Scored: 38 - Enrique Díaz, Granma
• Doubles: 17 - Andy Morales, Habana
• Triples: 6 - Marino Moreno, Granma
• Home Runs: 14 - Daniel Lazo, Pinar del Río
• Runs Batted In: 42 - Daniel Lazo, Pinar del Río
• Stolen Bases: 12 - Enrique Díaz, Granma

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (8 - 0) - Ormari Romero, Santiago de Cuba
• Games Pitched: 15 - Jorge Fumero, Industriales; Ciro Silvino Licea, Granma
• Complete Games: 5 - Ormari Romero, Santiago de Cuba
• Wins: 8 - Ormari Romero, Santiago de Cuba
• Innings Pitched: 53.1 - Ormari Romero, Santiago de Cuba
• Strikeouts: 55 - Pedro Luis Lazo, Pinar del Río
• Earned Run Average: 2.19 - Ormari Romero, Santiago de Cuba

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1996 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXXV serie 1996 (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